Call To Remembrance

We decided to expand our garden last year. The place we chose hadn’t been worked in many years. It was hard packed, dry, and grew only thistles at the time. My dad came over to work through it with his disc and then my husband and I went back over it with the tiller several times. Each breaking of ground revealed more roots, rocks, and debris that needed to be removed so as not to inhibit the new growth. After several passes of turning soil, soaking it, sifting through it, etc, it finally began to soften and became ready to plant.

One evening as I was out walking through the garden and filling my pockets with all those rocks that had turned up,  I started to think over areas of hardness in my own heart and some things that needed weeding out and God brought to mind a verse that has always stuck with me, but now He tied it to an image;  

Hosea 10:12 “Break up the fallow ground for it is time to seek the Lord til He come and rain righteousness on you”.  

With this verse, He showed me that this was the process of breaking up the fallow ground of my heart. Fallow ground, by definition, is ground that has the potential to be productive, but has been dormant. If we consider our hearts in comparison, there are often places where sin has taken root, hardened our hearts with bitterness, unforgiveness, offense, or any host of hurts or strongholds. This debris then stunts any growth or fruitfulness from developing in our lives. 

The call to break up the fallow ground is a call to repentance, which begins the process of preparing our hearts for new growth. An interesting word study from Strong’s concordance showed me that the word ‘break’ in Hos 10:12 is likened to the gleam of a fresh plow tilling the soil. The word ‘gleam’ means a small bright light. That thought directed me to Psalm 119:130 which states that the ‘entrance of God’s word brings light’. When we read the word of God, it gives revelation as our hearts become broken with what breaks His and we are moved to repentance as those rocks and roots become exposed. This can surely be painful and uncomfortable and yet, God’s word also promises that those who sow in tears will reap in joy.

In both the book of Joel and Hosea, the writers tell us as we seek to know God,  He will come to us as a shower, like the seasonal rains that first come to prepare the earth for the planting of the seed and then come to sustain that seed and bring it to fruition. Much in the same way our watering that dry and barren soil of our garden softened it to help reveal and remove debris, the more we seek and pursue God, He pours out His righteousness on our hearts and softens those hard places. 

Isaiah 55 tells us, ‘The rain and the snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with My word, I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it shall prosper everywhere I send it.”

Those good and precious promises of God accomplish His will in and through us as we allow it to change us, renew our mind, transform and cleanse our heart and produce fruits of righteousness in our lives. 

AW Tozer states, “One cannot plant until he plows, nor move forward until he has removed the obstacles before him.” 

When the roots of pride, bitterness, or unforgiveness are set deep in our hearts, they choke out the seeds of truth and leave us barren. But confession sets the plow deep enough to break those roots free and repentance removes them altogether making us fertile ground, ready for growth and new life. 

Just like the seasonal work of the farmer and the seasonal rains sent from the heavens, we too require seasons of personal reflection and repentance. That new garden we worked through and through was still surrounded by weeds and without management and proper tending, those weeds would creep in and soon take over. With each new crop the farmer plants, the ground requires preparation. This is a continual work, but if we are faithful in maintaining it, the ground becomes established and there is less debris, or what needs to be removed has not developed those deep and hard roots. 

The best news is that none of this has to be done in our own strength.  The Master Gardener has ‘through His divine power given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.’ That includes the desire and the humility to repent. We just have to be willing to allow the work. When we surrender to that, He will pour out His Holy Spirit on us to do that supernatural work of removal and restoration.

So friends, I urge you, seek the Lord, set the plow, break up the fallow ground, and let repentance have its work, for there is a great harvest to come. I pray that you too end up with a pocket full of rocks and a heart full of joy.