Breaking up hardened soil is hard work. Once the surface has been packed by travel, cemented by rain, and baked by the sun, its like concrete rather than dirt. The only solution is back-breaking work with pics and plows. It is not only hard work, it is necessary work, especially if you are a farmer. You simply can’t afford to sit by idly and watch some ground become unusable. You need to use that plot; you can’t lose that plot.
The way of hardened ground is an illustration of a hardened heart. Just like the soil in the elements, hearts, left to their own inclinations, will become hardened to the things of God. They will be packed down by constant sin, cemented by vain philosophy, and baked by the heat of wayward passions. Just like the hardened soil, the hardened heart must be broken up. Once the soil is loosened and refreshed, it will revive! It will receive nourishment and it will once again produce! The same is true for the heart.
However, breaking up a hardened heart is hard work! It’s hard to honestly confess sin. It’s hard to sincerely repent of sin. It’s hard to train your heart to hate the things that it loves. It’s hard to intentionally discipline yourself for godliness instead of laziness. It’s hard work, but it is necessary work. A hardened heart that is never confronted and plowed up indicates a heart that has never been made new. We all have hearts that grow hard at times but if we will do the hard work of breaking up our fallow ground, those hearts will revive, and they will once again produce!
10:12 “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.”
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