The Ploughman

I shared the following Scripture with a friend the other day:

And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. (Luke 9:62)

I’ve been recently enjoying a period of introspection and personal evaluation. My ideas about serving the Lord are being laid to rest and truths heretofore hidden are slowly being taught by the Holy Ghost (as promised by Jesus Christ to those that have saving faith).

A pastor is not just to be a shepherd, he is to be a farmer. A farmer not only plants seed, he prepares ground. Preparing ground is hard, sweaty, demanding labor, but it is absolutely necessary. Unless the rocks and roots are removed, the hard clods broken up, the seed that is sown will be unable to produce a bountiful crop. The method of turning the soil over is best accomplished with a plow. The plow cuts through the hard ground, strikes the rocks, digs at the roots, and exposes what is hidden so that it may be removed.

A preacher must be the plough-man before he can be the sower of the good seed. He must hit rocks of rebellion, roots of bitterness, and clods of lukewarmness. Sometimes he hits a big rock, a rock that he needs to dig around to ascertain it’s actual size. It may be also that he hits a root that at third glance he realizes is coming from a tree outside the field. He’s got to pull weeds, thorns, that which absorbs precious nutrients but doesn’t produce anything. He may also need to add fertilizer to change the composition of the soil. He certainly needs God to send the rain and to provide the dew in the right season.

The point I am trying to make and understand myself more fully is the magnitude of work required for seed to be planted with a realistic chance of producing fruit. The sower must also plow.

Lord help me to be your plough-man.