Break Up the Ground
09/10/2026
Some things in our lives don’t need a little adjustment. They need to be broken up. We can get comfortable with patterns, attitudes, habits, even ways of thinking that have been sitting untouched for a long time. Hosea gives us the picture of a field that has become hard and unproductive, and God says it’s time to put the plow in the ground.
“Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.”
- Hosea 10:12 — ESV
Fallow ground isn’t necessarily bad ground. It’s ground that has been left alone.
And when ground sits untouched long enough, it gets hard.
That’s what makes Hosea’s words so challenging. God was speaking to people who had allowed things to settle into their hearts that didn’t belong there. Israel had wandered from Him, trusted in other things, and become comfortable with divided loyalties. They still had a history with God, but their present hearts weren’t fully His.
God’s response wasn’t, “Try a little harder.”
He told them to get the plow out.
I think there are places in our lives where we would prefer God to simply send the rain. We want Him to bless something without disturbing anything. We pray for growth, change, freedom, stronger relationships, greater faith, but sometimes the first answer to that prayer is God pointing toward the hard ground.
Before the rain can do much good, the ground has to be opened.
That can be uncomfortable.
Anybody who has ever dealt with hard Texas soil knows you don’t casually rake across the top and call it ready. Sometimes you have to dig into it. Turn it over. Break apart what has become packed down.
Our hearts can become the same way.
Maybe disappointment has hardened an area of your heart. You prayed and something didn’t happen the way you thought it would, so you quietly stopped expecting much from God.
Maybe it’s unforgiveness. You wouldn’t necessarily call yourself bitter, but there’s somebody whose name can still change your attitude in about three seconds.
Maybe it’s compromise. Something that once bothered your conscience doesn’t bother you nearly as much anymore.
Maybe it’s control. You trust God completely—as long as He agrees with your plan.
Or maybe you’ve simply gotten comfortable. You love God. You go to church. You believe His Word. But somewhere along the way, seeking Him became less of a pursuit and more of a routine.
Hosea says, “It is the time to seek the LORD.”
Not someday. Not when life settles down. Not after we get everything else figured out.
Now.
And notice something else: God isn’t asking us to manufacture the rain. That’s His part.
Our responsibility is to prepare the ground.
We seek Him. We repent where repentance is needed. We obey where we’ve been resisting. We forgive where we’ve been holding on. We surrender the places we’ve kept fenced off.
Then God does what only God can do.
I love that picture because sometimes we put enormous pressure on ourselves to produce spiritual growth. But you can’t force rain out of the sky.
You can prepare for it.
There may be something God has been putting His finger on in your life lately. Instead of asking Him to work around it, maybe today is the day to let Him work through it.
Put the plow there.
Even if it hurts a little.
Especially if that ground has been hard for a long time.
Because God isn’t breaking the ground to destroy you. He’s preparing it so something new can grow.
Action Steps
* Ask God where the ground has gotten hard. Don’t immediately answer the question yourself. Spend a few quiet minutes asking Him to show you.
* Do something with what He reveals. Make the call. Offer forgiveness. Confess the sin. Change the habit. Have the conversation. Obedience turns the soil.
* Seek God before seeking the outcome. Instead of beginning today with “God, fix this,” try beginning with, “God, I want You—even if fixing this starts with changing me.”
Challenge for the Day
Identify one area of your life you’ve been asking God to change, and ask Him a different question today: “Lord, what needs to change in me first?” Then act on what He shows you.
Prayer
Father, show me the places in my heart that have become hard. I don’t want to protect anything You’re trying to change. Give me the courage to surrender what needs to be surrendered and the humility to obey when You speak. Break up the ground in me and prepare my heart for what You want to grow there. I want to seek You, not just what You can do for me. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Pastor Jeff
#LoveGod #LovePeople #FindFreedom #FindYourDesign
Some things in our lives don’t need a little adjustment. They need to be broken up. We can get comfortable with patterns, attitudes, habits, even ways of thinking that have been sitting untouched for a long time. Hosea gives us the picture of a field that has become hard and unproductive, and God says it’s time to put the plow in the ground.
“Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.”
- Hosea 10:12 — ESV
Fallow ground isn’t necessarily bad ground. It’s ground that has been left alone.
And when ground sits untouched long enough, it gets hard.
That’s what makes Hosea’s words so challenging. God was speaking to people who had allowed things to settle into their hearts that didn’t belong there. Israel had wandered from Him, trusted in other things, and become comfortable with divided loyalties. They still had a history with God, but their present hearts weren’t fully His.
God’s response wasn’t, “Try a little harder.”
He told them to get the plow out.
I think there are places in our lives where we would prefer God to simply send the rain. We want Him to bless something without disturbing anything. We pray for growth, change, freedom, stronger relationships, greater faith, but sometimes the first answer to that prayer is God pointing toward the hard ground.
Before the rain can do much good, the ground has to be opened.
That can be uncomfortable.
Anybody who has ever dealt with hard Texas soil knows you don’t casually rake across the top and call it ready. Sometimes you have to dig into it. Turn it over. Break apart what has become packed down.
Our hearts can become the same way.
Maybe disappointment has hardened an area of your heart. You prayed and something didn’t happen the way you thought it would, so you quietly stopped expecting much from God.
Maybe it’s unforgiveness. You wouldn’t necessarily call yourself bitter, but there’s somebody whose name can still change your attitude in about three seconds.
Maybe it’s compromise. Something that once bothered your conscience doesn’t bother you nearly as much anymore.
Maybe it’s control. You trust God completely—as long as He agrees with your plan.
Or maybe you’ve simply gotten comfortable. You love God. You go to church. You believe His Word. But somewhere along the way, seeking Him became less of a pursuit and more of a routine.
Hosea says, “It is the time to seek the LORD.”
Not someday. Not when life settles down. Not after we get everything else figured out.
Now.
And notice something else: God isn’t asking us to manufacture the rain. That’s His part.
Our responsibility is to prepare the ground.
We seek Him. We repent where repentance is needed. We obey where we’ve been resisting. We forgive where we’ve been holding on. We surrender the places we’ve kept fenced off.
Then God does what only God can do.
I love that picture because sometimes we put enormous pressure on ourselves to produce spiritual growth. But you can’t force rain out of the sky.
You can prepare for it.
There may be something God has been putting His finger on in your life lately. Instead of asking Him to work around it, maybe today is the day to let Him work through it.
Put the plow there.
Even if it hurts a little.
Especially if that ground has been hard for a long time.
Because God isn’t breaking the ground to destroy you. He’s preparing it so something new can grow.
Action Steps
* Ask God where the ground has gotten hard. Don’t immediately answer the question yourself. Spend a few quiet minutes asking Him to show you.
* Do something with what He reveals. Make the call. Offer forgiveness. Confess the sin. Change the habit. Have the conversation. Obedience turns the soil.
* Seek God before seeking the outcome. Instead of beginning today with “God, fix this,” try beginning with, “God, I want You—even if fixing this starts with changing me.”
Challenge for the Day
Identify one area of your life you’ve been asking God to change, and ask Him a different question today: “Lord, what needs to change in me first?” Then act on what He shows you.
Prayer
Father, show me the places in my heart that have become hard. I don’t want to protect anything You’re trying to change. Give me the courage to surrender what needs to be surrendered and the humility to obey when You speak. Break up the ground in me and prepare my heart for what You want to grow there. I want to seek You, not just what You can do for me. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Pastor Jeff
#LoveGod #LovePeople #FindFreedom #FindYourDesign
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