The Pulpit Commentary on Mark 4:26-29

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

The beauty of growth.

I. THE SMALL BEGINNING. What smaller or more seemingly feeble than the seed—the thought—the word—the volition? Yet in the beginning lies the end, in the acorn the oak.

II. THE IMMENSE DIVINE POWER. We lie on the bosom of nature as the seed lies in the earth. For as winds blow and waters move and earth rests, God in his might and love bears up and onward the living soul. All things are ours to work our good.

III. THE SECRECY AND SLOWNESS OF THE PROCESS. God does the best for us while we sleep. The Greek artist represented Fortune driving cities into the net of the sleeping conqueror Timotheus. Cultivate a wise patience. Know the power of the word Wait!

Think you of all the mighty sum

Of things for ever speaking,

That nothing of itself will come,

But we must still be seeking?"

"Ripeness is all." 'Tis worth waiting a lifetime for the fruition of an hour. Each hour is a fruition of eternity to him who lives in God. And we may be reaping when we seem only to be sowing.—J.

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