scattering seeds | Devotions by Chris Hendrix

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June 26, 2025 · 5:30 AM

Watering Seeds

For the past few months we’ve been driving to Dallas. Along the way, there is a stretch of farmland where people are growing fields of corn. As the summer has progressed, some of these fields went from green to having some brown spots to turning yellow. The drought did a number on some fields. In a few instances, we’d see a dry field next to a green one. We would be sad about them losing an entire crop, but also see that the neighboring crop was full. They both went through the same drought, but one farmer watered their crops and the other didn’t.

Through the New Testament, Jesus often referred to us as farmers and seed spreaders. He talked about our return on those seeds as well when it came to harvest time. However, there may be some fields you’ve tilled and planted without seeing a harvest yet. I’d like to encourage you to take the step of watering them. 1 Corinthians 3:7 says, “It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow” (NLT). Watering is part of the process many of us forget about. Seeds don’t grow to maturity and crops don’t produce unless they’re watered regularly.

Years ago, I heard Doug Stringer with SomebodyCares.org say, “Prayer is water for the seeds you plant.” In Jewish tradition, after Passover, they pray for dew to cover the ground where their crops are planted. Then as Sukkot passes, they pray for rain at harvest time. These festivals were created by God and remind us that we need to pray for God to water your seeds and to cause them to grow. He’s reminding us that our work isn’t done once we’ve planted seeds. If you’re waiting on a harvest from seeds you’ve planted and are wondering what’s taking so long, start watering them through prayer. Your seeds are not dead. They could be just waiting on some water.

Photo by Elibet Valencia Muñoz on Unsplash

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

Broadcasting Seeds

If you’re like me, you’ve probably planted a small garden somewhere on your property. In the spring, we till a few rows in a box beside our house. We usually plant a few things like tomatoes, cucumbers and green beans. The garden is small and takes just a few minutes to plant the seeds. My son enjoys checking on them to see how they’re growing. After watering it for weeks and pulling weeds, we get to go pick the vegetables and eat them. The garden is so small we can usually put our daily harvests in one bowl. We then try to share it between three people so all we get is a taste. My son is always super proud of it, but each time we split the vegetables, I can’t help but be reminded of how small the garden is.

When I think about the Parable of the Sower in Mark 4, verse 4 always catches my attention. It says that he cast his seeds. That’s different than planting them one by one like we do. I looked up how farmers plant large fields, and that’s what they do. They have a mechanism that broadcasts seeds and then they cover them up. In my mind, I always thought farmers planted each individual seed with the love and tender care that we do in our garden. It’s no wonder that in the parable some fell on the path where the birds ate it, and others fell on rocky soil and some even fell among the thorn bushes. However, you have to know that a majority of those seeds fell into the good soil he had tilled. Those are the ones that produced the harvest yielding 30, 60 and 100 times more than was planted.

It’s got me to thinking about how I sow seeds in life. Am I only planting a few within a confined space or am I broadcasting them everywhere. You can’t expect a large harvest when you only plant a few seeds. Are you broadcasting seeds? Will you need the Lord of the Harvest to send laborers for the seeds you’re planting? We’re reaping small harvests because we’re planting so few seeds. Freely we have been given, so freely we must broadcast or give. There will be seeds sown in rocky places, but we can’t let that stop us from broadcasting everywhere we go. Jesus finished that parable in verse 9 by saying, “If you understand this, then you need to respond” (TPT). Now that we understand what it means to broadcast, it’s time for us to respond.

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