Softening the Soil of Our Hearts

One of the characteristics of Cheshvan is that it is the month of early rain. You may have read Scriptures that talk about the early and latter rains. What are these Scriptures referring to?

In the Bible, there are three words used for rain. They are yoreh or moreh, melqosh, and geshem. We will look at melqosh and geshem first.

Melqosh (H4456) is often translated as "latter rain." It is the spring rain that occurs from March to April to swell the ground for the harvest to come to maturity.

Geshem (H1653) is a word used to describe rain, specifically a heavy rain shower. It is the Hebrew word for rain, used in Genesis 7:12, where the rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights (NASB95). It is also known as the winter rains and occurs from mid-December through March.

The type of rain that occurs in Cheshvan is yoreh (H3138) or moreh (H4175). This rain is the autumn rain that happens in October and November. This rain has a very specific purpose that determines whether the coming harvest season will be fruitful. Autumn is the time of plowing and sowing. This rain prepares the earth to receive seeds and softens the ground after the dry summer season. Without the early rain, seeds will not be able to germinate, which will threaten the entire harvest.

In Biblical times, people saw rain as a gift from God and a sign of His favor. When rain was withheld, it was a sign of punishment or judgment for sin and not keeping God's commands. Abundant, seasonal rain was promised to the people as a reward for faithfully keeping the commandments (Lev 26:4, Deut 11:13, 28:12, Jer 5:24, Ezek 34:26).

Some key Scriptures on early rain are:

Joel 2:23, So rejoice, O sons of Zion, And be glad in the Lord your God; For He has given you the early rain for your vindication. And He has poured down for you the rain, the early and latter rain as before (NASB95).

Deuteronomy 11:14, He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early and late rain, that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your oil (NASB95).

James 5:7, Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains (NASB95).

Why is all this important to know?

When we seek to understand the Bible, it is essential to remember that the natural world precedes the spiritual (1 Corinthians 15:46). What occurs in the natural world serves as a sign and precursor to events unfolding in the spiritual realm. There are lessons in the cycles of rain that teach us something about our spiritual lives and maturity in Christ. What else is this month of Cheshvan about? It is the month the flood began. Floods reveal roots, uncovering what has been hidden and bringing it to the surface. As the early rain begins to fall upon us spiritually, we can be thankful for the softening of the hard places in our hearts, so that new seed can be planted. As the rain continues to fall, that seed will germinate and produce a harvest.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 13 that our hearts can be one of four types of soil:

1. Hard-packed soil – This type of soil is where our hearts are so hardened to truth that it cannot penetrate our mindsets. We are in a state of rebellion and unbelief where the eyes of our hearts have been blinded to any truth. We are captivated by our mindsets and beliefs that were taught to us from the world system in any form. It could be from our parents and caregivers as children, culture, the world's current values, or the beliefs we formed from trauma and pain.

2. Rocky soil – The rocky soul is where our hearts have been slightly softened to truth, but not enough to produce a plant with any root system. We could view this soil as that of someone who is saved but has never taken any further steps to grow or mature in their faith. Their soil is going to be shallow because they still live almost exclusively by the mindsets of the hardened heart, even though they have initially had a softening to God's Kingdom truths.

3. Thorny soil – The thorny soil is where our hearts have begun to mature, and we have allowed God to work in us, changing our mindsets and beliefs. However, we are weighed down by the cares of the world, and our focus remains on earthly things instead of heavenly ones. Thorny soil produces a believer who is, as James tells us, one who is unstable because of double-mindedness (James 1:8). Allowing God to reveal true heart beliefs that we are living from and replacing those with His truths will help to heal a thorny heart. Jesus tells us that the deceitfulness of riches often will choke out the truth in a thorny heart. Greed results from a lack of trust in God's provision. To heal a thorny, greedy heart, we need a revelation of the Father's love as Provider.

4. Good soil – The soil that will produce a harvest is a heart that has allowed God to water their heart with His Word, but they not only hear the Word, but they understand it and then obey it. Mere hearing, or even hearing and understanding, will not produce a good harvest if obedience is not part of the equation.

If we think of our hearts as a garden, we can have different areas that are each of these soils. We have some mindsets and beliefs where we have allowed the rain of truth to penetrate and soften our soil. We can receive God's Word, instruction, and correction in those places so that we can live from the mind of Christ. We have other places in our hearts where the rain of truth has begun to soften the soil, but there are still mindsets, ungodly beliefs, unbelief, unhealed emotions, or pride that prevent us from receiving the fullness of the seed Jesus wants to plant. Then there are places where the truth has taken root and produced a deep system that alters what grows out of the ground. Every action we take comes from a belief, which has roots that originated from seeds. This is why the rain in Cheshvan is so essential. The early rain softens the hard places in our hearts if we are willing to allow the softening process to take place.

There is a key meaning to the Hebrew word moreh (H4175) that we want to examine when discussing the early rain. This specific Hebrew word has an alternate meaning besides early rain. It also means a teacher, specifically a teacher for righteousness. This word is only used three times in the Old Testament: twice in Joel 2:23 and once in Psalm 84:6. Let's look at Psalm 84:5–7 before we close this teaching.

How blessed is the man whose strength is in You,
In whose heart are the highways to Zion!
Passing through the valley of Baca they make it a spring;
The early rain also covers it with blessings.
They go from strength to strength,
Every one of them appears before God in Zion (NASB95).

How blessed is the person whose strength is in God! How blessed is the person who has God's highways in his heart, which means that he has exalted God in his heart and is ascending higher towards Him. These verses tell us that this person is walking through the valley of Baca on their way to blessings and strength. Baca (H1056) means weeping. To reach higher, they are passing through the Valley of Weeping. Scholars believe this could have been a literal place full of balsam trees that exuded resinous gum, resembling tears, making a connection to the concept of weeping. However, it is also a symbolic expression of grief or difficulty in life.

Let's connect this back to our four soils? How do we often go from one soil to the next and mature in our walk with Christ? It is often through suffering and pain. The Lord allows situations and circumstances to reveal what has been hidden under the surface, just like a flood. We are not aware of ungodly beliefs or mindsets that are opposite to God's truths until suffering or pain reveals them.

Parts of our hearts may be thriving and producing thirty, sixty, or a hundred-fold fruit. But what about the part of us that is still hard-packed, rocky, or thorny? In this month of Cheshvan, let us allow the early rain to soften the soil, so that in this 5786 cycle, we may be transformed and changed, ascending higher to the mountain of Zion.

Blessings,

Brandee