Fallow

Being Refreshed

(Exodus 23:10-11)
"For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops, but during the seventh year let the land lie fallow, un-ploughed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat".

A picture came to me at church:
There, in the sunlight, is a field. It is scraggly and uncared-for. Different kinds of plants grow there, some with bright flowers. Many are weeds. Butterflies, bright and busy, fill the air.

I asked our Lord: "Jesus, is this field just going to waste? Why is this land abandoned instead of being worked? Is this as a sign for some of us here? What does it mean?"

Jesus was saying:
"See this field? It may look abandoned, like waste ground, but it is fallow. A fine crop was harvested here, now it has a different kind of life; it may seem very random and messy, but this is good. It is part of my plan. This field is resting, it is being refreshed. The butterflies and birds and small creatures can use the land and feed from it. Worms are attracted to this soil because it contains what was left after the harvest. Soon the ground will be ready for a new crop, that harvest will be greater because the field was allowed to be fallow".

That day in church this word from Jesus spoke clearly to a number of us. Some had seen that their ministries had changed and were showing little fruit. Others had come to the end of something in Christ, and did not know what the Lord had planned for them. We were all encouraged. Fallow is good.

Favourite Scriptures:

(Colossians 3:12)
Put on therefore, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance.

(James 5:7-8)
Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receives the early and late rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

Thank you, Jesus.

Permalink
https://www.psalmsofjohn.com/2011/05/fallow.html

Bless you. Bless us all.