Enemies of the Word – Mark 4
“And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” — Mark 4:9
Everything about our lives and eternity is based on how we respond to the Word of God. Our hearts are like soil that is designed to bear fruit. But without the right response to God’s Word, as it is sown in our hearts, we will not bear fruit.
In the parable of the sower, Jesus points out various enemies of God’s Word: Satan, affliction and persecution, this world, riches, and lusts of other things.
Satan will try to snatch away the seeds of God’s Word. He will use every means possible to keep God’s Word from doing anything in our lives. Whether it be pride, selfishness, offence, conflict with others, laziness, guilt, sin – whatever it takes to keep us from the Word and to snatch the Word we hear from our lives.
While Satan wants to snatch the Word before it makes an impact in our lives, affliction and persecution come up before the seed can take root. So often, we allow difficulty, disappointment, and problems to keep God’s Word from making much impact on us.
If Satan cannot snatch the Word away right away, and if persecution and trouble cannot keep it from taking root, then there is always the enemy of busyness, worldly cares, worldly riches, and just a desire for things other than God’s Word.
What is sapping your desire for the Word? What is stopping it from even entering your heart? What is keeping it from taking root? What is chocking it out after it is sown? May God help us to prepare our hearts, so that the Word finds us good soil that will bring forth much fruit!