In this series of articles on the preparation of the soil, we have studied much about how the soil of our heart is reminiscent of the gardening soil found in nature. Just as soil is softened and fertilizing nutrients are blended in to help make it more fruitful, so are we to receive humbly the components of God’s word that will enable us to bear more spiritual fruit.

One helpful chapter in this regard is Acts chapter 2:p>

In verses 1-47 we learn to read, receive, and share the present truth with others.

In chapter 2:16-21 we find Joel’s prophecy about the last day events.

Joel 2:23 speaks about the early and latter rains. Verse 28 says that the latter rain will take place “afterward.” After what? After the experience described in verses 16 and 17:p>

“Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders. . . . Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord . . . : wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?”

As mentioned in earlier articles, Jesus taught that we need to know first the parable of the sower before we can understand many of His other lessons. He said: “Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?” (Mark 4:13). The parable of the sower provides a foundation - a solid platform for the study of the Holy Spirit.

By means of further illustration, the prophet Ezekiel was shown in vision a lot of things joined together - apparently complicated at first, but ultimately in perfect order: “Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces. The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel” (Ezekiel 1:15, 16).

“God is acquainted with every man. Could our eyes be opened we would see that eternal justice is at work in our world. . . . The servants of God know that He is working to counteract Satan’s plans. Those who know not God cannot comprehend His movements. There is at work a wheel within a wheel. Apparently the complication of machinery is so intricate that man can only see a complete entanglement. But the divine hand, as seen by the prophet Ezekiel, is placed upon the wheels, and every part moves in complete harmony, each doing its specified work, yet with individual freedom of action.”1

God is in control, not us. Not even the great king Nebuchadnezzar was in control. (See Daniel 4:29-33.)

Wheels don’t have a starting point, they just go around and around.

“To the prophet the wheel within a wheel, the appearance of living creatures connected with them, all seemed intricate and unexplainable. But the hand of Infinite Wisdom is seen among the wheels, and perfect order is the result of its work. Every wheel, directed by the hand of God, works in perfect harmony with every other wheel . I have been shown that human instrumentalities are liable to seek after too much power and try to control the work themselves. . . . God in His providence is preparing a way so that the work may be done by human agents. Then let every man stand at his post of duty, to act his part for this time and know that God is his instructor.” 2

Every wheel directed by God’s hand works in perfect harmony with every other wheel. Everyone is to stand at his or her own place of duty to do his or her part.

“A sower went out to sow his seed” (Luke 8:5). What does that mean? The seed is the Word of God, and the Lord is more than willing to give it to us.

“The teacher of sacred truth can impart only that which he himself knows by experience. ‘The sower sowed his seed.’ Christ taught the truth because He was the truth. His own thought, His character, His life-experience, were embodied in His teaching. So with His servants: those who would teach the word are to make it their own by a personal experience. They must know what it is to have Christ made unto them wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. In presenting the word of God to others, they are not to make it a suppose-so or a may-be. They should declare with the apostle Peter, ‘We have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of His majesty’ (2 Peter 1:16). Every minister of Christ and every teacher should be able to say with the beloved John, ‘The life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us’ (1 John 1:2).”3

All things work together for good among God’s faithful people doing His will. The apostle Paul explained, “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour” (1 Corinthians 3:6-8).

“The disciples were to begin their work where they were. The hardest and most unpromising field was not to be passed by. So every one of Christ’s workers is to begin where he is .In our own families may be souls hungry for sympathy, starving for the bread of life. There may be children to be trained for Christ. There are heathen at our very doors. Let us do faithfully the work that is nearest. Then let our efforts be extended as far as God’s hand may lead the way. . . . Christ’s work when upon earth appeared to be confined to a narrow field, but multitudes from all lands heard His message. God often uses the simplest means to accomplish the greatest results. It is His plan that every part of His work shall depend on every other part, as a wheel within a wheel, all acting in harmony. The humblest worker, moved by the Holy Spirit, will touch invisible chords, whose vibrations will ring to the ends of the earth, and make melody through eternal ages.” 4

Let us work in cooperation with the Lord as long as the door of probation is open.