This time of year, we are preparing for winter. Hay is in the barn and calves are hitting the ground. But, of utmost importance is the planting of winter pastures. Our cattle do their best growing on winter rye grass during the cooler temps of winter in the south. So it’s time to start breaking it up!
Some of the pastures can be “over seeded,” which means they are planted by the seed drill and no other work is needed. But for some of the fields, the prep work is more intense and takes longer than the actual planting.
Some of the pastures needed to be bushhogged first. But then the real work of discing (yup, it’s spelled correctly…I checked!) begins. Day after day, they plowed the fields. We were in the middle of a pretty dry weather pattern, so the dust was awful. For the seeds to do their best, especially after the dry weather, the disk was needed to break up the ground. This allows the seed to drop into the ground and wait for the moisture so it can grow. Some of our pastures still had some moisture below the surface because of the type of soil we have.
A few of the fields even had to be lightly disced just to allow the person driving the tractor to see where they had been and make sure that everything was planted correctly. The broken ground allowed for track marks to be followed more easily than on the hard, dry ground.
I watched my husband and boys disc and plant in the hot dust off and on for about 2 weeks. Equipment issues, sore bodies, dust and aggravation, all had them tired and ready for this time of year to be over. But over those weeks, I heard the message of The Lord.
“Break up your fallow ground.”
I went to the Word and found this statement in both Jeremiah and Hosea. In Jeremiah 4:3, the context of this passage is God’s response to our confession. When repentance is sincere, the blessing of God is swift and abundant. But the first step is for us to start breaking it up. Break up the hard, untilled (fallow) ground of our hearts. We must prepare the ground for planting.
If we sow our seed for winter pastures just on of top of the ground, we don’t see a great result usually. Sometimes the seed is choked out by the existing grass. Often, the birds eat the seed before it has a chance to germinate. Seed cannot just be scattered, it must be planted. Many scriptures refer to being planted.
God is asking us to plant and allow Him to plant in us. We have lately found ourselves in an unusual season where God is doing all kinds of new things. It is scary and exciting. But I am focusing on His Word. I am asking for his disc and tractor to be applied to my heart and break up my fallow ground. Break it all up! In a way, that process is much the same as The Refiner’s Fire. If we don’t allow Him to remove the things in us that don’t belong, if we don’t have soft ground where His Word can settle, we will miss our purpose.
When that disc goes through the ground, it turns it over. If something is buried where the disc has been, it gets exposed. In one field, we have a pile of metal that was brought to the surface from some long ago buried object(s). Breaking up the ground exposes hidden things that need to be removed. Just like the refiner’s fire removes impurities.
Hosea 10:12 repeats the same statement. Here the prophet states that’s those who sow righteousness will reap mercy. This statement brought Isaiah 64:6 to mind where Isaiah said that our righteousness is as filthy rags. When we accept Jesus, we are given His righteousness to cover ours and so much more.
If we will break up the hard places in our hearts and allow God to sow in His righteousness, we will reap His salvation, His mercy and His grace!
Planting time is hard, but harvest is coming. Harvest is exciting. Once we are planted by Him, our ground will produce! Just like those cattle this winter that will grow and develop into what they were designed to be while grazing on those lush pastures, you and I will grow and mature into fertile fields for the Lord of the Harvest.
We can’t be what we are designed to be without breaking it up first, breaking up the fallow, untouched parts. We can’t accept all that He has to plant in us – dreams, blessings, callings – until our ground is ready and able to receive it. He has so much for us, but He has so much for us to do! Are you praying for The Lord of the Harvest to send laborers to the field? Before harvest can come, the fallow ground must be broken and planted. Then comes the Harvest!
