While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.

–Parallel verses: ‭‭
Jeremiah‬ ‭4‬:‭3‬-‭4‬‬‬
This is what the Lord says to the people of Judah and to Jerusalem: “Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your hearts, you people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, or my wrath will flare up and burn like fire because of the evil you have done— burn with no one to quench it.

I once knew a man who was a very nice and helpful person. He would bend over backwards to help people around him, but very rarely receive help in his own life. He helped with organizing fundraisers, repairing houses for his friends, funding events, and other such things. But in his heart, he did not give Lordship of his life to God. He was the director and producer of his own life movie. It is as if he wanted to look good on the outside, but on the inside, he was selfish and hardened to help from his Father, God. This man lived a tough and conflicted life.

I think this is more like the picture Jesus is thinking of when he talks about this part of the Parable of the Sower. We know the seed is God’s Word by the text, and the clear inference is that the soil is the condition of our hearts. Apparently, this type of person has a hard heart. But hard hearted people are not always mean and nasty. They can be, as the above example, people who seem nice. But deep down inside, they oppose God and his work in their lives. Their assumption is that they can handle life on their own.

So I guess the question remains: How does one go about tilling up the soil in a heart that is found hard? (This is a tough question to ask and a tougher question to ponder.) I would say it simply starts with admitting we need help. Then we ask God to help us and we are open to the help he sends us, in whatever form it shows up in. Most of the time, it is in the form of other broken and hurting people who he has helped in the past.

I love the passage in Jeremiah, where the Lord calls out the people of Israel. It is so direct and convicting. “Break up your fallow ground”, “circumcise yourself to The Lord”, and “circumcise your hearts.” Circumcision was a painful and memorable way God designed for the Jews to set themselves apart as his people. Today, we do this by accepting Jesus into our hearts and letting his Spirit go to work on cleansing us from sin. It is a painful, yet highly rewarding and good process. Painful how? Well, we must admit we need help and we must repent of sin that has, in part, defined us and we were comfortable living with in the past. We have to kick out the heart-guest of sin — like a destructive house-guest.

Lord, thank you for calling out the hardness in my heart and providing your Spirit and others to help me as I make my heart fertile to receive your Word and your truth. Every day, may I do the tilling work of submitting my heart to your Lordship!