Break Up the Fallow Ground

There's an empty field at the edge of our neighborhood.

I don't know what it used to be.

Maybe an old farm, an orchard, maybe a home, a homestead.

But whatever it was, it's not that anymore and hasn't been for a long time.

There's something about a neglected field that just stays with you.

You drive past one long enough and you start to notice it.

The soil getting hard and compact, weeds growing up and through cracks in a sidewalk.

Not because the land is bad, but because nothing has been done with it.

It hasn't been broken up, turned over, made ready to receive something new.

A lot of us live that way spiritually, don't we? Not rebellious, not running from God, just untended.

We get busy or numb or tired, and slowly, quietly, the ground of our inner life hardens without us even realizing it.

We go through the motions and wonder why nothing seems to be growing.

Well, the prophet Hosea speaks into exactly that moment.

Through him, God calls his people back to the basics of soul care, sowing, reaping, breaking up the hard ground.

This meditation and our time together is about that invitation and what it looks like to say yes to it.

the verse anchoring our prayer will be from Matthew chapter 6 verse 33 but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you Jesus said those words to a crowd full of worried distracted people they sound a lot like us so as we open in a moment of prayer I'll read a short phrase from that verse and each time I want you to respond aloud with these words Lord I seek you first first take a breath seek first the kingdom Lord I seek you first and his righteousness Lord I seek you first and all these things will be added to you Lord I seek you first.

It is time to seek the Lord.