Love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God. 1 Peter 1:22-23

When archaeologists were excavating King Herod’s Dead Sea fortress of Masada, they found some 2,000-year-old seeds –seeds that had been taken from a date palm. With some work and tender loving care, those millennia-old seeds sprouted and grew into what has appropriately been named, “the Methuselah palm”.

Now, according to an article published by the BBC, the Global Crop Diversity Trust is going to try to make the preservation of all seeds a priority. According to the news release, a seed vault has been constructed inside a mountain on remote, and very cold Spitsbergen, Norway.
The idea is to take seeds and keep them safe for centuries to come.

And if you were to ask the Global Crop Diversity Trust, “Why do you want to keep seeds safe for a very long time?” They would quickly respond, “We want to be ready in case some global disaster befalls the world’s food crops. We want to be prepared to rebuild the food supply if something like nuclear war, asteroids, or global warming wipes things out.”

It’s probably a good idea. You just never know what’s going to happen.

Now, from here this devotion could go a number of different ways. We could talk about how God preserves us and keeps us safe from calamity or we could speak about the coming day when, no matter how remotely those seeds are being stored, they won’t be able to escape the coming judgment. Yes, this devotion could go any number of directions, but what I’d like to do is talk for a moment on how God’s Word grows.

In one of Jesus’ parables He spoke of how the seed of God’s Word develops differently on diverse soils. As far as I know, He never said anything about how long it takes before a sown seed will sprout. Long or short, it always seems like forever before any results can be seen.

Knowing that, we need to ask the Lord for patience. Many of you Daily Devotion listeners or readers are concerned about someone you love who doesn’t know Jesus as his or her Lord and Savior. You’re worried about their eternal destinies, and whether the seed will ever sprout within the soil of their hearts. For years, maybe decades, you have prayed and waited, waited and prayed. To all of you I would like to say: Be patient. The Lord, who has the ability to make the seed of a palm tree grow after 2,000 years, can bless the seed of His Word. As Peter said, ‘God’s Word is an imperishable seed. . . a seed which can bring new birth.’

THE PRAYER: Dear heavenly Father, today I pray that You will give me patience even as I ask You to let the seed of Your Word take root and grow in the heart of (PLACE A NAME HERE). In Jesus’ Name I ask it. Amen.

In Christ I remain His servant and yours,

Today's Bible Readings: Ezekiel 30-32    1 Peter 4

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