“Thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord; remove the foreskin of your hearts; least my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds”. Jeremiah 4:3-4
Here’s some context details- Jeremiah was a prophet and he was very young prophet. So young in fact he was still financially and physically dependent on his parents when he received his call to be a prophet. Talk about a hard thing to do. What’s more, Jeremiah’s call was not a fun one. He is known as the “weeping prophet”, or the “persevering prophet” due to the weight of his message for Israel. His message was to a group of people he was familiar with (like a neighboring city close to you) to basically pull their heads out of their butts, or else. His message was not encouraging, and it can often be seen in chapters where he is mentioning how physically distraught and upset he is about what he has to say.
In Jeremiah, it is evident that God is upset, and hurt with Israel’s choices to choose everything *but* Him. The Father’s plea to break up fallow ground, and sow not among thorns is 4 chapters in to God pouring His heart out over His disappointment in Israel’s choices. Read chapters 1-4 closely. It sounds like a parent begging their child to stop being reckless.
The charge of this verse I’m covering in this post made me cry immediately when I read it. I read Chapters 1-4, and I stopped right after this verse. It was like a ton of bricks fell on my chest. Why? Because I am Israel. I am the wandering child who has made their own way. After I was done blubbering like a baby, here are the insights I gathered-
Break up |your fallow ground. Break up = do work. Get your hands dirty in the work like the work you are doing means something. Fallow ground = ground that has laid idle for a season; dormant, inactive. In summary, get to work on the inactive parts of your heart that you have allowed to become idle.
Sow not among thorns. This is said after the charge to get to work. Once you have tilled the idle ground, don’t plant the seed in soil where it won’t grow (thorny ground). Don’t waste your time doing the work and then go back to the same mess!
Circumcise yourselves to the Lord; remove the foreskin of your hearts;
Circumcision was a covenant. Talking about foreskin is weird. But, big picture, what’s being communicated here is a big deal. What I hear is be for real about your commitment to God and placing Him above all else in your heart and mind. Obviously there were contextual implications of this verse, but for application for today, I feel comfortable saying that my takeaway was appropriate.
least my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds. Y’all, we have GOT TO understand that discipline is a thing with God. He is Holy, and He has rules. We should shift our thinking about God from “God is waiting to smite me” to “hm, maybe my choices are stupid and they will have consequences and I am responsible for my garbage and the consequences are my fault”. Imagine if we lived in a world with personal responsibility!
Challenge: sit with God this week and ask what your fallow ground is. Then, find a friend more spiritually mature than you are to get accountability for moving forward.
Hang in there friends, this ride of doing things God’s way is hard, but it is full of promise!
Next post is about discipline!
-Alex
Honest. 