C. Lunden, 1983
“From everyone who hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the wicked one comes and catches away what was sown in his heart: this is he that is sown by the wayside” (Matthew 13:19).
I. Catching Away What Was Sown
Satan goes to work on the sowing of the seed, and he allows the profession but hinders the heart from taking hold. In each of the parables, the word reaches the heart in every case — but in order for the word to remain in the heart, it must go through the conscience. If this does not happen, then it just leads to religious profession. We see that in the parables of the tares, the mustard tree, and the leaven. It is the effects of Satan upon the sowing of the seed. He goes to work immediately to corrupt the thing which God Himself has done.
II. Applications to the Hearts of True Believers
There are times, in a believer’s life, when we have received the word, but then we set it aside and have not acted upon it — that is by the wayside!
The flesh in us sometimes prefers something else, and as a result, we harden our hearts to not receive the particular truth spoken to us.
It is possible, too, that we allow the cares of this life to so enclose us, mortgaging the future to such an extent that we tie our hands and feet, and we have no time for the things of God.
God never puts us into an impossible situation — if we are there, we have put ourselves into it.
III. The Hearts Laden (Luke 21:34)
“But take heed to yourselves lest possibly your hearts be laden with surfeiting and drinking and cares of life, and that day come upon you suddenly unawares.”
Here, drunkenness does not necessarily mean alcohol. It means to be inebriated with the spirit of this world (see also Eph. 5).
“How weak is thy heart!” (Ezekiel 16:30).
We all have cares, and we cannot help this — but we are not to be overcharged with them. To be overcharged with care is to be put into a position where you have no control – to make your own condition in life impossible.
The day, to which this verse refers, is the close of this age. At that time, it will come upon people who are heavily laden with excesses, lack of sobriety, and the cares of this life. That day will catch them unawares because they will be so burdened by their own lives, that the things of God will be far from their minds.