25 January 2011 Devotion for Today "The Wayside" Mark 4:3-4

25 January 2011 Devotion for Today "The Wayside" Mark 4:3-4

3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air[a] came and devoured it. (Mark 4:3-4)

Have you ever been "way-laid?." This figure of speech means to be unexpectedly detained or delayed- usually by a person who decides to take interest in you at the most inopportune moment or to speak to you when you have to hurry off and get to a pressing engagement. Its an uncomfortable feeling because, at least with me- I do not wish to be perceived as being rude to the one who has taken the time to speak with me- neither do I wish to be harried or late for my engagement. Sometimes it happens and I cannot focus on the conversation because there are other things on my mind. It has nothing to do with them; it is me. I remember one such incident where it was imperative that I find the "facilities" before I got up to preach. I do not wish to seem crass at this point, only to seek empathy from a reader who has been in that situation. This individual saw me coming before I saw them, and then cornered me before I could duck down the hallway. They kept talking to me about this and that- "oh and did you know that Mrs. So and So got an infection in that toenail and now has to have it operated on?" and on and on they went and I'm thinking: "I would love to be able to stand here and talk to you but I am going to have to change my sermon to Jesus Walking on the Water" or "My Cup Runneth Over!"

I strike this up to my sheer lack of character at this point, but If some one wants to relay details of a very important matter and I'm getting ready to start a worship service, I cannot always retain it. If someone gives me something to look at or to read over before that same time- you may count on it descending into the black hole of oblivion. I wish that I had the ability to retain better than this but alas, I do not. It is hard because I hate to disappoint people and have them think less of me for all the time they took to invest in me at a moment of convenience for them. I call this moment the wayside- a situation not too unlike what Jesus recounts for us in His Parable of the Sower.

In this passage he discusses the sower going out to sow seed. The seed, as Christ explains later, is the seed of the gospel. Some of the seed will, as a matter of consequence, fall on the wayside. The wayside is the road or the path along the field where the seed is to be sown. The wayside has not be broken up or ploughed and not suitable soil for the seed to be planted. It is firmly packed and virtually impenetrable. As the farmer, or sower, goes to scatter the seed from his seed bag, some of that seed is going to spill out as a matter of consequence. Some of this seed will fall from his hands and land on the ground Jesus calls the wayside.

Does this mean that Christ, as the sower, is careless about the expensive seed of the gospel to the point of allowing it to fall on unfertile ground? No. He tells us this to help us understand that everything we do in sharing the gospel message is going to have some "spill-over" effect because of how we impact the world around us. In some places, the ground is hard and just not prepared to receive the message just yet. But just because the birds come along and eat it does not necessarily mean that the seed is wasted. The birds in this parable represent the world or worldly ideas that have some ability to consume the gospel message. These birds will always follow any enterprise where the gospel message is being preached or sown just as a flock of birds will follow a tractor tilling or planting farmland. I have seen birds eat sunflower seeds and then carry them away. Through their droppings they excrete the seed and allow it to fall in other places where no farmer could ever reach. I have seen whole fields of sunflowers sprout up this way, usually around the tree lines at the edges of fields where other crops grow. It has done them some good even if only passed through their digestive tract to benefit somewhere else.

Going back to the wayside and being way-laid- even those moments and encounters are not altogether unfruitful. I have had some say to me years later- "Preacher something that you said to me really encouraged me! I really appreciate you taking time out to speak with me and I know that you must have been in a hurry but what you said changed my life!" Not that this has happened very often, but it causes me to think that God can make more of those moments than we think. Since I heard this recently I will be more determined than ever to guard my spirit for special moments like these and to make the most of them for God. And I will determine to make more of an effort to take care of business and to anticipate those moments before they come. God can use them, no matter how insignificant.

What wayside moments have you experienced today? If you have not, make more of an effort to look for them. You may find that they were more God-appointed than you think!

Have a blessed day!