Every acre of your life should glisten with the dew of hope. Hope, in fact, is one of the chief characteristics of our calling (Eph. 1:18). But sometimes the gap between promise and possession becomes fallow.

The fallow ground of abandoned hope.

Fallow ground is soil that has at one point been prepared, but then left inactive – abandoned – until it becomes resistant to seed and moisture. This is ground where we’ve ceased to expect results. These are places where disappointment has led to discouragement and even disbelief. Fallow ground is where you have stopped hoping things will be different. This is the fallow ground of abandoned hope.

The Path toward Fallow Ground

Have you ever been disappointed? Hope deferred makes the heart sick (Proverbs 13:12). Disappointment is tiring, wearying and can even be devastating – like a wound in our soul. Over time, disappointment leads to discouragement; the wound in the soul becomes inflamed or infected. Discouragement can be too painful or frustrating to face or fight, and eventually the scar of disbelief covers the wound in our soul. Fallow ground is left. We no longer bother with hope in that place.

After all, isn’t it easier to acquiesce to status quo than to anticipate change? Isn’t easier, less painful, less frustrating to cope than to confront? Because, after a while, it feels like it has been after a while. This is the fallow ground of abandoned hope.

This is the ground, I believe, of a father’s heart in Mark 9:14-24.  The story pivots on  Jesus’ statement to this desperate father that “all things are possible to him who believes.” The daddy responds with “I believe (I want to believe, I know I should believe, I am trying to believe); help my unbelief.” Help my unbelief? This was no willful rejection of faith. No, I believe the father was saying something much more like this:

I’ve been disappointed so often. The heartache of watching this boy’s life being destroyed has been overwhelming for me. I have tried everything – twice. It has been like this for too long. What hope I had ran out a long time ago. I brought him to your disciples, and not even they could help. And now… now YOU are standing in front me, asking me to believe?

Yes. Yes He is. He stands as the single greatest hope on the planet, as the savior of the world, God-become-man, the anointed One, and asks you to trust Him. And if you will permit me to project my view upon the story, I believe the father’s confession of faith, but request for help reveals that He heard something in voice of Jesus, that he saw something in face of the son of God that began to break up the hardened soil in his soul. There is something about Jesus and His perfect, pristine radiance of God’s glory and expression of His Nature (Hebrews 1:3) that breaks through the dark clouds of fear and pain and draws us to risk, to trust, to hope again. From the blazing love behind his piercing gaze, Jesus says, “all things are possible.” There is nothing that is not possible. His words beckon hope’s return.

How to Restore Hope to Fallow Ground

If the gap between possession and promise has dried and hardened, it needs be broken up. We can till the ground with truth: God’s person (who He is), His promise (what He has said), His Providence (what He has done), and His power (what He can do).

We strike the dry soil in our soul, reminding it of who God is, that He is Good, profoundly and exceedingly Good, and that his loving-kindness endures forever. We declare that He is faithful and He is Holy. (Pardon the grammar that follows) He is gooder, wiser, kinder, and better than I’ll ever know or can measure. We then remind our soul of all that this great-big-good-God has said, of His promises – and that each one is “yes” in Christ (2 Cor. 1:20). Further, we use the tool of God’s providence – we recall and recite what God has done for us and for others. We can be very generous in the application of providence; the testimony of the Lord is a powerful and practical tool to restore hope. Finally, we recall that what whatever God has done, and what He has said He will do, He has the power to perform. Like Abraham we stand in the place of barrenness and believe in “God who raises the dead and calls the things that are not as though they already were. Against all hope, with hope he believed…that what God had promised He was able to perform” (Romans 4:17-18, 21).

And we fasten hope to the soil of our hearts with the chords of perseverance (Heb. 10:36-39). Perseverance means we will not give up this ground again to hopelessness. We will not cease to till our soul with the truth of God’s person, promise, providence and power. We will not shrink back. Believing deeply, we hope boldly. And we persevere, because something has got to change, something has got to give, and it’s not going to be us: dry bones will rattle with life, springs will rise up in the desert places, light will break through the clouds; blind eyes will open; deaf ears will see; the lame will walk. Hope will rise and rest upon the landscape of our life as fresh as the morning dew.

Thanks for reading. I pray you are encouraged. Consider using the social media buttons below to share this post with others.
~ Dav

What’s the use? Is there anything more deflating than the sense that what you are doing doesn’t matter? Have you ever felt that way? Or perhaps more accurately, how often do you feel that way? You’re trying to do what is right. You are trying to help. You are making things right. You are making things better – for a friend, a family member, for the whole family, for someone in need, for lots of people in need, for the church, for a stranger. You’re doing what feels like what should be done. You’re making sure, the best you can, things can keep going. You may even be doing what will only get done if you are the one doing it. And you keep doing it. You are doing what is good. And quite possibly, even probably, you get weary.

You are the person the Apostle Paul has in mind when he writes, “…do not grow weary in doing good” (2 Thess. 3:13). It isn’t unusual for Paul to say something like this (Gal. 6:10). He must have known a little something about doing what is good, and a little something about why sometimes we might get weary doing it. I think it might help to look at why we can get weary, and then to consider some rejuvenating truths about our well-doing.

Don’t Lose Heart

First, it might help to look more closely at Paul’s words in the text. He isn’t saying, “don’t get tired,” rather he saying, “don’t lose heart; don’t lose courage.” Paul is not just telling his audience to pound down an energy drink and get back to work. He is not telling us never to rest; he is urging us never to give up. He is speaking to our inner person, to our hearts, because that is the place where we get weary.

Why We Get Weary

We can run out of steam when doing good for several reasons. First, because we may not feel that we’re doing really matters – that it is making a difference. Is anyone or anything changing? Have we made any real progress? The dance of taking two steps forward and three back will wear you out in short order.

Second, we may get weary because we do not feel appreciated. It’s tough to feel like we’re doing what is right, and doing it with all our might, and have it go unnoticed or under-recognized. Right about then we often feel a bit resentful. Or we might wonder if no one is noticing because maybe it doesn’t matter after all. Maybe someone else could or should do this, and maybe do it better, if at all.

Third, we may get weary because we fear running out: out of energy, of resources, of ideas, of money, of time… that there just won’t be enough of what it takes to get it done. Fear of lack can squeeze the courage right out of our hearts.

Weariness, here, is a matter of the heart. Time-outs and time-off won’t help this, but truth will.

How to Overcome Weariness

Let me say that there is nothing wrong – at all – with a good nap. Without sleep the drama-factor increases by a bazillion. Everything feels worse without rest. Rest happens to God’s most natural means of assuaging weariness. So, when you’re tempted to give up, sleep on it and take a fresh look when you wake up.

Second, it is absolutely essential that we do everything unto and for the Lord. Whatever we do, we do it all our might as unto the Lord, and for His glory. There is joy in that. There is strength in that. There is even an assurance that regardless of what I can measure (or cannot measure) what I am doing for (and with) the Lord matters. It matters because He makes it matter. It matters because He is the master architect, builder and artist. He always makes things work out for good. He always uses the most apparently insignificant things to make the biggest difference. He wastes nothing: no person, no resource, no opportunity. There is no way anything we do for the Lord can “not matter.” Hear Paul tell the Corinthian church, “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:58). The message bible says it this way, “being confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort.” Don’t get weary – because everything you do for and with Him matters.

Third, let us rest in the deep assurance of Heaven’s praise. It is normal and healthy to enjoy affirmation from others. Positive feedback, appreciation and sincere compliments are morale boosters and courage-builders. God made us this way. It’s one of the reasons that it is urgent that we constantly encourage others. However, people’s praise is often passing. Further, praise from men is hardly the gold-standard of well-doing. Depending on the situation, you could just as easily be despised for doing good. We must do good because we love people, not because we love their praise. All the honor, praise, and reward only matters when heaven says so. We must set our hope on heaven’s praise (2 Cor. 5:9-10), and do good.

So, dear friend, don’t get weary. Don’t lose heart. What you’re doing matters. The Lord sees, records and rewards. Keep up the good work.