“Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.”
Hosea 10:12
Fallow ground is unused ground, ground that has not been submitted to the process of sowing and reaping.
Farmers break up their fallow ground with a plow, a disk, and a harrow. The hard clods of earth that resist being penetrated by seeds, the patches where weeds grow that choke the seeds out, have to be broken up so that the land can bear a fruitful crop. Rocks often have to be picked out of the field.
There are areas of our hearts that we have never allowed God to use. God calls us to prepare our hearts to receive the seed of His Word. In the parable of the sower that Jesus told there was stony ground, some ground that was packed down so hard that the seed couldn’t penetrate, and some where weeds grew and choked out the seed. But the ground where His Word is able to penetrate and take root yields abundant fruit.
Hosea calls us to break up the fallow ground of our hearts, prepare it and sow the seed of God’s Word in it; then seek the Lord for the rains that will make it grow and produce fruit.
If we sow the seed of God’s righteousness, we will reap steadfast love in those areas of our lives that have resisted Him before. Now that’s a harvest worth working for!
Lord Jesus, show me where the unsurrendered patches are in my heart. Give me your grace to break them up and plant the seed your righteous Word in them. Send the rain of your Holy Spirit and bring forth the fruit that You long to see in my life. Amen.
Pastor Dan Giles