Working Underground

READ

Jesus often taught with parables, and some of His shortest stories carry some of His biggest ideas.

In Mark 4, Jesus has already told the familiar story of the sower and the different kinds of soil. But right after that, He tells another parable that’s much easier to miss.

It’s about a farmer, a seed, and what happens after the seed is planted.

Take a moment to read Mark 4:26–29. As you read, pay attention to what the farmer does—and just as importantly, what he doesn’t do.

26 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head.29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

REFLECT

There’s something almost funny about how little the farmer actually does in this story.

He plants the seed.

Then he goes to sleep.

He gets up the next day.

And somehow, while he’s going about his normal life, the seed starts growing.

Jesus says the farmer “does not know how.”

That’s the point.

The farmer doesn’t stay up all night staring at the dirt, trying to make the seed grow faster. He doesn’t pull on the plant to make it taller. He doesn’t dig it up every few hours to check whether the roots are developing.

He plants it, and then he waits.

The earth does the growing.

If you’ve ever tried to grow anything—a garden, a habit, a relationship, even your own character—you know how hard this can be for us.

We like to see progress.

We like timelines.

We like measurable results.

If something isn’t changing, our instinct is usually to try harder. Work more. Read another book. Make another plan. Set another goal.

We treat growth like a project we can manage.

But Jesus gives us a different picture.

A seed doesn’t grow because someone works harder at it. It grows because something is happening beneath the surface.

And that’s often how God works in us, too.

Think about the kinds of changes we actually want to see in our lives.

We want to be more patient.

Less anxious.

More forgiving.

Less defensive.

More generous.

Better at trusting God.

We want to respond differently when someone pushes our buttons. We want to stop falling into the same patterns. We want to become more like Jesus.

And when those changes don’t happen as quickly as we’d like, we can get frustrated with ourselves—or wonder if God is doing anything at all.

But spiritual growth is rarely as obvious as we want it to be.

Sometimes God is doing something in us that we simply can’t see yet.

That doesn’t mean we sit back and do nothing.

The farmer still has a job. He has to plant the seed.

In the same way, there are things we can faithfully do. We can pray. We can open Scripture. We can show up at church. We can stay connected to people who help us grow. We can confess when we get it wrong. We can choose obedience even when we don’t feel like it.

Those things matter.

But there’s a point where our responsibility ends.

We can plant.

We can water.

We can stay faithful.

But we cannot make ourselves grow.

That part belongs to God.

And honestly, that can be a relief.

Because some of us are exhausted from constantly trying to fix ourselves.

We think if we just try a little harder, get more disciplined, pray the right prayer, or finally figure things out, we'll somehow force ourselves into becoming the person we want to be.

But Jesus reminds us that growth doesn't work that way.

There’s a mystery to it.

And there’s a timeline to it.

If you’ve been discouraged because you’re still struggling with something you thought you would have outgrown by now, this parable is worth remembering.

Maybe you’ve been praying about the same thing for months.

Maybe you’ve been asking God to change something in you for years.

Maybe you look at your life and think, I should be further along by now.

But what if something is happening beneath the surface?

Roots don’t announce themselves.

A seed can look like nothing is happening for a long time. Then one day, there’s a tiny green shoot breaking through the soil.

The growth was there all along. You just couldn’t see it.

That may be true of you, too.

You may not notice every small change God is making. Maybe you’re a little quicker to apologize than you used to be. Maybe you’re learning to pause before reacting. Maybe you’re trusting God in a situation that would have completely overwhelmed you a year ago.

Those changes can feel small.

But small doesn’t mean insignificant.

Growth is usually slower and quieter than we expect.

So the invitation of this parable isn’t to stop trying. It’s to stop trying to control everything.

Do the part that’s yours.

Plant the seed.

Stay close to God.

Keep showing up.

Keep choosing faithfulness in the ordinary things.

And then trust God with the growth.

You don't have to dig up the seed every day to make sure something is happening.

Sometimes you just have to trust that God is working underground.

RESPOND

Take a moment to process what God might be leading you to do in light of what you read.

• Where in your life are you frustrated because growth feels slower than you expected?

• What are the “seed-scattering” practices that are within your control—prayer, Scripture, community, obedience, honesty, or something else?

• Can you think of a time when you looked back and realized God had been changing you, even though you couldn’t see it happening at the time?

REST

Take a moment to rest in God’s presence and consider one thing you can take away from your time reading, then close your devotional experience by praying:

God, thank You that You are at work in us even when we can’t see what You’re doing. Forgive us for the times we try to force growth or become frustrated with how slowly things are changing. Help us be faithful with the things You’ve placed in front of us—showing up, staying close to You, and doing the ordinary things that help us grow. Then help us trust You with everything we cannot control. When we feel like nothing is happening, remind us that You may be doing some of Your deepest work beneath the surface. Grow in us what only You can grow. Amen.