By Oluyinka Esan

Harvests, Seeds and Pesky Birds

Welcome to October folks – harvest celebrations beckon. Maize crops should be in barns now.  Back in my African roots, maize harvest brought much comfort to many – peasants and the rich alike. Corn was boiled, roasted, dried and milled into flour for many staple meals. A remnant was kept to be sown.

That maize is familiar makes Jesus’s parable about the sower more relatable. Less familiar to me, is the way of the birds with seeds.  Who would have thought that birds, not satisfied with what is on the surface, dig up seeds sown deep down in good soil?   Then I heard the experience of a particular sower.  Several times, he planted his seed, but there was no growth.  Puzzled, he planned to visit the supplier of the seed, could this batch of seed be compromised? 

The confrontation was averted by the counsel of a more seasoned farmer.  “Protect the seed in the soil, it may well be birds picking them out”.  Sure enough, this counsel worked, and now there is a healthy harvest, corn to eat and seed for next season. Here is a profound lesson.

For seed in soil, read the Word of God, sown in your heart.  When it bears no fruit, don’t blame God.  His Word is not defective; it won’t return void, but will accomplish what God purposed.  So, check the birds that sniff out God’s Word by which faith should grow. What reaches deep into your heart, consuming God’s promises, giving these no chance in your life?

Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life [and the next generation’s].  (Proverbs 4.23 NLT)

Hymn: Loving Shepherd of Your Sheep
Author: Jane Eliza Leeson
Source: Trinity Psalter Hymnal #527

1 Loving Shepherd of your sheep,                         3 Loving Shepherd, ever near,
all your lambs in safety keep;                                teach your lambs your voice to hear;
nothing can your power withstand,                        suffer not their steps to stray
none can pluck them from your hand.                    from the straight and narrow way.

2 May they praise you ev’ry day,                           4 Where you lead them may they go,
gladly all your will obey,                                       walking in your steps below;
like your blessed ones above,                               then, before your Father’s throne,
happy in your precious love.                                 Savior, claim them for your own.