And our plowing will only be worth it if it positions us to encounter and recognize the Spirit of God.
For the next few weeks, I’ll offer you what I have to offer. I’ll tell you what has worked for me and those around me. I’ll invite you to try these practices that I have found helpful.
In the last episode, we talked about different types of unplowed ground. Today we’ll focus on one in particular: rocky ground. The rocks are there because we’ve left them there. We’ve walked away from the disappointments, from the unmet desires, from the unanswered prayers, from the unhealed illnesses, from the loved one’s grave
And in walking away, we left a big old rock right there where we thought we’d find the Lord.
These rocks get in the way of us receiving from the Lord all that He has for us. We cannot layer truths on top of these hurts because there isn’t any way for that truth to take root. These stones are only moved when we walk back over to them. We must place our hands on the rock-hard surface of our broken hearts and reach out in desperation for the hem of the Healer’s cloak.
The first practice of plowing that we’ll discuss is that of telling the Lord the whole truth. Jesus invites us into His presence and acknowledges our presence in His. “Who touched me?” He asked the woman in Mark 5:32, and she fell before Him and told Him the whole truth. Might we be bold enough to do the same?
To tell Him what hurt us.
To tell Him how disappointment turned to stony disillusionment.
To tell Him that we feel He’s failed us.
To tell Him the whole truth…whatever it is.
To allow Him to meet us in the very place we thought He’d left us.
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“The woman, with fear and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before him, and told him the whole truth.”
Take some time now to come into the presence of the Lord and tell Him the whole truth. Ask Him for one or two “rocks” in your own life that you need to revisit with Him—that you need to tell Him the whole truth about. I know there are more than one or two, but don’t try to deal with all of them at once. Instead, set aside some time and spend it telling God the whole truth about whatever circumstance or longing or disappointment that He brings to mind.
I find it most helpful to either do this out loud or in writing. I don’t share as much or as honestly when I try to tell Jesus the whole truth just in my head.
We want so badly to know the Lord’s truth, to hear His voice, but sometimes we forget that we first need to get the weight of our own beliefs and doubts and disappointments off of our chests. Take some time to do that now as we prepare to receive from Him in the weeks to come.
There is healing in the telling!
