Painful Plowing

For hardship does not spring from the soil, nor does trouble sprout from the ground. Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.

Job 5:6-7

Trials are hard. They’re messy. They’re down right painful. Do you feel blessed when you experience them? 

For eight years, I drove by the same field. There were weeds growing, and the grass looked unhealthy and sparse. One day, as I drove by, I noticed a tractor driving over the grass with sharp circular blades cutting through the hard, cracked, dry ground turning the soil. How painful that must be for the ground, I thought.

In the days that followed, I noticed how the dirt looked healthier, light and ready. When the rain came, I knew that the water was able to get down into the ground, because the soil could now absorb it. 

In late spring, all of a sudden, I noticed how green and lush the grass in the field had grown. The Lord brought to my mind the tilling that I thought seemed painful, the dirt that seemed ready, and showed me that it all lead to the growth of beautiful, nutrient rich grass.

Then he opened my heart to see the parallel of the trials that I had lived through. The trials were sharp blades cutting through the hard ground, the hardness of my heart. This made me open and ready for God’s whispers of hope and encouragement. His Word filled me with truth and drew me to Him unlike any other time in my life, which has grown my faith and established a deep relationship with Him.  

What is the trial you are living in right now? Are you sensing the cutting blades of the tiller churning the ground of your heart? Don’t lose heart, dear sister. If you allow Him to give your soul the nutrients it needs, it will flourish into a beautiful field for the nourishing of others’ souls.       

Johna Clemons