Plowing

 Plowing

July 7, 2026

Hosea 10:11-13 (NKJV) 

11 Ephraim [is] a trained heifer That loves to thresh [grain;] But I harnessed her fair neck, I will make Ephraim pull [a plow.] Judah shall plow; Jacob shall break his clods.” 12 Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For [it is] time to seek the LORD, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you. 13 You have plowed wickedness; You have reaped iniquity. You have eaten the fruit of lies, Because you trusted in your own way, In the multitude of your mighty men.

Probably, most modern people won’t understand the imagery used here. I grew up in a farm, so plowing is something quite familiar to me. It is a hard job and Requires a lot of power. Now days we have tractors which pull many plow blades, but in Hosea’s day you needed a strong ox, or even a team of oxen. It is particularly hard to plow fallow ground. We used to call in hard pan and even had a special kind of plow to break up the subsoil. Soil that hasn’t been tilled for some years gets hard and dense and doesn’t let water drain, and resists the growth of new plants. You can’t grow anything on fallow ground without preparing the soil by plowing deep.

That is what Hosea is referring to. The people had neglected to serve God regularly and had grown hard hearted. They needed to break up the fallow ground so they could receive the word of the Lord. Jesus’ version of this was the parable of the sower and the four soils in Matthew 13. The Lord is looking for good soil which will respond to His word and reap a good harvest. But sometimes we need some plowing to become better soil. That may be some hardship that breaks our heart and causes us to turn back to the Lord. So don’t despise your troubles,  but use them to draw closer to the Lord. Let the Lord plow your fallow ground and be soft, pliable soil that yields a harvest of a hundredfold.

This scripture reminds my of my nephew that is starting a church plant in a different state. That requires a lot of plowing, fertilizing and watering. It takes a long time to see any fruit, but patient effort will yield results. You might have to bring out the big tractor and the subsoil plow to dig deep to break up the fallow ground. In this age, that is the common teaching going around that ignores Biblical values and common sense family values. Many modern young people have been taught that reason and logic is somehow racist and that even the founding principles of our nation are evil, white privilege. This will require some deep plowing of preaching, teaching and prayer, but will result in multiplied fruits of righteousness when you prevail to the end. So take heart, the Lord is the Lord of the harvest, but sometimes deep plowing is required to get there.