Good Shepherd Lutheran

The Sower Never Gives Up!!
Losses of seed on hard soil, on rocky soil, on thorny soil, don’t deter a good Sower. The farmer who hopes for an abundant harvest persists in their work in spite of obstacles. They just keep their goal in mind. And we don’t judge them by which seed doesn’t grow, but by the harvest.
Much of the Sower’s labor seems futile to us, but to the farmer, it’s just what you have to do to achieve an abundant harvest. Jesus, too, faced opposition and failure, but he kept sowing the Word of God’s Kingdom, confident that as long as he kept sowing, God was going to triumph. The Kingdom would come.
That’s an important message for us today. We look for immediate and instant success, but it doesn’t always work out that way. The great challenges facing us today won’t be overcome in a single day. And for those of us laboring for God, we can’t give up hope. God is working his purpose out. That’s the promise. That in the end, God is going to triumph. Our job is to just keep sowing with hope and tenacity until God brings forth the harvest.
On Dec. 31, 1813, a dejected Scottish pastor wrote in his diary, “This last year has been a failure. I have brought only one soul to Christ: little David Livingston.” What that pastor didn’t know was that Little David Livingston would become a pioneering medical missionary, inventor, reformer and anti-slavery crusader. That Scottish pastor never lived to see the fruits of his life’s work, but he’s the one who sowed the seed. We might not see the fruits of our labors either, but that’s not our concern. Our concern is to keep on sowing because God will overcome. And all that’s required of us is the faithfulness to keep sowing seeds.
God is asking us to have the courage to keep sowing the seed of God’s Kingdom no matter what obstacles are in our way. Even when others shrug their shoulders and say, “What’s the use?” We have to continue to stand up for those too vulnerable to stand up for themselves. And when others say, “We’ve already tried that and it didn’t work,” we just need to keep on opening our arms to young and old, to rich and poor, to the widow, the orphan. Why? Because God challenges us to keep on sowing. And if we’re tireless and tenacious enough, God will triumph!
When we live for God’s Kingdom we don’t live like people without hope. We live like the farmer who casts his seed knowing that the Giver of the Harvest will bring forth a harvest far more abundant than anything that he could ever hope for on his own. That’s why we need to stand firm in His promises, working tirelessly and tenaciously, because when we do, God will triumph. Because the Sower never gives up!