READ: Mark 4:26,27 NLT
Jesus said, “The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens.”
We have the privilege of being foster parents and my day often begins by having breakfast with our foster daughter. She is ten years old and has a sharp and enquiring mind. Very often she will come up with a question like “Why don’t birds fly into one another?” or “How do bees smell?” I rarely have any idea of the answer and particularly at that time in the morning! Our foster daughter will then normally say, “Well google it then!”
Googling is great and gives us speedy access to libraries of knowledge. But even so the world is still full of mysteries. In these verses Jesus speaks of the mystery of the Kingdom of God. Day and night, rain and shine, the kingdom of God grows. Just as a farmer has no understanding of how growth happens, so we too cannot fathom how God works. It is simply an amazing miracle.
In its communist days Albania was often described as a completely atheistic country. I was often told that there were no known Christians in the country. Happily that wasn’t true. The Christians were few in number but they were there all right. Quietly the Kingdom of God was still miraculously at work, and since communism fell the church has grown enormously in that country. This should give encouragement to all of us.
The wonderful truth is that the Kingdom of God is growing all over the world. On those days when we can’t see any growth we have every reason to praise God that, miraculously, his Kingdom is still growing. We don’t know how he does it, but he does and that’s what matters.
QUESTION: In what way does the fact that God’s kingdom is miraculously and relentlessly growing encourage you today?
PRAYER: Loving Father, we thank you for the miracle of your kingdom. May our faith and confidence in you grow day by day. Amen.

Released on 13 Oct 2020