Prepare the Soil- Leave the Rain to God

My favorite prophet of all is Elijah. There is a tale of his praying for rain after a three and half-year drought. He closes his eyes and prays to the God of heaven; seven times, he sends his servant to see if any rain has come (1 Kings 18:41-46). I wonder if he knew that it would take seven times? Finally, the servant recognizes a cloud the size of a man's fist. Elijah gets up and girds his garment around his loins and proceeds to run. I, like Elijah, am girding my garment about me and getting ready to run --- to Africa.

God has been speaking to me about the fallow, unprepared ground in my heart.  See,  fallow ground can be considered unused or even unusable land. Trees may be in the field that must be cut down;  nothing can be planted with trees in the way. In addition, our vision is limited, it is hard to imagine what could be if the horizon is obscured.

Even after this work is done, the more difficult work remains- removing the stumps. I have had stumps of bitterness about mistreatment, devaluation, betrayal, and disappointment about the reality I have faced in public education. Those stumps must be pulled out. I thought I was dealing with the issues as they came along- I was- but some stumps were still there. Before going to Africa, all those stumps, have to be removed.

Mark Batterson calls the Word of God the plow that breaks the hardened soil of our ignored hearts.The Lord pulled those stumps out with these words: "But I said, I have laboured to no purpose, I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing. Yet, what is due me is in the Lord's hand, and my reward is with God. For I am honored in the eyes of the Lord and my God is my strength" (Isaiah 49:4-7). O' my soul rest in the Lord- He is your everlasting portion.

Large rocks must be dislodged as well; many times that is done by confession. Just last Sunday, my pastor asked me for forgiveness for how my present church has failed to receive me or support my new mission. This blog entry is my own confession before the larger Body of Christ.

Unused ground must be broken up because it becomes hardened.The hardness in my heart came by hurt in key relationships, lack of support from the body of Christ, ressentments about broken trust, and unbelief that things could change about God promises. Hardened soil can't receive the seed. The seed can't enter the ground; it will likely be eaten by the birds or if it finds a place to lodge, it will spring up quickly and then die. Things that grow well in fallow ground are weeds and thorns (Mark 13:22: Mark 4:19; Luke 8:14).   God pulls the plow through those hardened places, to turn the ground so He can plant seeds because He wants to do a new work. Once, the thorns are dislodged, it is up to me to gather them and burn them: "See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many" (Hebrews 12:15).

But like everything else, God does not waste this dormant time.  During this period in my life, the ground of  relationships, skill sets, and education have grown a hard crust over them, but they have a  time to settle and to be replenished so that they are even more ready for the growing season. My gifts, rather than diminishing, been allowed to revitalize and gather new strength. This time disengaged from people and endeavors allowed me rest and reflection. 

Christ clearly had shown me a rich orchard full of pomegranates planted in my fiels, but there remained sections of land untilled. The untilled, unprepared land were aspects of my life yet surendered to God's cultivation. See, I know that I have struggled with looking for the rain: Where is the anointing? Where is God? But, God is not asking me to deal with the rain, but to prepare the soil of my heart. He will deal with the rain. Just ask Elijah.

A Farmer-in-Training,
MJ