God in Sandals: Transformational Encounters With the Word Made FleshSample

The Mustard Seed

Meditate on the parable about the mustard seed. What Kingdom principles does it illustrate? Why did the Lord compare the seed’s initial size with the tree it would eventually become? Who do the birds of the air represent?

All the parables begin with the same phrase: “The kingdom of heaven is like . . .” Through each one Christ illustrated a different truth concerning the Kingdom. The parable of the mustard seed illustrates the growth of God’s work, which at first appears small and insignificant, almost invisible.

Once sown, this seed begins to grow slowly, and from its tiny beginning develops into a tree which becomes a giant among plants. As in the parable of the sower, there is a time-lapse in this growth process which cannot be ignored. We should distrust all that grows quickly since things that last are generally established slowly over the years.

The parable actually describes the growth of the church. The church began with an insignificant group of men in a small country lost in the immensity of the Roman Empire. Its founder was born in a dirty, humble stable, totally unnoticed by the great figures of those times.

He trained twelve men who showed little aptitude for the work entrusted to them. But before He left them, He told them to go to “all the nations” and reach “the remotest part of the earth” (Matt. 28:19; Acts 1:8). The enormous tree would eventually exist and give refuge to the birds of the air.

In this parable, we notice a principle that we see in all God’s endeavors. Each of His plans begins with seemingly little promise, usually through a person who has received a vision:

• An elderly man in Ur was told he would be made into a great nation.
• A shepherd in Midian was called to lead an immense people to the Promised Land.
• A frightened, timid young man was told he would free his people from the yoke of the Midianites.
• A youthful shepherd was anointed as the new king of Israel.

Each of these beginnings was less than promising. The fulfillment of the vision in each case took a long time. For some of these men, decades passed before they saw the fullness of the “mature tree.”

The key is to believe God’s objectives, not evaluate their feasibility. Many of these men responded with fear when they heard the Lord’s plans. But He always exhorted them, “Do not fear; I am with you.”

He was telling them that the impossible would become possible, thanks to His intervention. A fragile, clumsy, unpromising person can be the start of something extraordinary in the kingdom of God if he or she dares to believe the declarations of the Most High. What a privilege it is to be included in the plans that He could easily accomplish without us!