that’s what it said on the side of the huge truck parked in the road next to some construction going on in the neighborhood – “Ground Breakers” in big, bold letters. Kind of hard to miss, so of course it got my attention and captured my thoughts. So many things today are not aptly named, but I have to say, “Ground Breakers” is perfectly named because that is exactly what they do – they break up the ground. They break up the ground with their big machinery so that the workmen (workpeople?) can come in and do whatever it is they need to do once they have access to what is beneath the broken ground.

But it is the breaking that always comes first. Ironically, the reason the workers are breaking up the ground, whether it be the concrete of the road or sidewalk, or the dirt of the yards, is so that they can fix something that lies buried underneath. This could be sewer lines, power lines, gas lines, water lines, cable/phone lines etc. But unless the ground is broken, those things that are in need of repair cannot be fixed. Reminds me of certain situations in which doctors have to break a bone in order to reset it correctly. The bone has to be broken before it can be healed and restored to its originally intended state.

Why did this “Ground Breakers” logo resonate so deeply with me this morning as I walked past it? Could it be because of the conversation I had with friends just last night as we studied the parable of the four soils? I think so. Turns out, the only way the seed can get down into the soil so that it can take root and grow is if the soil has been plowed or broken up ahead of time. (any farmer knows this of course) Plowing, aka ground breaking, may be a painful and a painstaking process, but it is a necessary prerequisite to bringing forth life from previously dead ground.

How about bringing to life a dead heart? or a hard heart? In the parable, Jesus compares our human hearts to soil, and God’s Word is the seed sown in the soil of our hearts. However, if our hearts are hard or stony, the seed of God’s living word won’t be able to take root and to grow. Must be why in Ezekiel God says,

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26)

God wants to fix our hearts to enable us to receive His Word, Himself, all the good gifts He wants to give us, including the gift of His Holy Spirit abiding in our hearts – BUT – in order for God to “fix” us, to heal us, to bring life to our formerly dead hearts – God first has to break our hearts so He has access, just like the ground breakers first have to break the ground open so the workers can get to where the problem lies. Heartbreaking, like ground breaking, is hard work, but it is necessary work to prepare the way for the life giving, life changing seeds which are “every word that comes from the mouth of God”, to take root and grow.

Today, seeing the “Ground Breakers” logo, I realized my need to be broken hearted before I can be wholehearted personally. I have God’s promise that His words will do their work in me if I have allowed Him to remove the stones from my hard heart, leaving my heart broken and wide open to receive God’s word, which will enter in through all the broken places in my heart, filling me with God’s healing mercy, bringing back to life my formerly frozen, hard heart.

“so is My word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11)

So encouraging! God’s word does all the work. All I have to do is to receive His word and let it take up residence so to speak, in my heart, where it will then have a chance to take root, to grow, and to eventually produce fruit. However, in order for all this to happen, my hard heart must be broken first, before it can be healed. Seems backwards, I know. But that’s the way it works. To this end, I ask of my Heavenly Father today, what King David asked of Him so long ago –

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23-24)

“Search, know, test, and essentially find any bad things hidden in me” – that’s what David is asking God to do. Search, know, test, look around my heart – seems like an open invitation from David to God for God to come in and break the ground/soil of David’s heart wide open so God can do some repair and restorative work once David’s heart is broken, exposing what needs to be fixed or healed. And then King David invites God to do something more. After his heart has been prepared by the plowing of his heart’s soil, David asks of God this –

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. . . . Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” (Psalm 51:10 & 12)

these are my prayers today too – I really don’t want the pain of the ground breaking of my heart – but that pain is necessary because it opens the door and makes possible the healing and restoration of a heart that lies broken and exposed – waiting for the Redeemer to come in and rehab this heart to make it into a place suitable for His abiding presence – because that is what my broken heart has now become – His dwelling place – because He makes His home with me. (and with you too, dear readers and with any who are broken enough to let Him enter)

“For this is what the high and lofty One says – He who lives forever, whose name is holy: ‘I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.’ ” (Isaiah 57:15)

sincerely, Grace Day