Sow righteousness for yourselves,
reap the fruit of unfailing love,
and break up your unplowed ground;
for it is time to seek the Lord,
until he comes and showers his righteousness on you.
Hosea 10:12
The Chaplain’s Corner devotional last week on conditioning used a couple of analogies to describe the process of growing in discipleship, focusing on Bible study and prayer. The analogies were working out (exercise), and farming. Today I will take up the analogy of farming to add another discipline, that of confession and repentance.
Have you ever seen a plant try to grow in a parched piece of ground? Back in 2005 I went on a mission trip to Tecate, Mexico. Our group built a house for a family on a slab of rock. They had been living in a shanty made of corrugated metal and cardboard and cloth, and I recall that they had a single tomato plant that was struggling in the hot sun. It was limp, didn’t have any blooms, and I’m surprised it grew at all. They would water it from time to time, and some water got in through a crack, but most of it just ran off. It looked something like this:
Our hearts are in the same condition as this parched ground until we break them up, plow them into a condition that is receptive to instruction and God’s leadership. Our human reaction to teaching is often negative: resentment, bitterness, anger, argumentative, refusal. Who are “they” to tell me anything? The life-giving water just runs off, wasted on us. The problem is that our resistance to the truth also makes us unable to absorb it. The truth is unrecognizable to us. We need it, but we can’t receive it, much like this poor plant in the picture.
The solution is as follows, with diligent, daily practice:
- Pray to God to soften our hearts, to make us receptive to the Word of God so that when we hear it, it can work on us. “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26). When we pray, we also ask for wisdom and discernment so that we don’t get confused by teaching that might sound good but is in reality not biblical. Otherwise, we might just find ourselves going in circles and not making any real progress. “Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together” (Deuteronomy 22:10).
- When we are receptive and God’s Word can begin working on us, we can then confess our sins. “Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy. Blessed is the one who always trembles before God, but whoever hardens their heart falls into trouble.” (Proverbs 28:13-14). “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness”1 John 1:9).
- And with confession add repentance, resolving to turn away from sin. “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord…” “Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you” (James 1:21).
When we dedicate ourselves to being obedient and walking in truth, then we can be confident that we are in line with the one true God. As Micah prophesied in Micah 2:12-13 to both Israel and Judah regarding God’s promise of deliverance, once we allow our hearts to be plowed, broken up and softened, He will lead us into the abundant life we have been destined for:
“I will surely gather all of you, Jacob;
I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel.
I will bring them together like sheep in a pen,
like a flock in its pasture;
the place will throng with people.
The One who breaks open the way will go up before them;
they will break through the gate and go out.
Their King will pass through before them,
the Lord at their head.”
Let us resolve to seek life in Christ through diligent prayer, confession, and repentance, opening our hearts to the power of the Holy Spirit.
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).
In Christ,
Judy
Note: Many of the scripture references and analogies have been shamelessly taken from Pastor Spencer Barnard’s sermon series on Farm Facts.
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