From Fallow to Fertile
Today’s Verse:
For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. ~Jeremiah 4:3
Good soil is integral to growing healthy flowers or produce. Here in the Bay Area, much of our soil has a clay composition, making it difficult for plants to develop deep roots or to grow in a healthy manner. We basically have to break up the soil, and then add good top soil in order to grow healthy plants or vegetables. However, we also have to work the soil each year for our plants and vegetables to grow well. This morning, let us see the problem and prescription for fallow ground.
We see the CONCEPT.
Good soil is a necessity for agriculture. The life and livelihood of a family and an economy are dependent upon the soil. Fallow soil is soil that has been left idle for a period of time. It is uncultivated soil that is not attended to. It is soil where nothing has been planted. Over time, it starts to grow weeds and nettles. Instead of the soil being useful, it becomes useless. Any seed that is sown on fallow ground will grow among thorns and eventually be choked off. What could have been a good harvest can become a weak or non-existent harvest when the ground is left fallow.
We see the CURSE.
Soil in the Bible is a picture of our hearts. When the soil of our heart is left uncultivated (that is, not attended and cared for), it isn’t long until thorns and weeds make their way up. A fallow heart is a heart that has been uncultivated. It is a heart that is left idle and neglected. It is a heart that becomes hardened through unbelief. It is a heart that has not been guarded from the thorns of worldliness, and the good seed of the Word is choked off by the thorns. It is soil that has not been irrigated with the latter rain of revival, or tears of repentance. Nothing is growing where the soil is fallow. Nothing productive is coming forth from fallow soil. It is land that starts to lose its attraction, and decreases in value. Is it possible the soil of your heart has been uncultivated and neglected? Has the good seed been choked off by thorns growing in the soil of your heart?
We see the CURE.
There is a Bible cure for fallow ground. Break it up! Fallow soil needs to be broken up and made fertile once again. We need the Spirit of God and God’s Word to be the machinery to break up this fallow soil. We need the overgrowth of a cynical spirit to be broken up. We need the disobedience from a heart of unbelief to be broken up. We need the hardness of a compassionless life to be broken up. We need the wickedness of sinful indulgences to be broken up. Fallow ground must be broken up. Until the soil is broken up, it is useless for us to sow. Sowing among the thorns is counterproductive to the power of the Word of God. The thorny plants need to be pulled up by the roots so that the soil is free again. The harmful things we allowed to grow in our hearts while it was fallow must be dealt with immediately and decisively.
Don’t leave your heart uncultivated and unplanted! Be careful of idols that creep their way into your hearts! Be careful of being hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. It’s time to break up the fallow ground and start sowing in righteousness. Let your heart be a place where there is productivity and plenty.
Have a fallow-free God Morning!
Bible Reading Schedule: Ruth