Jesus taught this parable in Mark 4:3-4, Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow: And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.
Then He gave the interpretation of the parable as He does many times in the Scripture. In Mark verses 14 and 15, The sower soweth the word. And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.
The good seed was sown, and should have sprung up and brought forth fruit, but no one acted on the word, and in the delay Satan came and stole the word. I've seen people under strong conviction during a church service but never react, with the intention of dealing with it later. During the delay Satan visited them and stole the word away.
The Bible always teaches us "today" is the day. The old proverb, out of sight, out of mind, is true to many times. Another old saying, don't put off til tomorrow what can be done today. When the Lord is speaking to us we should act quickly and joyfully or expect a visit from the wicked one. Jesus came to give us abundant life but Satan to kill, steal, and destroy.
Pastor Ken Smith