Fallow Ground
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· 12 viewsBreak up your fallow ground. It is time for a new season of growth spiritualy. Apologies for the audio quality. It somehow switch to the computer microphone instead of the line input. (Apologies about the audio this week. For some reason the laptop mic was being used instead of the input from the sound system.)
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Main Text:
Main Text:
1 Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: According to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars; According to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images.
2 Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: He shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their images.
3 For now they shall say, We have no king, Because we feared not the Lord; What then should a king do to us?
4 They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: Thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.
5 The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Beth-aven: For the people thereof shall mourn over it, And the priests thereof that rejoiced on it, For the glory thereof, because it is departed from it.
6 It shall be also carried unto Assyria for a present to king Jareb: Ephraim shall receive shame, And Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.
7 As for Samaria, her king is cut off As the foam upon the water.
8 The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: The thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; And they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; And to the hills, Fall on us.
9 O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah: there they stood: The battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them.
10 It is in my desire that I should chastise them; And the people shall be gathered against them, When they shall bind themselves in their two furrows.
11 And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn; But I passed over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plow, And Jacob shall break his clods.
12 Sow to yourselves in righteousness, Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground: For it is time to seek the Lord, Till he come and rain righteousness upon you.
13 Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; Ye have eaten the fruit of lies: Because thou didst trust in thy way, In the multitude of thy mighty men.
You’ve eaten the fruit of lies too long,
It’s time to break up the fallow ground. Amen.
We’re going to discuss the fallow ground a little bit today.
I’m no farmer, and certainly not an expert, but I’ve done a little research on fallow ground
And I believe the Lord wants to talk to us today about breaking it up.
Fallow Ground
Fallow Ground
Fallow ground is farmland left idle for one or more growing seasons to let it rest and regain nutrients.
Farmers allow the ground to become fallow as part of crop rotation, to maintain soil health, and to prevent the buildup of pests and diseases, because without any crops to munch on, the pests eventually all die off, and their breeding cycles are interrupted.
Fallow ground is not something to be enjoyed, because crops mean money, and money means living,
So, letting your farmland remain idle for 1, 2, or even 5 years, is a necessary evil in the farming industry, especially in dry arid regions where the ground does not have enough water to support growing crops annually.
There are some modern alternatives to fallowing your ground and many shortcuts, but eventually the land needs to rest, and the soil needs to become fallow.
Allowing the soil to fallow can help the land become fertile again, improve its ability to keep moisture, and get rid of harmful diseases, pests, and weeds that can damage crops.
The recommended length for a fallow period is five years or at at a bare minimum every other year.
Fallowing helps maintain long-term soil fertility, achieve high crop yields, and support biodiversity in the long term, but it will decrease income in the short term.
Again, Fallowing means leaving farmland without crops for a while.
It gives the soil a break and helps it become fertile again for growing food in the future. If you don’t do it, the soil will eventually produce less and less healthy crops.
Farmers practice fallowing because soil naturally loses nutrients over time. If the land can’t replace nutrients like potassium, phosphorus, nitrogen, carbon, and other organic matter faster than farming uses them, it will have trouble growing good crops.
You might grow something, but the harvest will not be something to rejoice over.
Fallowing is a longstanding practice worldwide and has recently gained popularity in the U.S. and Canada as well. Though, many places in the US can manage without fallowing due to the high fertility of our soil, and consistent rain fall in places like the Southeast and midwest. The bread basket of America.
Again, there are many modern ways around avoiding long periods of fallowing, and in very wet areas, some say it isn’t needed at all, but in the time our text was written, and in the arid climate of Isreal, they would not have implemented these modern intensive farming techniques used to maximize profits. Instead, they would have allowed the land to rest, in fact, they were commanded to do so by God.
The Sabbath Year
The Sabbath Year
The Lord gave the Jewish people rules about letting their land rest in…
1 And the Lord spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the Lord.
3 Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof;
4 But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the Lord: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.
20 And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase:
21 Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years.
22 And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store.
Fallow Ground
Fallow Ground
In our opening text, we find Hosea prophesying to the people of God about their sins and their land.
There is an apparent connection between the two. That is, their sins, and the fertility of the land.
The people of Isreal, the northern kingdom, sometimes referred to as Samaria, their capital, or Ephraim, their largest tribe, were experiencing a time of fruitfulness.
However, as the prophet foretells, that time of fruitfulness is coming to an end, and the people are eventually going to be taken into Assyrian captivity.
Hosea was a prophet in the Northern kingdom of Isreal during the time of Jeroboam who reigned 29 years from 782 BC to 753 BC. This Northern Kingdom was ended by the Assyrians, just as Hosea said it would be, some time around 722 BC.
So, we can look back and see that this prophecy is true. It happens just like Hosea said it would happen. However, when you look around Isreal, they had a lot of fruit on the vine, and life was good, so the prophet, like almost all the prophets, was essentially ignored.
Verse one says…
1 Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: According to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars; According to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images.
Empty vine comes from the Hebrew word “boqeq” meaning to “pour out” literrally, and figuratively it means to grow luxuriantly which means in a way that grows thickly, strongly, and well:
So, while in the KJV it seems like their vines are “empty”, it actually means their vines are full of healthy fruit, and their vines keep “pouring or emptying out” more fruit. In other words, they were doing well. They were living high on the hog as they say. These were the good days. Days of vast fruitfulness like I said earlier. Why listen to the doomsday prophet, life is good?
Verse one goes onto say that as the fruit increased, so did the altars to false gods. And according to the goodness of the land, Isreal made more and more goodly images or idols.
In other words, as life got better and better, they forgot where they came from, and they also forgot who brought them out of Egypt, and who brought them over the Jordan river on dry land, and who it was that gave them this land flowing with milk and honey in the first place.
Isn’t it just like us today? We get a little raise on our job, and we think, look what I have done. I’ve worked hard for this, Nobody got me here, I got myself here. It is because of my skills, my knowledge, and my abilities that I’m prosperous… and how quickly do we forget that we are just one heartbeat away from the grave, One breath away from a casket, or one trumpet away from an eternity in flaming fires… and it is our glorious God that gave us those skilled hands, that knowledgeable brain, and this able body.
When the milk and the honey starts flowing in the land, you can’t forget where He brought you from.
When the money does start coming in, you can’t forget where those blessings came from.
And the proper thing to do is to praise the one that holds the stars in HIS hands. Worship them one that framed the world with HIS hands, and thank the One that put those blessings into YOUR hands.
Isreal forgot where they came from, and they were about to pay dearly for it, but before they paid for their sins, the Lord brought a fallowing period on them. A space of grace if you will.
Remember where you came from
Remember where you came from
Down the street from our church is another church on 6th avenue with a statue out front. The statue is a cross with a single red ribbon around it. It stands about 5 or 6 foot all the ground, and looks very well constructed. A beautiful ivory colored cross that glimmers in the sun, and blood red ribbon wrapping around the cross all the way up. If you don’t know much about church history, you would have just admired the cross and kept on driving by it. However, if you are student of church history, you’d have another feeling come over you. A feeling of sadness as you recognize the irony of this scene. The cross and red “ribbon” is not supposed to be a red ribbon at all. 125 years ago, that red ribbon was actually a flame that was divided into two at the tip. This statue didn’t have the division, it was just a single red ribbon, and didn’t look like a flame at all. I thought I saw it wrong the first time I drove by it, and so I made sure to go slow the next time. I still couldn’t believe my eyes, so I asked my wife to help me look the 3rd time. She confirmed what I saw was true. The single red ribbon on their statue instead of the red flame.
This is what the logo of the UMC is supposed to look like. The ribbon isn’t a ribbon at all. It is a red cloven flame that represents the first outpouring of the Holy Ghost in Acts chapter two.
1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
You see, 125 years ago the Southern Methodist church, who had been preaching Holiness and Repentance, started having the Pentecostal experience from Acts chapter 2 happen in their services. Before Azuza Street birthed the modern Pentecostal movement, the Methodist church had it first. They didn’t know what they had at first, but many preachers began to realize what it was. Those preaches would go on to start revivals around the world preaching Pentecost is here.
A few years ago a Pentecostal preacher began to teach Bible studies to Methodist minister, and eventually the Methodist minister invited him to preach to his own congregation. The church was instantly divided over the doctrine of the Pentecostal man. One middle-aged man in the Methodist congregation jumped up during the service and said, “We know what you are all about, and we don’t believe that stuff here. None of what that speaking in tongues stuff, and we never have.”
His elderly grandmother spoke up next, and said, son, you’re wrong. We did have what this preacher is preaching about years ago when I was just a girl. She said, I spoke in tongues, and many of your parents did too, but somewhere along the way, we lost it.
The cross with one red ribbon 6th ave in Decatur represents how easy it is to forget where you came from, and what God has done for you. How ironic it was to make a slight change to the logo, probably as a design choice, and not know what the cloven flame even stood for.
The Fallow Season
The Fallow Season
The prophet goes on to tell the people that this season of fruitfulness is going to come to an end. God’s Judgement is coming.
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2 Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: He shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their images.
Verse 2 says that the Lord is going to break down their altars and idols that they built unto false gods, gods that really represent themselves. That’s what false gods really are. They are a projection of ourselves. When the Jews built idols, they were not worshiping the one true God, they were worshipping a projection of themselves.
As I said earlier, instead of remembering that God brought us out, and that God blessed us, they began to trust in themsleves, but that time is ending. A new season is coming.
The altars they build as the fruit increased would be torn down, and the fruit would dry up.
The idols they built as the land became good, would also be torn down, as the land became worse and worse.
First Hosea says the fruit would be replaced with hemlock:
4 They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: Thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.
The furrows are the rows that have been plowed for the crops to grow, but instead of fruitful crops, the Lord says, I’m going to cause hemlock to grow there.
Hemlock is a type of poisonous plant or weed. It was so poisonous that if they ate it they would die, and if their cattle ate it, they would also die. The fruitful fields that once brought them life, now brought nothing by poison and death.
8 The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: The thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; And they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; And to the hills, Fall on us.
Again, we find thorns and thistles growing in a land that was once fruitful and good. A land flowing with milk and with honey. When you forget to thank God for the blessings in life, He will turn off the tap that was flowing with milk and honey.
Chastisement
Chastisement
What do we do to get the milk and honey back? When it seems life has gone from fruit to thorns, and from goodness to poison, what do we do next. In this case, they didn’t do anything. They just ignored the prophets, and it it was the Lord that did something.
10 It is in my desire that I should chastise them; And the people shall be gathered against them, When they shall bind themselves in their two furrows.
The Lord says that chastisement is coming. It would have come sooner, but the Lord is so patient with us.
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
When the patience ends, though, the chastisement comes.
Chastisement is not the same as judment, because the Judment cannot be undone. When we die, we have one of two places we will go after Judgement. Heaven of Hell.
Chastisement might feel like hell, but it is far from it. The Lord chastises the ones that He loves, and it is meant to be a corrective action to get you back in line so that you don’t end up on the wrong side of Judgement.
When a father chastises a child, it is not because he hates the child. It is because he loves him, and doesn’t want him to end up standing before a judge heading to prison some day. That is the same reason our Father in Heaven chastises us.
When the fruit dries up, and the hemlock and thorns begin to grow, don’t get angry at the Lord. The chastisement is because of His faithful love for you.
5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
The Fallowing
The Fallowing
Back to our text, we’re almost done. They went from being fruitful to having fields full of thorns and hemlock. The solution is coming starting in verse 11.
11 And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn; But I passed over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plow, And Jacob shall break his clods.
Ephraim is referring to the Northern Kingdom still, that was their largest tribe, and it says that are like a heifer that is taught. That means a trained cow, and we see what it was trained to do, it was trained to tread out the corn. The corn is long gone now. That ship has sailed. They don’t have any corn in the fields, they have thorns and hemlock. So, you might love to tread out the corn, which was a method of turning that corn into flour, but those days are over. The fields are empty, the fruit of the good land is gone. It is time to enter the fallowing season.
Remember, the fallow season is when the fields are left barren intentionally. They let the land rest, and prepare for a new season of growth.
I’ve come to tell someone today, you may be staring at empty fields right now, but a new season of growth is coming. You might spend your nights remembering the times you used to tread the corn, but there is no corn to tread. You wonder what you are supposed to do now that the fields are full of hemlock and thorns. Empty and barren. Useless, and unfruitful. What do I do now? Can God even use me? Am I any good to Him?
Plow don’t Tread
Plow don’t Tread
Verse 11 continues on, and says that the Lord passed over upon her fair neck, this means the yolk has been put on the heifer. She used to tread corn, but now she is getting ready to plow. He says, I’ll make Ephraim to ride, Judah shall plow, and Jacob shall break his clods. We see here that this prophecy doesn’t just apply to the Northern Kingdom, but Judah will eventually fall too, and this does come to pass. So, Isreal went from treading the corn of their most fruitful season where instead of thanking God, they thanked themselves, to now plowing the fields full of hemlock and thorns.
Sow Righteousness
Sow Righteousness
12 Sow to yourselves in righteousness, Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground: For it is time to seek the Lord, Till he come and rain righteousness upon you.
The prophet tells them how to avoid this chastisement in the future by sowing righteousness, and they will reap mercy. The Lord is merciful. The Bible says that His mercies are new every morning. If you’ve been through a fallow season, He’s got mercy waiting for you, but first you’ve got to break up that fallow ground.
Fallow Ground, is not like ground that has been regularly cultivated. During long times of fallowing, where the field is left to rest, the ground begins to thicken up. That’s what is says “break it up”. That word means to till. You’ve got to till the land after the fallowing period, and put those rows back in place where new crops can grow. Breaking up the fallow ground means getting out the rocks, and softening the soil to allow it to be workable again.
We do this through repentance. Repentance is not something you did 40 years ago, it is something you do daily. You need to keep breaking up that fallow ground, and looking for things under the surface. Looking for things that you’ve forgotten were there. True repentance requires a self-examination of your heart. If you are thinking right now that this section of the message does not apply to you, then you are exactly who I’m preaching to. Because, that tells me you’ve got some fallow ground that needs breaking up. You’ve got some things that you keep just below the surface where no one sees them, and you’ve even forgotten they were there, and hope that God has too, but He knows. He Knows. It’s time to break up some fallow ground today. And once that ground is prepared, then it says. SEEK THE LORD.
It was ignoring the Lord that got them to this place of fallowing, we’ve got to remember who brought you out of Egypt, and who brought you over the Jordan, and who gave you all that you have, and blesses you over and over, and pours His mercy upon you daily. Seek the Lord and He will bring the rain.
Rain is required for all crops to grown. Without rain, the drought will come. Without rain, the fields will stay barren. Without rain, there is no possibility of fruit. Fallowing is done in many dry places to preserve and store up more water in the soil, and when the rain comes, the growth will come. With the rain comes a new season of fruitfulness. God wants to bring some rain to some people in a fallow season here today.
Closing
Closing
Let’s all stand:
The final verse of our text, reminds us of what brought this fallowing season upon us. It says…
13 Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; Ye have eaten the fruit of lies: Because thou didst trust in thy way, In the multitude of thy mighty men.
Instead of sowing righteousness and reaping mercy, sometimes we so wickedness and reap iniquity.
This produces the fruit of lies, and the lie is the same lie the devil has sold since Eden… He said, you trusted in your own ways, and in the multitude of they might men…
Instead of seeking the Lord, we focus on ourself.
Instead of trusting in His ways that are above my ways
Instead of remembering where that milk and honey came from
Instead of thanking God for our job, our skills, our abilities, and our bank account
We trusted in ourself.
Just beneath the surface of that fallow ground are some roots of self-worship
Today, we need to break up that fallow ground, and seek the Lord.