“The hard work of sowing seed in what looks like perfectly empty earth has, as every farmer knows, a time of harvest. All suffering, all pain, all emptiness, all disappointment is seed: sow it in God and he will, finally, bring a crop of joy from it.”
This quote, from Eugene Peterson’s amazing book A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, speaks to finding meaning amidst suffering and emptiness by seeing through a lens of faith. He uses farming as a metaphor to convey hope in a future where joy blossoms from present anguish.
Peterson reminds us of the struggle of planting seeds in barren, vacant soil. In our darkest moments of pain, loss, or disillusionment, life can seem fruitless and empty — barren soil! However, with steadfast faith, our tears become the seeds of future redemption.
He reminds us that sowing our emptiness and sorrow in God will ultimately bear fruit. Just as the farmer trusts in the waiting earth, and plants seed within it — we must trust that God will transform our grief into joy! No pain is meaningless if surrendered to Him!
Peterson suggests that all disappointment has redemptive purpose – we simply cannot grasp it in present moment. It is faith that sends us back to till and plant the cold empty ground, trusting to heaven’s promises of plenty. From the empty earth, by God’s grace, goodness will sprout.
Let us, like that farmer, endure the bleak periods of our lives by understanding their role in a larger harvest of hope. If we will listen, faith will speak this assurance: Our hollow spaces, our cold, empty soil, when given to God, will become a seedbed of a more abundant life ahead.
Pastor Nathan Elms 9/13/23
Faith for Flourishing 
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