We may notice in passing how reverentially the prophet believes that
agriculture is taught by God. He would have said the same of
cotton-spinning or coal-mining. Think how striking a figure that is, of
all the world as God's farm, where He practises His husbandry to grow
the crops which He desires.
What a picture the parable gives of sedulous and patient labour for a
far-off result!
It insists on the thought of one steady divine purpose ever directing
the movements of the divine hand.
That is the negation of the godless theory that the affairs of men are
merely the work of men, or are merely the result of impersonal causes.
The world is not a jungle where any or every plant springs of itself,
but it is cultivated ground which has an Owner who looks after it.
It is the affirmation that God's action is regulated by a purpose which
is intelligent, unchanging, all-embracing to us because revealed.