The Seed that Grows

You make us your heifer, pulling the plow, 
you shape us and train us, showing us how 
to lean to the left when your strong hand presses, 
to walk straight ahead, cleaning up messes 
and tearing out weeds, preparing the way 
for planting the seed in that soil on the day 
when all is in readiness, soft dirt tilled, 
and we press in the seeds till	the rows are all filled.

You must give the seed; our own is diseased.
You show how to plant it and tend it, then please,
you must send the rain that will make the shoots thrive,
the rain of what’s right and of hope that’s alive.
The roots will go deep, the stems will grow tall,
the leaves will shout green and the blossoms will fall
to make way for grain that is bred up above::
a life-giving harvest of unfailing love.

Wonder why we’re talking about being a heifer? It’s a meditation on Hosea 10:11-12, Scripture that has gained increased meaning to me once again. I will explain! This trip back to the field we worked in for over forty years, here in Nyarafolo land, has been full of a theme that we hear echoed again and again: seed-planting and harvest.

That Sunday in January when we joined the crowd at Pisankaha to remember Jim Gould’s legacy there it came up repeatedly, message after message. Jim had planted seed in hearts in that village and it had grown into the harvest we can see today. It had started with a small group of men interested in knowing Jesus, wanting to understand this Good News never heard before. Then Jim suddenly passed away after just three years of plowing and sowing in that “field,” so others had kept cultivating the seed. God gave increasing strength to the believers, empowering them to keep growing in spite of persecution that included setting fire to the field—to the church and the pastor’s house, and stealing families’ animals. Now we were celebrating the amazing harvest, with most of the villagers in Pisankaha now following Jesus.

Then this past Sunday Glenn and I visited the church plant in Lafokpokaha. Pastor Pekaly has been shepherding the small flock there and reaching out to five other groups. The two largest communities of believers from those groups joined the Lafokpo congregation to welcome us and to celebrate communion together.There was lots of joyful singing and dancing to open up the service. Then Pekaly introduced Glenn and reminded the people that he had been a child in Tiepogovogo when Glenn and Linn had begun working there. Sunday School began with Mariam teaching the kids outdoors during the service. She was a young woman married to the man who is now a Bible translator, Abdoulaye, and I was mentoring her as she taught Bible truths to these young boys who had never heard them before. She was a natural teacher with Spirit-gifting, and they were always mesmerized as they sat on the sprawling root of a tree at the edge of the village. Pekaly remembers how she sowed the seed and it landed on fertile soil in his heart. It grew and grew, and eventually led him to get pastoral training. Now he is also planting seed. And there is ongoing harvest!

I was deeply touched, sitting there in the cement room packed with eager listeners and kids  sprawled all over the floor. Back when Glenn was teaching those first believers in Tiepogovogo, and I got the Sunday School going with Mariam doing the actual teaching, we were only seeing slow progress. There was pushback from families in the village who did not want their kids to follow Jesus. One of them, Kifory who is now part of the Nyarafolo Translation Project team, was beaten when he returned home after sitting on the root for teaching; he had not been out in his father’s field chasing away monkeys! That was a long season of plowing hard soil.

Another young man, Fouhoton, had come to Jesus for rescue from scary spiritual oppression  he was experiencing after the death of his father. He had been the son designated to accompany his father in making sacrifices to the gods and spirits to beg them for good harvests, health and protection. He would spread the blood of the chicken on the sacrifice tree while his father said the incantations. Longing for release from the frightening spiritual attacks hitting him now that his father was gone, on Sundays he would sit in the back of the tiny building where his older brother and others were worshiping  Jesus. He heard Glenn repeating Jesus’ invitation to come to him, everyone who is carrying heavy loads, and they would find rest. “I need that rest, Jesus!” he said in his heart. And all the oppression disappeared! He became Tiepogovogo’s first pastor, and after 20 years there is now pastoring a large church in Ferke and leading outreach to the rest of Nyarafolo land.

There are other examples of seed planted in Tiepogovogo and growing into harvest, but these three stood out for me this Sunday as I remembered those kids craving teaching. We were like what Hosea was referring to: heifers yoked by the Master so that they could be guided as they did their work in the field. First they would need to plow the field, breaking up the tough soil to prepare for planting. That is like God leading us  to learn Nyarafolo even though we kept being warned that this was a very resistant people group. It started with language learning, building friendships, showing love. We didn’t know it, but Jesus had already plowed the soil in the hearts of two men by appearing to one of them at inviting him to come to him; that man was Pekaly’s father! And his friend who joined him in looking for Jesus was Fouhoton’s older brother! Fouhoton and Pekaly were young kids when we first began teaching there; they became the first two Nyarafolo pastors, continuing to plant the seed and reap ongoing harvest!

When you study the context of those verses in Hosea, the Israelites were being warned that judgment was coming unless they would return to how they used to be: well-trained heifers, and farmers who knew how to plow tough ground. The application to their lives would be to seek Yahweh, sow seed that was healthy and then reap a harvest of unfailing love!

Ephraim was a well-trained heifer who loved to thresh grain; I myself put a fine yoke on her neck. I will harness Ephraim. Let Judah plow! Let Jacob break up the unplowed ground for himself! ¹² Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap unfailing love. Break up the unplowed ground for yourselves, for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers deliverance on you. (Hos. 10:11,12 NET)

“Go back to doing what I trained you for!” That was the message Yahweh was sending his people. If it would actually be done, then there would be good harvest and deliverance.

Jeremiah used this imagery too:

This is what the LORD says to the people of Judah and to Jerusalem: “Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns. (Jer. 4:3 NIV)

And Jesus  referenced it in his parable of the Sower (Mat. 13). Some of what we sow may land on rocks or where thorns grow up, but when he guides to fertile soil there will be harvest.

In those early days Glenn and I were learning what it meant to break up unplowed ground, to sow seed in the hearts of those the LORD, Yahweh, would direct us to. We had no idea what would come of it. We were just doing what he put in front of us, grateful for each opening, knowing we were supposed to be where he had led us. Now we can look back and see how the harvest is continuing, with certain key field workers still planting healthy seed and seeing the fruit of God’s love for all peoples. Unfailing love, faithful love, steadfast love, loyal love—those are all attempts to translate that deep Hebrew word hesed. What a wonderful harvest!

All these stories are just examples of what the Master might be doing where he has asked you to plant seed or plow soil or thresh grain. He determines what is needed to break through hard ground and produce fruit in his timing. Our job is to listen and go where he leads us—obeying the tug of that “yoke” he uses to direct us. It might be to teach Sunday School or Awana, or maybe to reach out to neighbors, or volunteer to help refugees. He knows where ground is to be plowed or seed planted, and he brings about harvest in his timing.

Glenn and I are so blessed to be able to see some of what God has done here, even using stumbling servants like us who had no idea what was going to come out of those early efforts. May you see the fruit of his unfailing love in your daily obedience too!

(Photo credit: Marilyn Pool)