Break up Your Unplowed Ground
Jeremiah 4v3-4
22nd January 2021
As I said last time, I've been praying about Coronavirus and reading Jeremiah. Last time, we looked at:
Jeremiah 4v1-2
"If you will return, O Israel, return to me," declares the Lord. "If you put your
detestable idols out of my sight and no longer go astray,
and if in a truthful, just and righteous way you swear, 'As surely as the Lord lives,'
then the nations will be blessed by him and in him they will glory."
We saw that before we return to the kind of lives we long to live, God calls us to return to Him. God wants us to put Him first, and seek His face in prayer and repentance.
The next verses of Jeremiah are:
Jeremiah 4v3-4
This is what the Lord says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem: “Break up your
unploughed ground and do not sow among thorns.
Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your hearts, you men of Judah and
people of Jerusalem, or my wrath will break out and burn like fire because of
the evil you have done — burn with no-one to quench it.
The first two verses of this chapter, which we studied last time, were addressed to the exiled descendants of the Northern tribes, who lost their lands in 732 BC. However, this prophecy, in verse 3 and 4, is addressed to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem. These people, who lived in the southern kingdom, had not lost their land, although they would soon also be exiled, when Nebuchadnezzar invaded from Babylon and took them away.
Before they south would suffer the same fate as the north, God sent Jeremiah to warn them. Ultimately, they didn't listen, and they too were exiled.
God told them to "Break up your unploughed ground". He wasn't talking about agriculture. He was talking about our hearts and our lives. There are parts of our hearts that we've never truly given to God, never truly let Him rule there. But God wants and deserves every part of our hearts.
Is there an area of unforgiveness in your heart? Or an area of rebellion against Biblical teaching? An area of sin or unbelief? God calls you to put a plough blade through that area, to break up the hard surface that may have been left unploughed for years, or even decades.
God is calling you to soften your heart. And if you do, who knows what God will plant there for your blessing and His glory?
And God says "do not sow among thorns". As the Parable of the Sower teaches us (Matthew 13v22) one who sows among thorns finds that "the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke [the seed] and make it unfruitful".
Are you sowing in areas where you haven't given control to God, so you're still beset by worry? Yield it to God, give Him control. Let Him do what He wants with that area of your life. Decide that if it prospers that's fine, and if it withers that's fine too, and be free from worry.
Have you been deceived into seeking earthly wealth? Decide in your heart that you're content to have exactly as much or as little money as Jesus wants you to have (*). Don't be deceived. Money won't make you happy. It won't make you secure. It won't give you peace:
1 Timothy 6v6-10
But godliness with contentment is great gain.
For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.
But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.
Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish
and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for
money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
And there can be other thorns in your life. Whatever prevents you growing in godliness, love and power, Root it out! Experience the fulness of God's goodness in every area of your life.
All we've been saying is summarised in these words: "Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your hearts". The outward show of religion is never enough. It doesn't please God and it doesn't satisfy our hearts. Sacrificing a part of our skin is useless. Sacrificing our selfishness, pride and wilfulness, seeking God instead of money or ease, is profoundly valuable.
God wants a people whose hearts are fixed on Him. If we remain stubborn, hard-hearted towards the God who loves us and saved us, then God says, "my wrath will break out and burn like fire because of the evil you have done — burn with no-one to quench it.". I suggest we heed God's words.
(*) This is why I never gamble. If I gamble and win, I'll have more money than Jesus wants me to have. If I gamble and lose, I will have less money than Jesus wants me to have.