FARMING OUR FAITH
By: Atty. Numeriano P. Galgo, Jr.
October 22, 2023
Tagum City, Philippines
attyborgegalgo@gmail.com
Part I.
A. Greetings
B. Overview of the message
This morning’s message concerns farming or gardening and the lessons we can apply to increase our faith in God. Many people perceive farming as a lowly, backbreaking, and dirty work. But I am amazed because this humble and laborious job imparts valuable insights to help us cultivate a deeper trust in the Lord. Farmers till and plant, yet everything is beyond their control. There is no assurance of a bountiful harvest. They confidently choose to believe that everything will be alright. Several Bible verses encourage us to follow the ways of a farmer who patiently waits for the land to yield its fruits. Faith also takes time to develop, and we should be patient in the process.
Our main verse is found in James 5:7-8 which says:
“Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.”
C. Prayer
Part II. Introduction
Who are the farmers here? Who belongs to a family of farmers? Or who has a garden among you? I grew up on the farm. My grandparents were pioneer farmers in Agusan del Sur. The farm that I grew up on was far from the town center. At the time, there was no electricity and no decent road. It was planted with coconuts, bananas, corn, fruit trees, and vegetables. We had some chickens, pigs, and ducks. We used gas lamps. We got our water from the spring nearby. We had to gather firewood regularly. The only entertainment we had was a battery-operated transistor radio. We had no television. There was no cell phone back then. We gathered around the radio at night to listen to horror stories. Because of that, I feared the aswang and other mythical creatures lurking in the dark.
I learned to climb the coconut tree, husk the coconut, and ride the carabao. The school was far away. Sometimes, I had to walk ten kilometers back and forth when my parents had no money, or the chickens did not lay eggs. We practically stole the eggs from the hens and sold them for a fare. I felt so far away from civilization. My food was wrapped in banana leaves! My uniform was smoothed using charcoal iron! I was never picky with food. Dried fish, canned goods, noodles, odong, vegetables, ginamos, fried frog, you name it. I can easily adjust because of where I came from.
I knew how to plant corn, bananas, fruit trees, and vegetables. My grandmother would sell some of the harvest, and we ate the rest. I learned how to till the land using the carabao. I was exposed to the sun for hours and smelled like the carabao. Indeed, it was a laborious process. It was an endless cycle — you prepare the soil, plant, fertilize, pull the weeds, harvest, and prepare the ground again for the succeeding cropping. Without patience and endurance, you would give up easily. Like in our verse, the farmer waits for the land to yield. In the Bible it reads, “seedtime and harvest.” It’s easy to read. But in reality, it’s seedti——————me and harvest. It could take a long time to reap what was sown. Waiting does not mean sitting down or sleeping until harvest time. Farmers actively wait. After planting, the farmer would fertilize, spray insecticides, remove the weeds, water the crops, and check the condition of the crop every morning. The price of the goods could go up and down without warning. So, farming is quite discouraging at times. No wonder many farmers have sold their lands or encouraged their children to find greener pastures, to find employment somewhere. The same is true with our faith. When we are tested, we give up believing in God or stop going to church.
Despite the challenges, I could say those were the best days of my childhood. Life was simple, and I had fun playing with my friends in the mud or river. Pinoy games like patentero, shatum, jolin, and takyan were enjoyable. I smile whenever I recall my adventures and mischiefs back then.
A. Farmer
What’s with the farmer? When it comes to the development of our faith, the Bible used the farmer as an example. He did not use a carpenter, pastor, priest, mountain climber, skydiver, or a nation leader. In the scriptures, God is portrayed as a farmer because he planted the Garden of Eden; Adam was a farmer tasked to cultivate and take care of the Garden of Eden; the kingdom of heaven is likened to a farmer who planted good seed in his field; we should be patient like a farmer; we should work hard as a farmer; and there is seedtime and harvest as long as the earth endures.
But why the farmer? One author reasoned that farmers depend solely on God for growth. They surrender the work of their hands to the Lord everyday. There is no other vocation like it. The hands of a farmer are rough, and honesty in what they do is written on their palms. Even if the farmer is an atheist, they still depend on the rain, air, water, sunlight, soil, strength, resources, and knowledge that all belong to the Lord. Farmers work and wait for the harvest. The hardest thing about faith is waiting. We all want the Lord to answer our prayers right away. When God seems silent, we get anxious and frustrated. But actually, God is working for our good. One admirable characteristic of farmers is that they don’t like to talk much. They speak through their deeds. The Lord is a great farmer and a good father, and has already given us his promises. We have to trust him like the humble farmer.
B. Faith
And what is faith? It may be easy to understand but challenging to apply. Hebrews 11:1 says, “faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” For example, if you hope to have a house, to be healed of sickness, to become a professional someday, or to have a better future for your children, and you trust God that it will happen in his time, it is guaranteed that you will have it. The moment you doubt or lose confidence in God to bring about what you are hoping for because you don’t see it, it will not happen. The central feature of faith is confidence or trust in God.
The faith of a farmer is worth emulating. Before cultivating the land, he believed that he would reap a harvest. He has not seen the crop yet. That would come after several months. Without such belief, there is no use working hard on the farm. He is already confident and assured of the harvest from the start, although calamities may destroy his crops. That is faith. God only requires us to trust him regardless of the outcome. He knows what is best for us. Of course, the farmer is confident and assured of the harvest and works hard for it. For faith without works is dead. If you hope for something, you must also work for it.
C. My farming
When I went to college at the Mindanao State University, Marawi City, I was happy and relieved because I could finally escape farm life! I could not see myself farming for the rest of my days. Since 1996 and until this year — more than 26 years — I have not been farming or planting crops like I used to. I must have forgotten how to plow the field.
Sometime in 2010, a client paid my legal services with a piece of land instead of cash. It is about five hectares in Laak, Davao de Oro, about one hour from Tagum City. The road going there then was rough, and when I checked it, I refused to accept it because it was far from the road. But he insisted and told me that the road would pass there one day because he saw the plan of the government. I accepted the land, and we executed a deed of sale. I had difficulty developing it because it was far and hard to access. My possession was disputed twice by indigenous people. I wanted to give it up or sell it. But for some reason, I did not. Four years passed, and a road was constructed in front of the land! The land is rolling, surrounded by streams, and a waterfall is within.
Just this year, I decided to develop it seriously. The Butchart Garden in Canada inspired me. It’s wonderful. Disneyland also inspired me. There are a lot of things that I am hoping for the land to become. What is not inspiring is the expense and the hard work involved. As I cultivate the land, I have learned lessons that strengthened my faith in the Lord, and I will share with you today the top three.
Part III. Lessons
A. First, death is an essential part of growth. Life and death is a constant cycle on the farm. To get seeds, the mother plant, fruit, or flower has to mature and die. You plant the seed, and it grows. You must terminate or remove the weeds for the crops to grow better. You have to cut the trees to make more space for planting. You kill the pests to promote growth. You have to end laziness and procrastination to plant on time. You have to stop wasting your time and resources to improve your farm. You forget who you are so you can work effectively and humbly. Our professions and titles don’t matter to the soil, especially the bees. They will sting you no matter who you are. There is a lot of dying on the farm to sprout and increase.
The same happens to our faith. To increase our trust, disbelief in God must end. Our sins and vices must stop. We must die to ourselves, knowing we are nothing without the Lord. We have to carry our cross. Even Jesus physically died for our sins so that we will have eternal life. The problem is that we are afraid of the idea of death. We continue our evil ways, believing we will be happier, comfortable, popular, and satisfied. If we refuse or disallow death for our sins, cruel ways, or disbelief, our faith will suffer a slow death. Jesus said, I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. What must end in our lives, attitude, mindset, or relationship? Surrender it to the Lord, and we will surely grow in his presence. Let us clean all the aspects of our lives. It’s time to release our faith.
B. Second, the Lord will meet us at the level of our faith. I believe that the things I am hoping for on the farm will come true one day with the help of the Lord. I don’t know exactly when. I just work hard to show the Lord that I am committed to it. On Saturdays, I wake up at 4:00 A.M. to bring supplies needed on the farm. Because I am working full time as a lawyer, my free time is Saturday. But when I have no hearing or appointment on a weekday, and it’s important, I go there too. Sometimes, I drove alone. Most people are still asleep. I have workers there but I also work. It’s tiresome and I get wounded from time to time. I go to places to buy seedlings. I begged people from the electric company for months to have electricity. I wear dirty clothes. My clothing get soiled. There were several times that I thought of giving up, but I pressed on because it would be a waste of time and investment. Giving up is a form of disbelief. If you give up on your dreams, you are telling the Lord that you don’t believe he will help you. Sometimes, I questioned myself if I could sustain the weekly expenses for salary, transportation, equipment, seedlings, maintenance, and others. During those times, I would tell myself that I am not controlled by money. God is in control, and he provides.
We must understand that faith is the currency of heaven. Jesus said, ask anything in my name and I will do it. The problem is not with the Lord but with us. The level of our faith is low. For example, if we want to buy a candy, we only need two pesos. We need a thousand if we’re going to buy a cellphone, depending on the brand. If we want to buy a brand-new car, we need hundreds of thousands. Faith is like that. When Jesus healed the blind men, he said, according to your faith let it be done to you. He also said to the bleeding woman, your faith has healed you. What is the size of our faith — extra small, small, medium, large, or extra large? Faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains. How much more if the size of our faith is like a huge watermelon! It can do wonders more than we can imagine. I am excited for that. Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
C. Third, faith requires acceptance. A good farmer tends to their crops faithfully. However, there are times when the plant would die, although you have done everything to make it grow. This is the hardest thing to swallow. In life, we would immediately ask God why. We would say, I have given everything to please you, Lord, but why did you not answer my prayer? I believed in you but why did you take away my loved one? Why did I fail? We either give up on our faith in him or we doubt God. This is what I have learned: having a great faith is good, but no matter how great our faith is, it will never take away the sovereignty of God. We cannot subject or put God under our faith to coerce him to do what we want simply because we believe in him. Yes, God rewards our faith, but his will always prevails. This is the truth that we miss. Though it hurts deeply when we do not get what we want, we must accept his will. The farmer will start all over again if his crops are damaged by pests and calamities. It is painful, but there is no better choice. Though we do not understand, he knows the plans he has for us, plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us hope and a future. Our response should be to consider it pure joy whenever we face trials of many kinds, because we know that the testing of our faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that we may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Part IV. Conclusion
Faith takes time to grow. It blossoms and bears fruit when it is tested. Trials are the fertilizers of faith. That is why our verse reminds us to be patient and firm for the coming of the Lord is near. We have wars, earthquakes, and calamities happening now. These are the signs of the end times. We must farm and cultivate our faith so that when the Lord of the harvest comes anytime, we are ready to meet him.
Let’s pray.
