Week Forty-Six - The Seed Fiddle

There is a lovely TV show here in England called The Repair Shop where people bring in items with sentimental value to be restored or repaired by experts. It's a fascinating show. 

One night a man brought in a farm implement which he called a Seed Fiddle. I'd never seen one before. Let me see if I can explain what it looked like. It had a bag for holding seeds and a leather strap to go over the shoulder of the user.  At the front of the implement, there was a cog that was moved by a long bow being drawn back and forth at a steady pace. The cog dispensed the seed while the user walked down the row of the field. The moving of the cog and bow caused a type of whine or music. Hence, it is called a Seed Fiddle.

So why am I telling you that? Well, it caught my imagination as I thought about scriptures speaking of sowing seed.

Jesus tells the parable of the sower in the Gospels. The sower casts his seed and it falls in various places with different outcomes.

Psalm 126:5,6 teaches us the value of sowing seed in relation to evangelism. "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him."

Ecclesiastes 11:6 encourages us to be sowing at all times. "In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good."

We are instructed to sow for ourselves as well. "Sow to yourselves in righteouness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you." Hosea 10:12

John 4:36, 37 tells us we are all working together in this effort. "both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth."

But with all our sowing, one truth remains. 1 Corinthians 3:6, "God gives the increase."

So how is your sowing?  Is it liberal and consistent? Do you make a joyful noise as you scatter the word? Or do you need a bit of repair?