Where is the Fallow Ground?

“Abundant food is in the fallow (uncultivated) ground of the poor, but [without protection] it is swept away by injustice.” (Proverbs 13:23, AMP)

“Peace I leave with you; My [perfect] peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. [Let My perfect peace calm you in every circumstance and give you courage and strength for every challenge.]” (John 14:27, AMP)

There is some disagreement over what exactly Solomon means in Proverbs 13:23. It could be taken two ways: The first is that the poor, for their lack of work, leaves uncultivated ground untapped because they lack the work ethic to put in the labor it takes to grow and harvest food. This would, of course, make sense, if you have a field and choose to not plow the field, sow seed, water it, tend to it, and then harvest the food it brings forth, then the resource has been mismanaged and the field has gone to waste. It is an injustice to not steward that rightly.

The other interpretation of the verse is that the poor has the ability to work these fallow fields, but they lack the protection of their rights to work the field. It’s not for their lack of desire to bring forth the food that can be grown from that ground, but it’s another power at play– governmental, social, generational– that has failed to protect the rights of the poor to do so.

‘Fallow’ ground, for those who don’t know, is a plot of land that is plowed and ready to plant in, but left idle so that the soil can regain its nutrients and fertility. Essentially, Solomon is saying the ground in this verse is ready to plant in. It’s ready to grow an abundant harvest.

When I think over the past decade, as my generation has come into adulthood, there has always been debate over how hard we work: whether we waste our money on frivolous stuff instead of saving it to attain milestones like homeownership or paying off loans, or if the bar has just moved too far for us to attain it. And while the conversation gets more contentious as time goes on, and millennials become even older, and gen Z comes up behind us, the fact remains: whether or not society is as “fair” to us as it was to those before us, what are we going to do about it?

Some fall back on their fear; worrying about making ends meet, where the money for something is going to come from, and what is happening to our world. Some are defeatist; they cry out about the injustice they see, yet feel crippled at their inability to change the systems that seem to be running dry or to live up to their expectations of what life should have been like by now. Still others grind hard. They work their tails off to meet goals and whether they’re doing enough or stressing themselves out remains to be seen.

But what does God want from this generation? What sort of outlook does he want us to have when our mortgage requests are denied, housing prices are ridiculous, daycare is more than rent, and the fun parts of adulting just seem really out of reach? 

When I read this psalm and saw all of that in it, God seemed to nudge at me saying, “Find the fallow ground.” When life feels like an injustice, rather than be swept away by it, find the uncultivated resource that is already at your disposal. Look around. Are you standing in a field that God has given you to cultivate and mismanaging it? 

Not to be corny, but when God needed to work a miracle in the face of Pharoah and all he had was stuttering Moses, he used the staff that was already in Moses’ hand to prove Himself. 

So what’s in your hand? What do you have right now that you can make into abundance? God has left us peace. Peace we can fall back on and draw from. Peace that calms fear and helps us to face tomorrow. We can face our challenges because God is faithful and He cares for His people. Truly, a whole generation can be struggling against tyranny and still God takes care of His children. 

We can have peace that God will honor our hard work and diligence with abundance. It may not mean that we will become rich or have extravagant lives, but it does mean we will be satisfied in God’s provision. “The [consistently] righteous has enough to satisfy his appetite, but the stomach of the wicked is in need [of bread]” (Proverbs 13:25, AMP).

What that means is that the righteous, God-fearing followers of Christ will be satisfied by Christ– both by His provision to us and His actual self. Knowing Him will make us more content than anything the world can devise and try to sell.

Believe me, I know. The struggle is real, and most days it seems like the world is getting harder and harder to live in, much less get started in. But God still provides, and honors the hard work of His people. Is there something we could be doing in order to reach the life milestones we dream of and meet our needs? Is there fallow ground anywhere in our lives that we might be able to work in and harvest from? A side hustle? A corner of our yard to put a vegetable patch? A service we might be able to provide the community to broaden our lives a little? 

And if nothing else inspires, then look to Jesus. Give your need to Him and ask Him to satisfy you. Ask Him to do what only He does, and to pour peace over all of it. Let’s make sure all the resources God has given are being managed well and that we’re not missing opportunities in our lives to see dreams achieved. And when we don’t know what should come next, let’s look to Christ and be content in who He is and will always be.