Fallowing the Soil

I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.’ (Hosea 10:12)

Plant the good seeds of righteousness - harvest a crop of love. Back in the day, there was a song whose lyrics purported, "What the world needs now is love, sweet love...", and that may not have been bad advice back then or right now! The world needs to experience the love of Christ - through us. We take an 'active' role in not only accepting the 'good seeds of righteousness' into our lives, but in sharing (sowing) those seeds into the lives of others.

One of the things we need to do within our own lives is allow God's 'plow' to be applied to the 'soil' of our hearts. Fallow ground is hard. It has been left 'untilled' and 'unplanted' for quite some time. Farmers actually allow entire fields to go 'fallow' for a period of time because it helps to restore the nutrients to the soil that the crops can strip out. It is purposefully left to rest and regenerate. We all need the seasons of rest and regeneration, but if we remain 'at rest' for way too long, the soil of our heart becomes hard and sometimes quite impenetrable.

When ground is allowed to 'fallow', the potassium and phosphorus that is deep beneath the surface begins to gradually rise to the surface once again. When we engage in times of rest and regeneration, something from deep within begins to surface again - the very thing that will bring health and vitality. The commission is to 'plow up' the hard soil of our hearts - it has been allowed to fallow long enough. Now is the time to seek the Lord - so his work can be done in this earth.

Some have rested on their laurels, no longer putting forth any effort to grow in Christ, much less reach a lost world for him. Perhaps it is time for the 'plowing' of that soil, my friends. We aren't going to produce anything of value for the Kingdom of God without putting forth the effort to know him better, grow in the knowledge of his Word, and being in service to him. Just sayin!