Relax, Results Can’t Be Orchestrated

Growing up on an Iowa farm I helped my dad till the soil, plant, cultivate, and then harvest the crops. We put much effort into growing crops but never made them grow.

I recall us having planted a field of corn east of the farm buildings. For days all you could see when looking at the field was black soil. Then, about a week after planting, I looked east at the sun coming up over the horizon and the sun’s glimmering reflection on rows of small spikes of emerging corn. We had done nothing after planting the corn seed. It had come up all by itself.

This memory reminds me of a parable Jesus told, recorded only in the Gospel of Mark which has clear application to pastoral ministry. “He also said, ‘This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come’” (Mark 4:26-29).

J. C. Ryle comments on this passage, “Let us observe this truth also, for it is deeply instructive. It is humbling, no doubt, to ministers and teachers of others. The highest abilities, the most powerful preaching, the most diligent working cannot command success. God alone can give spiritual life. But it is a truth at the same time which supplies an admirable antidote to over-anxiety and despondency. Our principal work is to sow the seed. That done, we may wait with faith and patience for the result. We may go to bed at night and [get] up by day and leave our work with the Lord. He alone can, and if He thinks fit, He will give success.” (Expository Thoughts on The Gospel of Mark, J. C. Ryle, Aneko Press)

As a pastor, I often saw myself as a farmer. My farm was my local church. Like a farmer, I planted, tilled, watered, and weeded in many metaphorical ways. Like the farmer, the results were up to God. This thought, when embraced, can lighten a pastor’s burden. It did for me.