By This My Father Is Glorified . . .

Allowing God to till the soil of my life is another lesson learned in the vineyard. Vines cannot grow a deep taproot when hardpan is present. Hardpan is a thick layer of dense clay soil usually found a foot or so below the surface. It does not allow water, or taproots, to penetrate deeply. Vines planted in untilled land with a thick layer of hardpan look healthy, but they are not. The ground must be “ripped” before planting.

This kind of deep tilling breaks up hardpan. Organic matter worked deep into the soil keeps hardpan from re-forming. Amending hardpan ensures that a vine can grow a deep taproot and acquire the water needed to survive. We must allow God to “till” our hearts. Untilled hardness of heart causes bitterness. With bitterness comes the inability to accept truth and act on it.

Alkaline soil is “sweet soil.” It has a high concentration of mineral salts (Calcium Carbonate). This is not the salt that heightens the flavor of our food. Mineral salts leach out of the ground and form a thick crust on the surface. High concentrations of mineral salt burns the vines.

God wants personal relationships to develop so there is accountability for every member of the congregation. The Bible says we are to confess our sins to one another. God wants it to be safe for people to admit they need help. People need to know there will not be back-biting, gossip, judgment, or shunning if they admit their faults.

Love does not pretend all is well when there is blatant sin exposed in the Christian community. A pretense of external goodness does not hide a black heart from God. God wants our speech seasoned with salt that is savory, not sweet. Do not reject the deep tilling of the Lord. When He tills, He is saying, “I love you.”

There was a very large field behind the house where my family lived in Livermore, California. My husband and I often walked a path at the edge of that field. Prairie dogs scurried from hill to hill while cattle grazed nearby. Wild rabbits hopped away quickly as we approached, and hawks soared overhead looking for field mice. The natural beauty of our surroundings gave us an opportunity to reflect on the awesome creative abilities of God as we talked over our day.

Every fall, the owner cut and bailed the hay growing in that field. Afterward, only stubble remained. Then, when the winter rains came, water sat on the surface of the pastureland. In the spring, the hay stubble rotted, and it began to stink.

In the early spring, the farmer brought in a large machine called a disc plow. He used it to till under the rotten stubble, and “rip” through the hardpan that kept sitting water from filtering through the soil. He tilled again, and added various amendments to the soil before he distributed seed for a new crop of hay.

Along the edges of the path where we walked, a narrow band of soil remained unplowed. As the weather became warmer, the water evaporated from the surface of this untilled ground. As the ground dried up, it became deeply cracked. Then, during the hottest part of the summer, a thick white crust of alkaline salt appeared. This ground grew nothing. Any seed that attempted to sprout would be deformed and burnt on the edges. The foliage twisted and died in the summer heat. The bases of the wooden fence posts rotted because of the salt. Only the tilled areas of the field grew a good crop of hay.

This is a reminder that there is abundant life whenever God tills deeply in the field of my life. Deep tilling turns the ground of a person’s life upside down. “Ripping” is painful. The Holy Spirit brings deep conviction. The saved and the newly saved experience this kind of deep tilling in the heart. The grievous pain of sin wells up and there is emotional upheaval in the soul. God tills so He can plant in good soil.

Deep genuine repentance brings peace when God tills. Only at this point in a person's life will the root be able to grow deep and yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

“For ground that drinks the rain which often falls upon it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.” Hebrews 6: 7-8

Only after the stinking stubble of the past is put under can new life come. In God’s vineyard, vines are never planted in unprepared soil. Many programs of evangelism have tried to bring people into the Body of Christ in a “seeker friendly” way; that is, planting without tilling. People who are planted without deep tilling appear to be strong and healthy, but when the harsh circumstances of life come, they fall away because they have not grown a deep root.

"The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and receives it with joy; yet he has no fir root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.” Matthew 13:20-21

Pruning, uprooting, tilling the ground, and then replanting correctly may save these vines. God, in His great mercy, is the final judge, but He has already judged the world’s inhabitants in His son. His mercy extends continually to those who fail in their attempts to follow Christ with their whole heart, but for those who know the truth and refuse to follow, there comes a frightful day of judgment.

Anyone who comprehends the truth, but refuses to allow God’s tilling sins. We must be a light in this world. Deep tilling brings freedom from sin.