Plowing
| “Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns.” |
| —Jeremiah 4:3 |
I remember how my father loved to prepare the ground and plant his fields in the spring. He was probably the happiest doing these tasks from the seat of his tractor than doing just about anything else. All farmers, whether using oxen, or horses, or air conditioned tractors know the process well that leads to growth and production from this annual task.
The Bible contains many illustrations from the themes of sowing and reaping. We often hear quoted Galatians 6:7: “A man reaps what he sows.” Jesus told a whole parable on the process of growing seeds into healthy plants. In Mark 4:1-20, He likened people to one of four types of soil—two of which Jeremiah references in the verse at the beginning of this blog post.
One type of soil develops over time and through the repeated trampling of feet and wagons over a footpath. The soil becomes so hard that anyone trying to plant there would have to “break up” that soil in order to grow anything. The other type of soil needs the uprooting of thorns, in order not to choke the seed the farmer intends to plant.
In these days when we have more time than usual to meditate on God’s ways with us, His methods, His desires, I believe we should consider how He wants to prepare us for the days ahead. He wants to make us and our churches more productive than they have been. The footpaths have become like stone with the habitual trampling, often unthinkingly, of His good grace.
The thorns God warns us of must illustrate the sins that grow with a mind of their own and take over our patterns of life, and even our Christian duties. In self-will and self-righteousness and pride, we easily allow our thoughts and actions to choke out the life of the written Word of God, the calling of God’s Holy Spirit, our prayer lives, and any godly desires we may have once held.
If our lives and our churches emerge from this current COVID-19 pandemic more fruitful than they have been, we must take our Lord’s admonishment: “Break up the unplowed ground.” Dig below the surface and renew a fertile life of faith and practice. “Do not sow among thorns.” Get rid of the sin into which we so easily fall. In the future, do not continue trying to live with one foot in sin and one foot in the Kingdom of God.
In the Mark 4 parable, Jesus speaks of the soil He desires. He wants us to plant in “good soil”—soil in which we hear the written Word, accept it, and produce a large crop.
Crops, once planted, need sunlight and water. Often, the truest brokenness of heart soil and adequate preparation for a plenteous crop comes by way of tears and a humble heart. I like the way Psalm 126:4-6 states it:
Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy carrying sheaves with him.
—Posted: Monday, April 27, 2020
