The journey of faith often mirrors the work of a farmer.
Jesus said the following in Mark 4:26–27: “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how.”
We begin by considering the intense labor of preparing virgin soil - ground that has never been sown. This soil is hard, lacking nutrients, and must be broken, softened, and enriched before it can receive seed. The initial work is not the final goal but a vital step in establishing the land’s capacity to produce fruit.
This idea brings us back to the teachings of Jesus in the Parable of the Sower and the condition of our own hearts - our spiritual “soil.”
The Tilling of the Ground
Mark 4:3-8
“Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside… But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”
In the above, Jesus describes four types of ground. Three of them - the wayside, the stony ground, and the thorny ground - could not yield a lasting harvest. Only one soil, the good soil, produced fruit.
The Word of God is good seed, but it only produces to its full potential when it falls on good soil.
Perhaps you have found yourself in a season of “virgin soil.” A season of sowing into ground that feels hard, unfiltered, and resistant - a season of testing, refining, and waiting. You may have faced much resistance, rejection, or pain. But think of what happens when a farmer must plough a field: he must dig deep, till the ground, remove stones, clear weeds, and uproot everything that could threaten the future harvest.
This first breaking of the soil is critical. The seed sown there may not yield the dream harvest, but it will yield something. That initial harvest might feel small - yet it prepares the ground for more and produces the seed you will need to sow in your next season.
And when the time comes to till that same ground again, it may seem like you are facing the same challenge, sowing the same seeds, walking around the same mountain again - But this time, the soil is different. It’s richer, softer, and full of nutrients drawn from past experiences. You are not the same soil you once were.
The first harvest may not be your “dream harvest”, but it was all the “virgin soil” - your initial capacity - could produce.
That season was never wasted; it was the tilling process itself. The long waiting, the intense struggle, the testing of character - all of it broke up the hard ground.
After that, your soil is no longer virgin; it is seasoned. It is richer, looser, and filled with the nutrients of wisdom, experience, and endurance. Your spiritual capacity has been enlarged.
When you sow the same seeds - the Word, prayer, faith, obedience - you are sowing into ground that now has greater potential to yield an even greater harvest!
From Glory to Glory: The Increased Yield
The promise of this process is that every harvest leads to a greater harvest.
2 Corinthians 3:18
“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
You are moving from one level of glory to the next. The seeds you sow now will fall into a heart whose capacity has been increased by the refining of the previous season.
The very field that once yielded little - (thirtyfold) now has the potential to yield more.(sixty or even a hundredfold).
Every “no,” every hardship, every delay was working the soil of your heart and your responses, testing your character and preparing it for greater fruitfulness.
The knowledge, faith, and endurance you developed in a season of “struggle” prepares you to produce a sweeter, more abundant harvest in this next season.
Your field is ready. Sow again. Believe again. The Lord of the Harvest is faithful.