When Is “Failure” A Success?

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
Isaiah 55.10-11

Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.
Jesus, in Matthew 13.3b-7

Are Isaiah and Jesus disagreeing here? It sounds as if Isaiah says that, with God, there is no futility. Everything God decides to do happens just the way God intends it to happen. And it sounds as if Jesus is explaining how something God intends may not work out the way God has in mind. There may be interference, and God’s intention may be frustrated.

Perhaps there’s another possibility. It may be that there’s more than one way for sowing seeds to have a good result.

• Suppose the seed falls among thorns, and absorbs water from the soil, and absorbs nutrients along with the water, and begins to grow, and then loses out to the thorns in the competition for light. The moisture and the nutrients then become available to those other plants. Thistles, say. And the thistles go on to produce improbably beautiful flowers for people to enjoy, even as they’re being encouraged by the thorns to leave some parts of the earth un-trampled. I’m not so sure God is sorry about that result.