When the Soil Seems to Fail
As someone who knows nothing about horticulture, soil, or wine, you can imagine how pitiful my knowledge of planting and maintaining a vineyard is. I am naive to the 'nth' degree. I don’t even drink alcohol for crying out loud.
That is why, after reading Micah 1:6, I was perplexed by the soil that it explained was fit for a vineyard.
Micah 1:6a - “Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of rubble, a place for planting vineyards.”
A heap of rubble doesn’t sound like a prime place for planting vineyards. Soil that is covered in rubble often lacks nutrients. Any soil underneath rubble would be poor for growing and inconducive to most fruit and vegetative plant life. I began to google and soon found that I was right about the soil, but wrong about grapevines. As it turns out, bad topsoil is often the perfect place for vineyards to grow.
I found that grapevines don’t have shallow roots, they have deep roots that seek densely nutritional soil far below the surface when the nutrients isn’t easy to find.
Most plants, and even many trees, have a somewhat shallow root system. However, grapevines are renowned for developing extensive, deep roots that can reach depths of 25 to 30 feet or more. While the highest concentration of functional roots is in the top 3 feet, they can grow very deep in the right soil conditions.
Now, check this out.
The long root system of grapevines becomes “lazy” when the nutrients it needs is easily found. If the soil it’s planted in is rich in nutrients and good at holding water, it ironically hurts the vine in the long run. The roots will stop near the surface and actually produce less desirable, large, watery, bland tasting grapes with a thick skin. Yuck.
When the provision is easily attained, the vine stunts, gets lazy, and stops short of its potential. Are you catching what I’m throwing? I think you are.
However, when a grapevine has to work to find its nutrients, digging deep into the soil, it eventually finds a soil well worth the work. This journey puts stress on the vine, but it’s that very stress that actually brings desirable results; the smaller, more concentrated grapes that we all enjoy today. They pack greater flavor and are perfect for eating, making the best wines, and more.
What does this reveal? That the work that digs deep produces something that can’t be attained by stopping short. When effort is required, the payoff is much, much sweeter. Even when the soil you’re in seems to fail you, there is something rewarding underneath it.
While many plants have shallow roots that make them more susceptible to drought and easily uprooted by wind, a grapevine’s roots allow them to stand strong against wind, and allow them to better tolerate droughts.
If you feel easily uprooted in life, shaken by the winds of change and uncertainty, your roots need more depth. You can’t afford to stop digging.
When the roots of your life are deeply implanted in the Lord, standing strong in the faith, you are able to tolerate the winds and droughts of this world through His strength.
When it looks like the soil has failed, it doesn’t mean your life is over — you just gotta’ dig, brother. Go further, get determined, and go after the soil that lies deeper. You will feel the stress and your work will be difficult, but your reward will be incredibly sweet.
Our problems and pains may be inconvenient and even tragic in some circumstances, but what if we assigned new perspective to them? What if the problem was simultaneously paired with the hope that something greater was still in store? What if the tragedies were handed to the the Holy Spirit, who comforts and redeems?
What if we saw our Christian pursuit like the pursuit of the grapevine? What if we didn’t stop when the soil seemed like it wouldn’t provide? What if we kept digging deeper until we received the promise God has for us?
The soil may seem to fail, but the treasure isn’t on the surface, it’s down below.