Fallow Ground

Sow to yourselves in righteousness,

reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground:

for it is time to seek the Lord, til he

come and rain righteousness upon you.

Hosea 10:12

I LOVE DIRT!! You would really believe that if you were to come into my house right now and see the dusting it needs. I don't consider the dust anything but sprinkles of blessing. That might be a bit of a stretch for an excuse but the best I can do right now. I do know someone who loved the soil in her yard more than any seasoned farmer I ever knew. That was my sister, Kay. She had the most beautiful mini-gardens and settings around her house. She could have taken an acre of weeds and turned them into a million bucks in beautiful natural decor. She told me that when she could get out in her garden, digging around, she just felt a real closeness to the Lord when diggin' around in the dirt. I used to tell her that she could grow grass on concrete. She could grow anything from almost nothing...me,...well, my plastic house plants die. I guess that's why I always admired Kay's horticultural talent.

This last Saturday I attended a ladies conference where the speaker spoke on dirt and gardening. She has a bit of acreage and she engages in farming on a rather small scale. We were reminded that the main meaning of Adam's name is “man of the ground.” Guess what that makes you and me? So for a bit, let's look at ourselves as being a plot of ground...dirt.

Fallow ground is something farmers are very acquainted with. This is a field that is usually left for a season without any planting done on it. It is hoped that plot of land with take the year to replenish itself during that time of rest. There may be times when fallow ground has been forced upon a farmer. When there has been a drought, the ground may dry up and even develop huge cracks in it. Under those circumstances, nothing grows on it. Either way, the plot of land sits and can even develop a hard surface that sometimes can have a bit of a shiny look to it.

I saw a field like this I've described and said to the farmer, “What you need is a real good downpour of rain.” He immediately corrected me. He said from experience that a heavy rain could wash away valuable top soil. The harden ground doesn't always accept such a deluge of rain all at once. As it was into October at the time, he suggested that what that land could use was a nice heavy but slow falling snow. That way he said, as the snow melted, it had plenty of time to slowly melt and sink into the ground.

To this point, what do we know about a fallow field?

• It is a field that was once productive.
• Given the right conditions, it can again be productive
• For the time being, it is no longer productive...perhaps even barren
• The ground may have a crusty surface with possible cracks of varying sizes
  

 

What does that field need to be productive?

• A desire to bring that field back to being productive
• Plowed up...weeds and stones removed
• Fertilizers applied if necessary
• Rain, rain, rain
  
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I have recently gone through a time of feeling spiritually dryer than I want to be. As I'm definitely kin to Adam, I know my make up and know the day will come when I will return to that original state...dust to dust. Meanwhile, I have the field of my life to tend to. I refuse to sit in a fallow state spiritually. So how do we begin to get back to being as productive spiritually speaking as we know God wants us to be.

1. We must recognize the problem and want to do something about it. The Holy Spirit so sweetly nudges us to bring us to this point.
2. We must also realize that spiritual growth comes from the Lord and from Him alone. Somehow we feel that spiritual growth is our responsibility. Yes, we must be ready, willing and able in our cooperation with Him. Every farmer realizes he can do only so much in crop production. He can plow and plant...tend the fields as much as he can but only God can send the rains that are necessary for a bountiful crop to grow.
3. On our part, there may be thorns, other weeds and stones that can hinder fruitfulness in our lives. Here's where we must be honest with ourselves about those things of sin in our lives that need to be removed. Some may be huge in size, weeds with very deep roots. God will strengthen and enable us to clear our own personal plot of dirt.
   (Remember that our only responsibility is to clean up our own acre and not pull the weeds or gather up the stones from someone else's plot.)
4. God may have to do a plow job in our lives to break up that hardened, fallow ground. You can't just throw seeds out on it because they won't take root. He may have to break up the hard shell of our complacency, laziness and even our disregard for spiritual things.
5. We must allow God to plant those things in us that He wants to grow in us. All we have to do is look at Galatians 5 to see the fruit of the Spirit, those things He wants to produce in us in abundance. The things of this world will only bear weeds in our lives that are all for nothing in the whole scheme of our spiritual walk.
6. God must do the watering. I love in John 4 where Jesus talks with the Samaritan woman. It's got to be one of my favorite Bible accounts. In this account Jesus speaks to this woman regarding living water, a spiritual water that will forever quench a persons thirst. That isn't just for the unsaved person to know that encourages her to be saved. You and I have access to that living, flowing water every day we live and breathe.

 

Doctors are always tell me that I need to drink more water. I have water all over the 

place and I don't mind drinking water. I just don't do it like I should. The water in my

faucet or bottled water I keep handy is all for nothing if I don't drink it. No one is going

to feed it to me. This living water that is spiritual in nature will keep me hydrated and

healthy spiritually speaking but I must drink of it.

As I write, we are coming off of the summer months. Most Christians tend to slide somewhat during that time. Perhaps our own spiritual dirt needs stirred, the unnecessary removed and our ground being sowed and productive again. I can see more and more why my sister loved the earth, the dirt dropping between her fingers, the planting process and the enjoyment of the beauty her plots of dirt produced. The best part of it all for her was feeling so close to God in the process. That should be the end result for us in the spiritual land clearing and planting we are called to do.

Dear Father...I long to be productive for You and even closer to You in the process. Do what You must to get me where You want me to be. I'm Yours to weed, plow, plant and water...dirt in Your hands. I love You and yield myself into Your loving and capable hands. Amen.