Supplication Sunday: Sowing the Garden

  This week my husband and I have been busy setting up our garden, incorporating compost into our soil, and sowing our cool weather crops (since we’re in the North).  Spending so much time outside in our now beautiful afternoon weather makes me think about the Garden of Eden.  It’s interesting that what is essentially the first story in the Bible takes place in a garden.

“And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.”

Genesis 2:8 KJV

  In our modern day when many of us picture our version of paradise we tend to imagine laying on the beach, somewhere warm with crystal clear waters.  Maybe we prefer that image to a garden because it’s easy to associate a garden more so with work than relaxation and enjoyment.  And yet, the argument could quite easily be made that we were made to be in gardens.  Not only do they provide us with food for sustenance, but they’re also meant to bring us enjoyment, being pleasant in sight.

“And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”

Genesis 2:9 KJV

  Not only is the garden wonderful in sight and for producing our food, it also provides us with many great lessons.  After all, there’s the common saying, “You reap what you sow.”  And this is mentioned in the Bible numerous times.  

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.  For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”

Galatians 6:7-8 KJV

In 2 Corinthians 9, Paul uses multiple garden analogies.  It’s easy to see why the garden would be a natural place for spiritual analogies to reside.  After all, the more attentive you are to your garden, the more fruits you will reap.  Your spiritual garden is no different. 

“But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.”

2 Corinthians 9:6 KJV

“Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)”

2 Corinthians 9:10 KJV

“The sower soweth the word.  And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts. And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;  And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.  And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,  And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.  And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.”

Mark 4:14-20 KJV

  Today I pray that we would be those sown on good ground, sowing the seeds of righteousness so that we may reap bountifully and reap life everlasting. Amen.

“And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it?  It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth:  But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.”

Mark 4:30-32 KJV