“And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent honest, good-hearted people who hear God’s word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest.” – Luke 8:15 NLT
This is the third writing in a series of seven on how we are a new creation in Christ. This writing is intended to reflect the message of salvation through the language of creation at the beginning of our Bibles. Today’s writing reflects the third day of Creation in which God pulls land from deep under the water and commands all kinds of living things to grow and multiply. The language I am using is a form of story that I discovered by referring to like phrases throughout scripture. This writing is different from the previous two days in that it is much more seemingly complex. The illustration is that God takes our repentant brokenness and uses it to make something that He calls, “Good.”
From out of the depths, buried beneath the waters, is heard the cry of a daughter of the earth. She reaches up with her hand and cries, “Save me, O God!” At the command of the Lord, and at the sound of His thunder, which stirs up the sea, the daughters of the earth flee together into one place. God calls this daughter out from among the other daughters and dries her tears. He raises her like a mountain from the midst of the surging daughters and calls her His ransomed and redeemed daughter.
As the Lord calls His ransomed daughter, she comes to Him in her barrenness because there is nothing left of her from her troubles. And God sees that the soil of her heart is good. He has wiped her slate clean of all her sins with His own blood that He shed on the cross of Calvary. The Son of Man sows His Word into the fertile soil of His redeemed daughter’s heart.
Then He fills this dry and thirsty daughter with His Holy Spirit so that out of her innermost being will flow rivers of living water springing up to eternal life. Then God said, “Let My daughter grow and blossom. Let My Word, which I planted in her heart, overflow into her words and her work, so that the other daughters of the earth who hear and see her will be able to receive the My Word into their hearts.
And that is what happens, as this redeemed daughter of God begins to live her life of freedom in Christ. She begins reading and studying the word of God and listening to His voice and building a relationship with Him. Then she begins speaking and living in His righteousness and by His Spirit, through her words and actions, she begins planting seeds in the hearts of her sisters, the daughters of the earth. And God sees that this is good.
Here we see another level of relational distancing that is like a great heart-breaking action as this one daughter of the earth begins reaching out her hand for help with a repentant heart. Does God ignore her or disillusion her for her cry for help? NO! He draws her out of the crowd that heaps upon her deep distresses and sorrows. He lifts her up in the midst of her enemies and sets a table before her and feeds her in love, compassion, and tender mercies so that she can do the same for her sisters, the daughters of the earth.
Combining Genesis 1:9 with Psalm 104:7-8; Psalm 69:1-3; Psalm 130:1-2; Psalm 23:5; Isaiah 51:17; Job 40:9; Psalm 46:3; Genesis 2:4-6; 1 Corinthians 3:6-9; Matthew 13:37; Luke 8:11, 15; Mark 4:8,14; Ezekiel 17:5; John 7:37-39; John 4:14; Psalm 23