Jeremiah 4:3: “For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: / ‘Break up your fallow ground, / And do not sow among thorns.'”

October 3rd, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

God compares a heart that is not humble to a farmer’s field that sits untilled. He calls it “fallow ground,” which is ground that is potentially productive but for whatever reason has not been broken up, tilled, plowed, or prepared for planting. Leaving land alone for long periods of time causes it to become choked with useless weeds, and Jeremiah warned against sowing new seeds in such ground because they would not survive. Jesus spoke of it in the “Parable of the Sower” (Matt. 13:22), explaining that God’s Word, falling into a weed-patch heart, ultimately produces nothing because the thorns choke out the sprouting seed. Spiritual fruit cannot grow in such soil.

The human heart that once produced a spiritual crop, but is now overgrown with thorns and weeds, must be broken up through repentance. God wants to use us to reproduce and bring a harvest, but He can’t do that if our hearts are not cultivated and ready for use. If we ask Him, He will till the ground of our souls, renewing our sensitivity to the needs of others. But the plow of repentance must go deep. As Keith Green sang so powerfully, “My eyes are dry / My faith is old / My heart is hard / My prayers are cold / And I know how I ought to be / Alive to You and dead to me.”

“LORD, we repent and turn back to You. We confess that we have become too complacent and need You to pour Your living water on the hard soil of our hearts.”