What Kind of Valley Is It That It Can’t Be Plowed? God gave many laws to the Israelites to keep. This story is from Deuteronomy chapter 21. If a body is found whose killer is unknown, the elders from the nearest city take a heifer that has neither been worked with nor has ever worn a yoke. And they would bring the heifer down to a valley where water was always flowing, and that was neither plowed nor sown, and strike the heifer’s neck to break it and kill it. While reading this verse I thought, “What kind of a valley would always have water flowing but not be able to plow or sow? It must be a valley formed on a hard rock.” Then I began to reflect upon my heart.
My Heart, like a Valley That Cannot Be Plowed Since I was young, I lived like a small fish in a big pond. Because I had never encountered thoughts that were better than my own nor a heart more beautiful than mine, I lived according to my own thoughts. So even though I would talk with my friends I would not accept their heart easily. Because I always thought I was right, if I had a disagreement with a friend, I would argue and eventually fight with them. This being so, my friends did not like me that much. I could not accept even a small part of others’ words because I was right. My heart was like a valley that could not be plowed nor sown.
Why Would They Break the Heifer’s Neck at the Valley? Why would they have to break the heifer’s neck at the valley that cannot be plowed nor sown, rather than somewhere else? Up until I was 19 years old, I tried to be good at something and tried to live a better life, but nothing turned out well. In my own eyes, I was great, but whatever I did failed. I thought I was honest, but I would lie and do evil. I would be confident in thinking I was right about something and argue about it, but I would later find out that I was wrong. As I started to discover these facts, the thoughts that made me think I was great, smart and right started to slowly break down and lose strength. As I came to see myself, the heart of believing in myself broke down and I started to feel my hardened, strong heart break little by little. After that I believed in Jesus and received forgiveness of sin. As I thought of the Lord shedding blood on the cross for the sin of a person like me, I was so thankful and happy that my heart melted down. That is when I started to change. Before, I would never even try to listen to the words that would not correspond with my heart, but my heart started to change into soft land where seeds are sown.
How Could Jesus Speak like This? One time I was reading the Bible. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught during the act of adultery to Jesus and asked. “Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?” If Jesus told them to stone her, they would slander Jesus saying, “How could someone who came to save sinners say to stone someone?” If He would tell them not to stone her, they would accuse Him of breaking the law. Whatever He would say, He would have been trapped. That is when Jesus said, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” With that one sentence I could see the wisdom of Jesus, defeating all the Pharisees and scribes and saving the woman. “How could Jesus say this? Jesus has this kind of wisdom! If I stay near Jesus, I will also have this kind of wisdom!” Before the Word, again, my thoughts and my greatness crumbled down.
Just as That Woman Just like the woman caught in adultery, Jesus had saved me and changed me. As I thought I was great, I originally could not accept anything that would sound offensive to my ears or accept words that would not correspond with my thoughts. But the Word of the Bible, which did not fit me and was not something I wanted to read, started to flow into my heart and became a treasure. I was able to see the Word come into my heart and start to bud and bear fruit. Before, whenever I would try to read the Bible, my head would ache and I would feel irritated and drowsy. But the Bible, previously something that I did not want to see at all, started to come into my heart and one by one got firmly planted in my heart. “This must be the heart of Jesus! This is the heart of God!” My hardened heart, which was like a rock neither plowed nor sown, started to change into a land that could bud, as the Word of Jesus came into my heart.
The Sacrifice of Jesus Changes Our Hardened Hearts As a heifer, even now the sacrifice of Jesus is melting and breaking the hardened hearts of people and softening their hearts. Because the dying land still had flowing water, if only the land would become softer, it could always blossom flowers and bear fruit. Likewise, even though people hear the sound of the flowing water, they live their lives not accepting anything because of their hardened hearts. I was a person like that. But now I don’t know how thankful I am for being given the heart to accept the Word of Jesus. I give thankfulness and the glory to God, who softened my stone-like heart and allowed it to bud and blossom flowers and bear fruit.
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