Instead of seeing that the growth of the word in the hearts of men is because of the faithfulness of God, we desperately desire to see ourselves as the hero of the growth. But I’d encourage a small exercise in gardening. Take a real seed and plant it. Then every day, go out and begin yelling at the seed, “Grow!” and see what happens. I promise that seed will either grow or not irregardless of what you do.

“Frugivorous birds are the primary seed dispersers for fleshy-fruited plants through defecation.” What a great sentence! That is the start of a scientific article on how birds are one of our planet’s most effective gardeners. To say it plainly, birds eat plants with seeds. Birds fly around. Birds poop out the seeds. Those seeds grow into new plants, all while the bird moves around unaware. You know what never happens when those new plants pop up from the soil? No one looks around and says, “Great job bird! That took a lot of skill and planning. You’re the best!” Nope. The new plant is not because of the skill of the bird, but rather the faithfulness of God to order His world.

“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how” (Mark 4:26-27). What a great sentence! This is Jesus’ explanation of how the kingdom of God spreads. To say it plainly, men take a word that is not their own. They walk around. They take that word and deposit it all over. The word grows and sprouts in new places, all while men move on unaware. You know what should never happen?

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