There had been no rain in Israel for three and a half years. No crops had grown, the people were hungry, there was a famine. Nevertheless the people of God sowed their seed in the usual way, they sowed into the barren, parched soil. Then when the rain came the seed started to germinate. All that the seed had needed was rain. The people had faith. It would have been no use waiting until it rained and then planting the seed.
We, too, have to sow into the barren cold soil of people’s hearts. Often there will be no immediate results. Then one day, completely unexpectedly, the seed in the previously barren soil will become a harvest. It is no good waiting until the soil of the soul is ready. God is at work in places we don’t know about. Our task is to plant; the harvest will appear at God’s perfect timing.