The Turning of the Soil: When God Disrupts to Prepare

What do you do when life turns topsy-turvy? While talking with some friends in my small group, we realized that most of us are currently experiencing a stretching in our relationship with the Lord and our daily lives. We’ve all been feeling this odd tension, where things that used to be perfectly fine are no longer working quite the same. There’s this feeling of discomfort, that the places where we felt steady and established are suddenly not so deep rooted as we thought and there’s this nudging in our hearts that Holy Spirit is calling us higher.

As I reflected upon this, I realized that this is what God does when He is preparing us for something new. He has a knack for turning the soil in order to prepare it for a new harvest. And while, at the moment, it may be chaotic, painful or confusing, He ultimately has a good plan.

“I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that He may come and shower righteousness upon you.'” – Hosea 10:12, NLT

The Purpose in Turning the Soil

Farmers turn the soil in order to prepare the ground for planting. Turning the soil, in fact, has multiple purposes. First, it makes it looser so as to make it easier for seeds to get planted and for roots to penetrate. Second, it allows more oxygen to reach the plant’s roots. Third, it helps mix the organic matter or fertilizers that have been added to the surface, making the soil richer and better for the seeds. And finally, it disrupts any weeds that may have started growing.

The process is hard work, and it shakes things up, but ultimately it holds the purpose of preparing the best possible scenario for seeds to be planted, rooted, and growing so as one day to bear fruit.

What God Does When He Turns the Soil

So what happens to us when God Himself comes through and begins turning the soil of our lives? Let’s look at those four purposes for turning soil once more.

1. God turns the soil to make it easier for His seeds to be planted and for roots to penetrate

The seed, as seen in many of Jesus’s parables, is the Word of God. In certain seasons of life, God may intentionally turn over certain aspects of our lives not out of anger or punishment, but because He is preparing the ground of our hearts and spirits to receive His Word. He not only wants us to have hearts that receive His Word, He wants us to have hearts that get that seed and then develop deep roots.

If God has been shaking something up in your life recently, trust that He is making way for you to receive, and not only receive well but be a grounded and rooted Christian.

2. When God turns the soil, He is allowing more oxygen into the dirt

Sometimes God needs to shake things up in order to remind us that we are fully reliant on Him. Oxygen is essential for life. Without it, none of us would be here. Even dirt needs oxygen.

In life, we may be so focused on our daily schedules, our jobs, our relationships, our businesses, our schoolwork, etc., that we may forget that we must remain reliant on God and His Spirit. We need Him in our lives to succeed and successfully grow. Many times, our focus is on so many other sources, that internally we begin to shrivel up for lack of our true oxygen—the Holy Spirit. Our focus, in every area of life, has to be Him. We have to remember that we cannot be reliant on ourselves, our jobs, money, relationships or accomplishments in order to be fruitful and successful in life. We need to be reliant on Holy Spirit and the life giving connection He provides us with.

Where in your life are you relying upon something other than Jesus? Where are you looking to for strength, joy, peace? If you are getting your oxygen from somewhere else, you may need God to turn the soil of your life to reset your heart and make you more reliant on Him.

3. When God turns the soil, He is making the ground richer and better for the seeds

When God begins to shake up our lives, He isn’t doing it to leave us bare and wanting. It may feel this way, when a friendship ends, an opportunity passes by or a door closes on our face. But if God is turning the soil of our lives, He is doing it because He wants to make us better, richer, and even more nourished. He wants to add more of Himself into the mix so we can grow better, stronger, richer and bolder.

If you’ve been wondering why certain things are coming to an end, remember that God isn’t depriving your life of goodness, rather He is enriching your life to better prepare it to bear better and stronger fruit.

4. When God turns the soil, He is uprooting any weed that may have started to grow

Finally, When God begins turning things upside down in our lives, we must be honest. Have we allowed anything that isn’t from Him to grow on the soil of our hearts and feed upon the nourishment meant for His seeds? Weeds grow easily, with hardly any need for care or attention. If we have not been good stewards of our hearts, then the things that aren’t born in God’s heart may be sprouting in our fields.

Gossip? It’s a weed that easily springs up. Bitterness? It can unobtrusively creep up on us. Unforgivenness? It can grow slowly over time, until suddenly we look at the field of our hearts and realize it’s growing all over the place.

This is why the turning is essential. It’s in the turning, in the moments of discomfort and chaos, that God reveals what’s growing in our hearts and not only reveals it, but uproots it and displaces it.

What are the weeds in your heart that God is turning in order to uproot and displace?

Embrace the Promise of the Turning

Every turning of the soil isn’t just an isolated event. It is only the beginning. It is the beginning of the sowing, which leads to the growth of new life, which, eventually, leads to a plentiful harvest that blesses not only the owner of the field but those around him.

As God brings about a turning in your life, lean into the discomfort. Embrace the promise that God will bring about rain to sustain you and a harvest of fruit. Ask yourself, where is God causing discomfort and how can I lean into Him more and more in this season? The goal is to get deep roots, healthy seeds, and strong plants. Where is God calling you to go deep and to root yourself in?

Perhaps it’s your prayer life which needs tending. Perhaps you need to cultivate thankfulness. Or maybe you need to foster a habit of pouring the Seed of the Bible all over your heart and mind. Whatever area God is turning, whether relational, emotional, physical, mental or spiritual, remember that it is unto something. Lean into Him in this season, hold fast, and don’t let go.

Like Hosea wrote, “now is the time to seek the Lord that He may come and shower righteousness upon you.” Let’s embrace the turning, knowing that at the end there is a promise!

Until next time,
Anna

“Life’s pain was God’s hammer, breaking up the hard ground of her heart so that seeds of His love could take root.” – Francine Rivers

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Photo by Dru Kelly on Unsplash