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The Soil of the Heart
Written by Dr.
Lester Hutson
Copyright
- Lester Hutson - 1986
This material is copyrighted and may not be copied or reproduced
without the express written permission of Dr. Lester Hutson.
"Fallow Ground"
Psalms 51:17
Introduction:
For the past three lessons, I've talked with you about hard hearts, the soil of the heart that leaves lives barren and of little value to the owner. The Bible says that every one of us who is saved has been bought with a price in I Corinthians 6:20. By His own blood, our Lord has purchased us from the slave market of sin in I Peter 1:18-19. We are no longer our own. We belong to Him. We're His soil, and He doesn't want His soil to be hard and compacted.
Brother, sister, God wants your heart to be soft, pliable, supple and easy to manage like a freshly plowed field. Hosea 10:12 says it this way, "Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord till he come and rain righteousness upon you."
Fallow ground is normally cultivated ground that has not yet been planted. It has been sitting awhile to let it recover and gain richness. Yet God says to the farmer, keep it plowed. "Break up your fallow ground." Don't let it get hard and crusty and all grown up with weeds. I Corinthians 11:28 says, "But let a man examine himself." Every one of us who knows Jesus needs to keep a careful eye upon the condition of the soil of our heart. Once any measurable degree of hardness sets in, we need to break it up right away.
III. God Knows That Really Good, Useful Soil Is Tender, Broken And Cultivated, Not Hard, Cloddy and Unworkable.
A. In His story of seeds and soil types in Matthew 13, Jesus said some seed, "fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundred fold, some sixty fold, and some thirtyfold," in verse 8. In God's opinion, good ground is tilled, cultivated, loosened and ready to receive the seed, which He said in verse 23 is the Word of God.
1. In the book of II Kings, you will find a long list of the sins of Judah. My, how they hardened themselves against the Lord. They lied, forsook the house of God, committed spiritual whoredom with idol gods, married their heathen neighbors and even burned their children in the fire. God's anger was so kindled that He said in II Kings 21:12-14.
"Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down. And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies."
But, then, a little boy named Josiah became king. He was only eight years old, but "He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left," in II Kings 22:1-2.
He repaired the house of God and took away the evil out of the land. When they read to him the word of the Lord, he rent his clothes and fell down in brokenness and repentance before God. His broken and tender heart so moved the God of heaven that He said to Josiah,
"Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the Lord," in II Kings 22:19.
Note it well folks: "Because thine heart was tender."
2. You ask me what kind of soil God wants in your heart and mine, and I can tell you in an instant. He wants tender, broken, supple soil in us. How do I know that? The Bible tells me so. Ephesians 4:32 says, "And be ye kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."
B. Before you get too comfortable with your rough, tough, stoic, unbending, macho approach to life you'd better think about the kind of soul soil God wants.
1. The people who please Him are not the ones who are so cold and hard in their hearts that they can't hardly shed a tear or feel a pain in the heart for another suffering human. They are not the ones who stand like wooden indians at invitations not about to bow their heads in humble prayer and not about to fall on their knees and faces before God beseeching the throne of grace for divine help for themselves or somebody else.
2. No sir! The people who God can use are the ones whose hearts are tender and meek, broken and soft.
In all of the universe there has only been one who had just reason for pride, hardness and an arrogant approach to life. His name was Jesus and He was God in the flesh. Yet, there never has been one more tenderhearted, soft and caring than He. Isaiah 53:2 said He grew up "as a tender plant." Even now, no one cares like Jesus cares. Hebrews 4:15 says He is "touched with the feelings of our infirmities."
3. Oh, so many of us become so intellectually correct. Our Sunday school lessons and sermons are so precise. We can very academically go through the plan of salvation and give a counsel like a computer talking. We approach life as if it's some sort of weakness to show emotions, to cry, to shout, to say a genuine "hallelujah."
Somehow we seem to forget that hearts reach hearts. Somehow our cold, hardhearted approaches have produced too many cold, academic professions where the heart is not in it.
Most of you know that my mother was a dear saint of God and had a profound influence on me. Folks, it was not her intellect and hard, calloused approach to life that reached me. No. It was her genuine warmth, compassion and tender love that prevailed over this stony-hearted little boy. When I heard her on her knees pouring out her heart to God with tears streaming down her cheeks, it melted my heart.
When my old grandmother, Nancy Grimes, stood in the little country church and heard them sing, "How beautiful heaven must be", and then burst forth in undiluted shouting of praise to God, with tears streaming. Mister, I saw a reality and spirit that touches the very heart of God.
But where is the heart today? Where are the tears? Where is the uninhibited joy? Where are the rows of brokenhearted saints on their knees in front of the church calling on the God of heaven for divine help and forgiveness?
Somehow we're intimidated. We're afraid that if we got a little emotional and let our feelings show, somebody might think we were Pentecostal, and my, what a curse that would be! So, we harden ourselves, and we somehow forget that a public hardening seeps into the heart and begins to privately harden also. We forget that hardness is not like a light switch which we can turn on and off at will. No. It's more like arthritis which seems to set in and get gradually worse until it consumes us. It manages to work its way into every crook and cranny of our lives.
King David cried out, "O my God, I trust in thee; let me not be ashamed....," in Psalms 25:2. I don't want to be inhibited, and hard, and calloused for any reason. I want to stay ever tender, soft and humble. I want to be "good ground" the kind, O God, you can use to consistently produce a great crop of righteousness. Let me be, O Lord, the kind who sows in tears and goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed; for those, I know, are the ones who reap in joy, and come with rejoicing bringing their sheaves with them.
C. The ideal soil of the soul with God is a broken spirit and a contrite heart.
1. Many times in the Bible we get our English word "broken" from the Hebrew word shabar (shaw-bar'). The word literally means, "to burst, crush, break in pieces."
2. Our English word "contrite" often comes from the Hebrew word dakah (daw-kaw'). This word literally means "to collapse."
3. Now, with these definitions in mind, listen to King David in Psalms 51:17, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." What does God want in the soil of your soul? He wants a broken (crushed) spirit and a contrite (collapsed) heart. It's called fallow ground! No big packed clods, no tough glazed exterior or surface, packed hard areas! He wants soft, tilled, cultivated soil in you and in me.
4. Listen to Psalms 34:18, "The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit." Isn't it great to be close to the Lord? That's what being "nigh" means. Isn't it great to have the Lord ever ready to save you? Who does He save? Those who are of a contrite spirit, those whose hardness is collapsed. Self is gone, and they are humbly and tenderly submitted to Him.
5. Our great God says in Isaiah 66:2, "To this man will I look, and even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word." And He said in Psalms 147:3, "He healeth the broken in heart."
6. I think one of the greatest insights of all as to how God views the man who has broken, fallow ground i his heart is Isaiah 57:15. Listen to God speak, "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." Who dwells with God? "Him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit." Where do they dwell? "In the high and holy place."
Mister, lady, be God's tilled field, for as He said in Ezekiel 36:9-10, that is where He can multiply you and make you a fruitful field. Never allow yourself to become that hard, packed soil of the soul that grows ever more barren and useless to His cause.
7. Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit; for their's is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for the shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth." Matthew 5:3-5.
It was Mary who took a whole pound of precious ointment of spiknard, broke the box it was in, and poured it upon Jesus in Mark 14. She broke herself on Him. And, Oh, how precious it was to Him. He said it was a memorial to her for all time.
Mister, lady, do you really want to know the sweet fellowship of the Lord? Then, break up your fallow ground, for it is only then that He can cultivate your life.
"It Does Make a Difference What You Believe"