Daily Journal: 23 April

Be Like a Plow

A garden is a place of flourishing beauty. Much planning and preparation goes into a garden before it becomes that place of breath-taking beauty where people can observe, stroll through, relax and enjoy.

Ezekiel 36:9 (NIV)

I am concerned for you and will look on you with favor; you will be plowed and sown

Even though it doesn’t sound pleasant, it is favourable for ground to be plowed and dug over before the planting of a garden. For a garden to flourish the soil must first be cultivated. There are necessary benefits for plowing the ground, so much so, that without plowing, plants are more likely to die than to flourish.

Plowing ground gets rid of weeds and unwanted matter. It allows for aeration, which is necessary for water absorption, and success in planting. This biblical metaphor for our lives is important to God. It is representative of a repentant heart and a turning towards what is good and of lasting value.

Hosea 10:12

(NCV) I said, ‘Plant goodness, harvest the fruit of loyalty, plow the new ground of knowledge. Look for the Lord until he comes and pours goodness on you like water.’

Proverbs 20:4 (NLT)

Those too lazy to plow in the right season will have no food at the harvest.

Jeremiah 4:3 (NIV)

“Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns.

The harvest is the final judgment of Christ over every life, and thorns and thistles generally represent sin or hardship (see Genesis 3:18 and 2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

Luke 9:62 (AMP)

But Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back [to the things left behind] is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Isaiah 2:4 (NLV)

He will judge between the nations, and will decide for many people. And they will beat their swords into plows, and their spears into knives for cutting vines. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and they will not learn about war anymore.

Be like a plow. Plowing encourages our lives to become like good soil that generates beautiful gardens. Though hard work, it can be seen as a time for peaceful, profitable work towards great anticipation (the harvest of the work sown), not allowing things to hold us back, but to make room for a new things and a new time of flourishing.