How To Listen To God: The Good Soil - Mark 4:20-25 Series

You can do it, but it requires more effort than just casually reading your Bible. My granddaughter just turned 2, and she somehow inherited her grandpa’s attention span. She’s easily distracted, especially when she is eating. She will fill up her cheeks with food, and then start running around and playing and she’s still got a whole mouth full of food from 5 minutes ago. And so we always here her mom and dad saying, “Sadie, chew and swallow. Chew and swallow.” Some people in the church need to be told that. They are running around with their coffee mug theology. “The Lord is my shepherd, so judge not, because he works all things together for good for those who are committed to cleanliness…” And someone needs to grab hold of them and say, “Chew and swallow! Slow down, chew on what you’ve learned, think deeply about it, and then swallow it and digest it.”

How to Discover the Meaning

Spend time in prayer asking God to give you insight. Do what the disciples did—ask Jesus, “What does this mean?”

And then study. Get a study Bible, get a commentary, listen to some sermons online from good Bible expositors like John Piper or John MacArthur or Kevin DeYoung. Call me or some other pastor on the phone or send an email and ask, “What does this passage mean?” But most importantly: think hard! Mull it over in your mind. Look at it from every angle. Ask questions. Every time you read the Bible, ask question like these (I’ll give you 6 of them):

1. What does this passage teach me about what God is like?

2. Are there any commands to obey?

3. Are there any promises to trust?

4. Does something in my thinking or attitudes or emotions need to change?

5. Why is this passage here?

6. What would be different for me and the people around me if the purpose of this passage were fulfilled in great, 100-fold ways in my life?

It’s amazing how Scripture can come alive just by taking the time to answer those 6 questions.

And don’t skip #6. It’s not enough to just understand; you must put it into practice. Produce a crop. Beliefs that are not acted on don’t remain your beliefs very long. Jesus said those who hear but don’t put it into practice are building their house on sand.

They Choke Out the Weeds

So that’s how hard passages protect you from becoming hard soil or shallow soil. How about the third one: thorny soil? Thorny soil listens to the word, accepts it, believes it, and starts producing a crop. The word is accomplishing its purposes in their heart—for a while. But then life gets in the way. They get busy, and they become distracted so they just don’t have any time to think about the word.

Either that or they become divided, partly running after God and partly running after money or other earthly things they desire. And those desires or distractions start taking up all the space in their heart so the word of God gets choked out. They aren’t against the word, they don’t doubt it, they still affirm it as God’s word, and they have really been meaning to get back into it, but right now all the issues of life (the weeds) are just taking up all their attention and energy.