This soil symbolized the seed that grew but was choked by worry and "the deceitfulness of wealth." I define "the deceitfulness of wealth" as security. As in, because I have money and lots of it everything will be alright and I will be happy and fulfilled. The converse is also true of that mindset--If I don't have lots of money, all kinds of bad things will happen to me and I will be sad and empty. That sounds like fear to me.
I once heard it said that fear is faith for what you don't want.
Fear is basically what worry is anyway, right? We don't worry about things that don't matter if they happen or not. We worry about bad things happening to us because we are afraid of them. At the heart of worry is distrust in God. We think that if situation X happens to us that it will be so devastating that we could never recover. Or even in milder terms, if situation X doesn't happen, then I will not be able to be happy.
Worry at it's core is to believe that God is not in control of our lives and to doubt His protection.
What's crazy about the soil with the thorns/weeds is that the seed actually grows and survives long term, but it doesn't bear fruit. The thorns are already in the soil when the seed is sown, much like the strongholds of fear in our minds before we begin to walk a life of trusting in Him, but there is enough good soil there for the seed to grow. This soil is people who really do love God and never want to turn away from Him. These people are paralyzed by fear and though they don't die off, they never walk in victory over the flesh and the enemy.
The remedy: obedience (do it anyway).
The only way to kill a weed forever is get it at the root, we all know that by now. When you go after the weeds of fear, the only way to kill that root is to do it anyway. God tells us over and over in scripture to not fear and to be courageous. This is most notably spoken to Joshua, right before going in to take the promised land. Without courage, being afraid but doing it anyway, we will not possess the promises of God. Sounds a little bit like picking up a cross, huh?
As far as the good soil goes, how do we keep the weeds from coming back? How do we avoid the temptations to fill ourselves with that which is not God? How do we stay soft and humble despite the constant blows of this world and attacks from our enemy?
I hope to answer these questions tomorrow in the unforeseen part three of Things I Can't Believe I Never Saw Before. For right now, I'm tired.
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