Break Up Your Unplowed Ground

Every year in January according to the Jewish calendar. God tells us to plant a seed to be fruitful for the year.

The seed I planted at the beginning of the year has not seen much fruit. I’ve been asking the Lord, “why? What have a done wrong?” This is what God in laying on my heart.

Break up your unplowed ground. Jeremiah 4:3 says, “Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow your seeds among the thorns.” And Hosea 10:13 says, “Sow for yourselves righteousness, and reap the fruit of unfailing love, break up your unplowed ground.

These two verses have common phrases. “Break up your unplowed ground.” But what does that mean, and how do I do that? If I look at different translations of the Bible, (NIV, KJV, ESV) it reads “fallow ground.” Which is tillable,untilled ground. This is land that could be productive, but for some reason has not been broken up, tilled, or prepared for planting. So to answer the question above it means I have to break up my land spiritually.

Unplowed ground is unusable, nothing can grow there my seed won’t penetrate, germinate or grow to maturity if I don’t my roots can’t go deep enough to grow anything.

In other words, I sowed a seed, but because I didn’t bother to prepare my soil it had little or no effect.

When I apply this agricultural analogy to spiritual things. I learn what must be done to get ready for planting the seed I need to grow.

So, I automatically ask myself “What had been growing in my heart previously, whether it be hatred, bitterness, greed…whatever it is I need to get rid of it so something else can be planted. if something else is taking up space, a new seed can’t grow in the light.

The hardness must be broken up. I need to get rid of the hardness in my heart, in my case it’s the stubbornness of being not willing to let go of the old ways. I can’t plant something new, if there’s something old still growing.

Whether it’s laziness, or not believing I can make the change, I have to trust God to break up the unplowed ground. He can do it, I just have direct him toward the places in me that I know must be dealt with.

The hardness of me changing a few bad habits have to be faced squarely and broken up if I’m going to let something else grow. And all those ugly thorns have to be burned. I know now that parts of me have been covered with thorns and weeds.

Thorns make the fields of our hearts unproductive. Matthew 13:22 tells us that, The one who receives the seed that fell among the thorns is the one who hears but the worries of life choke out the seeds, making us unfruitful.

Looking toward the next 6 months I know I have to rededicate myself to sowing my seed, as clean out the thorns and weeds I have let take over my land (my heart).

I’m looking forward to becoming more self-disciplined as I finish off the year.