Farmer God

I went back to Kansas this summer to help a family friend with wheat harvest. For a man who drives a four cylinder car, it was therapeutic to hear the engine roar of a sixteen cylinder tractor as I pressed down on the throttle. I still smile as I think about it. It was also a learning experience. I grew up in a farming community, but I didn't realize all of the work and detail that a successful wheat harvest requires.

I’ll admit that I came in late and participated in the best part of the entire process—harvesting the finished product. The real work started many months before with the preparation of the land and planting of the seed. Tilling the land is probably far less exciting than harvesting the wheat, but it’s a crucial part of the process. The soil must be prepared in the fall in order for there to be a great summer harvest.

It wasn’t simply a learning experience in regards to farming, but it was also a good opportunity for God to teach me about the importance of the condition of my heart. You don’t have to dig very deep in Scripture before you see a correlation between soil and the heart. Pause and read Matthew 13. God likes to use farmer language to teach about the heart.

“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” Matthew 13:23

God is a good farmer. He is committed to preparing your heart for the great seed that he desires to plant. He wants to see a harvest appear in your life. He wants to see the desires of your heart come to pass. Do you believe me when I say that God wants to give you the desires of your heart more than you want them? Perhaps he’s waiting for you instead of you waiting for him. Maybe he’s already planted the seed but the current condition of your heart is not fostering growth.

Several months ago I was frustrated by God’s timing. I reminded him of his promises and questioned the slow pace that I felt like he was moving at. He responded by challenging and encouraging me with a concise statement, “Clear your heart. Clear your mind. What I am going to write on your heart will be so fresh that it can’t grow and develop in the current conditions.”

He had my attention. And, yet again, he was right. I was the one who was slowing down the process. The soil of my heart was not prepared for the very thing I was asking for. He was not about to pour new wine into old wineskins. I prayed the most dangerous but also the safest prayer one can pray: “God, prepare the soil of my heart.” It’s dangerous because he will rearrange some things we may cling tightly to. It’s safe because we’re probably headed down a dangerous path without his intervention.

As we are authentic with God about the condition of our heart, we take a giant leap forward in the process of seeing him do incredible things through us. In fact, we’ll see the truth of Ephesians 3:20 manifest before our very eyes, “God is able to do immeasurably more than all you can think of or imagine according to his power within you.” This is what God wants to demonstrate through you. He is searching for faithful hearts. He is searching for wineskins that can hold the overflow that is coming. He is good. He is deeply good. He is not holding out on me, and he’s certainly not holding out on you. Cooperate with him as he prepares you for the great things that are coming.