Men: Break Up the Fallow Ground
For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.” — Jeremiah 4:3-4 (ESV)
CONTEXT
The prophet Jeremiah ministered during the late 7th century to early 6th century B.C. He began prophesying during the reign of King Josiah of Judah (around 626 B.C.), and continued through the reigns of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, until and after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.
Jeremiah 4 falls early in his ministry, during a time when Judah was under threat from rising empires (Assyria declining, Babylon rising), and God was warning His people about impending judgment for their covenant unfaithfulness.
Judah was deeply entrenched in idolatry, corruption, and covenant-breaking. Even though King Josiah had initiated reforms to restore worship of Yahweh (2 Kings 22–23), the people’s hearts were not truly changed. Their “repentance” was external, not internal (Jeremiah 3:10). Josiah’s reforms were real, but Jeremiah exposes that they didn’t penetrate the people’s hearts. So Jeremiah 4’s warning fits right in that Josiah-era tension: outward reform, inward rebellion.
Jeremiah’s call to “break up your fallow ground” (Jer. 4:3) and to “circumcise your hearts” (Jer. 4:4) speaks directly to this: they bore the outward sign of being God’s people (physical circumcision), but inwardly their hearts were stubborn, proud, and resistant to God.
The imagery of “breaking up fallow ground” was a vivid agricultural metaphor. Just as hard, untilled soil cannot receive seed, so a hard heart cannot receive God’s word. Renewal required breaking up that hardness through repentance and turning to God.
The Bigger Biblical Picture
Jeremiah 4 was spoken into a time of outward religion but inward rebellion. God was warning Judah of Babylon’s coming judgment, calling them to true heart repentance rather than empty ritual. The passage magnifies God’s holiness, exposes human sinfulness, and points us to the need for heart transformation through the gospel. Jeremiah 4 also shows the tension between God’s mercy and His justice:
Mercy: God calls His people to return, promising healing if they repent.
Justice: If they refuse, judgment will fall.
This points forward to the new covenant promised later in Jeremiah (31:31–34), where God Himself would write His law on His people’s hearts and truly circumcise them inwardly (fulfilled in Christ and the Spirit, Romans 2:28–29).
Men, we are at war. Not just against the world around us, but against the spiritual passivity within us.
God’s Word doesn’t pull punches: Your heart is hard. Your life is overgrown with thorns. You’re sowing seeds into soil that can’t produce fruit. Why? Because you’ve allowed your soul to lie dormant—uncultivated, neglected, and overrun by apathy.
Jeremiah calls us to break up the fallow ground. What is fallow ground? It is soil left untouched—unfruitful, resistant, and overgrown with thorns. Spiritually, this is a picture of the unregenerate or sluggish heart: unyielding, self-centered, and cold toward God. Yet Scripture tells us that the natural man cannot understand the things of God (1 Cor. 2:14), and our hearts are spiritually dead apart from Christ (Eph. 2:1). That’s not a gentle gardening metaphor. That’s war language. The ground is hard and resistant. And you are not called to ignore it or excuse it—you’re called to grab a shovel and start digging. Even as Spirit-filled believers, we must daily engage in the battle against spiritual sloth and apathy. We must seek the Lord daily. We must cultivate the soil of our heart and mind and walk in step with the Spirit to obey King Jesus.
But how? Not by sheer willpower. The command to circumcise your hearts is a call to radical internal surrender—to cut away everything in you that resists the Lord. That kind of surgery can’t happen in your own strength. So how can we respond to this command to break up fallow ground or circumcise our hearts? Only by the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit through the power of the gospel. We must be radically honest about what hinders us in our walk with Christ. We must be radically committed to accountability, transparency, confession, repentance, and change.
In Jeremiah 4:4, the command to “circumcise your hearts” echoes the deeper reality revealed in Deuteronomy 30:6: “The Lord your God will circumcise your heart… so that you will love the Lord your God.” It is God alone who can remove the hardened flesh of our hearts and give us new hearts that love Him. The outward sign of the covenant is not enough—what we need is inward regeneration. In addition, God alone is worthy to loved, obeyed, worshipped, and served and we will be held accountable for any half-hearted devotion.
Here’s the truth: You can’t fix yourself. You can’t “man up” your way to spiritual transformation. But the gospel tells us what we can’t do, God has already done. Jesus Christ lived the perfect life you’ve failed to live, died the death you deserved, and rose with power you now have access to. He gave you His Spirit, not so you could survive, but so you could lead, fight, and bear fruit.
Brother, if you are in Christ, the same power that raised Him from the dead lives in you (Rom. 8:11). That means there is no excuse for apathy. No room for laziness. No place for passive, weak manhood. It is time to seek the Lord, time to reject shallow religion, and time to step into the battle for your soul and the souls of those you lead.
Men, Step Into the Fight
God’s Word doesn’t speak softly here—it calls for action. Hosea 10:12 is a direct challenge for men who are tempted to live passively, distracted by comfort, hobbies, or work while neglecting their souls and families.
Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.” — Hosea 10:12 (ESV)
Brothers, God is telling us: it’s time to plow the hard soil of our hearts and lead with courage. It’s time to stop sowing worldly seeds and get to work sowing righteous seeds. It’s time to break up the unproductive soil of our lives to seek the Lord daily. It’s time to stop hitting the snooze button on the alarm so we can wake up early to be in the Word, praying desparately for His transforming power to radically change us more into the likeness of Jesus.
Here are a few practical ways we can step into the fight:
1. Sow Righteousness—Stop Making Excuses
A farmer doesn’t expect a harvest if he never sows seed. Many men want spiritual growth, stronger marriages, godly kids, and deeper faith—but they’ve sown little toward it. You can’t reap what you refuse to plant. Sowing righteousness means daily choices: opening the Bible, leading your family in prayer, fighting lust, showing integrity at work, confessing sin, discipling your kids. Stop waiting for someone else to do it—step up. If you need help and accountability, find a solid Bible-preaching, gospel-centered church and get involved. Go all in on the local church and let people know who you really are. Be teachable, accountable, and humble and let other men challenge you. Here’s the key: INVITE them to challenge you! Don’t be passive about accountability - pursue it and ask for it! Pray that the Lord leads you to the right men and He will guide you. He wants you to be held accountable far more than you do. Pray, trust Him, and take action.
2. Reap Steadfast Love—Your Family Needs This
When you sow righteousness, you don’t just get personal blessing. You bring the harvest of hesed—God’s covenant love—into your home by the character you display in word and deed. Your faith will strengthen your wife. Your children will be shaped by your example. Your church will be built up by your example and leadership. Men, your faithfulness today is sowing righteous seed that will one day reap a harvest of righteousness.
3. Break Up Your Fallow Ground—No More Hard Hearts
Fallow ground is tough, crusted-over soil. It’s unproductive. It’s neglected. It’s soil that isn’t primed and ready to receive the seed. Some of us have hearts like that: stubborn, cold toward God, unproductive, unmoved by His Word. That hardness shows up as apathy, laziness, bitterness, or unchecked sin. The scary part is how quick we are to justify this posture toward God that will always impact our relationship with others too. God is saying: grab the plow and break it up. Repent. Identify and crush your idols. Crush the pride. Don’t wait for a better season—it will never come. Now is the time!
4. Seek the Lord Now—Time Is Running Out
Men, this is urgent. Hosea says, “It is the time to seek the LORD.” Not when the kids are older. Not when things are more comfortable. Not when work slows down. Not when you feel like it. Today! Paul echoes this in 1 Corinthians 16:13: “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.” Be proactive about what you know stands between you and the Lord. Stand firm on the promises of the gospel and the freedom Christ secured for you. To act like men means to act like Jesus - humble, faithful, and submissive to the Father in all things. God has given you this moment—don’t waste it.
5. Expect God to Send the Rain
When you sow, God promises to rain righteousness. The Spirit of Christ Himself will water your life, bringing fruit, strength, and endurance you could never produce alone. The transformational harvest is God’s work—but the plowing and sowing is yours. He provides the rain; you must prepare the ground.
Let’s be clear; this isn’t about emotional hype. It’s about spiritual grit. Gospel-fueled, Spirit-empowered resolve to stop playing games and start pursuing God with urgency and discipline.
This is the beauty of the gospel: Christ, by His life, death, and resurrection, secured not only the forgiveness of sins but also the gift of the Holy Spirit, who indwells us, renews us, and causes us to bear fruit to the glory of God (John 15:4–5, Gal. 5:22–23). The fallow ground of our hearts is broken up, not by our strength, but by God’s sovereign grace. He initiates, He convicts, He transforms. Fall on His grace in desparation today and confess your sin and He will be faithful!
And so we respond—not with pride or self-reliance—but with repentance, humility, and worship. It is time to seek the Lord, not to earn His favor, but because in His mercy He has already given it to us in Christ.
These verses are God’s rallying cry to men: reject passivity, fight apathy, take up the plow, and sow seeds of righteousness.
Your legacy, your family, and your soul are at stake.
It’s time to get off the sidelines. It's time to get your hands dirty.
Break up the fallow ground of your heart and life. Seek the Lord. Step into the fight.
Reflect
Where have you allowed passivity, apathy, or laziness to take root in your spiritual life?
What excuses have you made for not sowing righteousness and pursuing God with urgency?
How would your family, your church, and your own soul benefit if you led spiritually from a place of Holy Spirit–fueled strength?
What “fallow ground” (hidden sin, laziness, or neglect) must you break up today?
What needs to be “cut away” from your heart so you can live fully for Christ?
TAKE ACTION
Kill passivity. Stop waiting for the right time or the right feeling. Take initiative. Start leading.
Get to work. Start each day in the Word and on your knees. Block out distractions. Put the phone down. Pick up the Bible.
Discipline your mind. Don’t wait to feel motivated—train yourself for godliness (1 Tim. 4:7). Men aren’t formed by feelings. They're forged by discipline.
Cut away sin. Be ruthless with compromise. Name it. Confess it. Kill it. Repeat.
Lead spiritually. Lead your home, your marriage, your brothers in Christ. Not perfectly, but faithfully.
Pray
God, I repent of my passivity. I’ve let my heart grow hard, my hands grow idle, and my soul grow cold. But You have not called me to comfort or compromise. You've called me to battle. By the power of the Holy Spirit in me, help me break the fallow ground. Circumcise my heart. Cut away what dulls my affections for You. Awaken me, strengthen me, and use me for Your glory. I don’t want to live another day coasting. I want to fight for what matters. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
*AI was used in the writing and editing process of this post.