Planted or Buried? The Soil Will Tell
Jesus said in John 12:24, “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it produces much grain.”
Die willingly so you don’t feel like you are being buried alive. Die so God can send the right ones that will surround and support you. Every seed goes through darkness before it ever produces. And so do we. There are seasons that feel like collapse—relationships breaking, opportunities drying up, prayers circling without answers. It feels like you’re being covered, pressed down, forgotten. But when God is the One allowing the covering, you’re not being buried to die. You’re being planted to multiply. And the difference between burial and planting is the condition of your heart.
Death to Self Is the Pathway to Increase
Some seasons aren’t accidental—they’re assigned. You didn’t wander into that hard place by coincidence. God appoints certain grounds for the death of self-will because resurrection follows surrendered soil. Even Jesus said, “Not My will, but Yours be done.”
Surrender breaks the seed so fruit can emerge.
Your Heart Reveals Itself Through Your Words
James 3:2 reminds us that maturity is revealed through our mouth—and our mouth exposes our heart. Matthew 12:34 says, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.”
Guard the soil inside you. Proverbs 4:23 teaches that everything flows from the heart. Hardened soil blocks the Word. Bitter soil distorts the fruit. Distracted soil chokes the assignment. You’re not being ruined—you’re being refined.
When God Plants You in Strange Soil
Sometimes God buries you in the soil of certainty—a promise He whispered deep inside you—and then allows you to be watered by confusion, deception, and legalistic love. Why? Because when you rise, you rise with revelation:
“You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.”
This was Joseph’s testimony. His certainty came from a dream only he understood. But when he shared it, his brothers hated him more. Because the revelation of your dream will always provoke resistance in the soil of your destiny. When you are picked by God, you will be rejected by people—sometimes even by those who played the biggest roles in watering your soil.
Joseph was betrayed, sold, lied on, imprisoned, and forgotten—not because he was cursed, but because he was chosen. God wasn’t just testing Joseph’s ability to endure suffering; He was assessing the fruit of his heart. Would Joseph remain faithful under falsehood? Would he stay pure under betrayal? Would he guard his integrity while being divinely forgotten? His dream was the seed. His suffering was the soil. His endurance was the watering.
And when Joseph finally rose, the Father’s blessing manifested when Jacob switched his hands and blessed the second-born Ephraim over Manasseh. Even the blessing revealed Joseph’s testimony:
Manasseh—“God made me forget my trouble.”
Ephraim—“God made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”
God doesn’t want you to simply forget what hurt you; He wants to inspect what you produced through it.
Stay Buried—Your Harvest Depends on It
Some people and circumstances were planted by God. Others were planted by the enemy—tares among your wheat. But God promises that not one seed of love, patience, faith, endurance, tears, intercession, or loyalty has been wasted. What you’ve sown will return pressed down, shaken together, and running over.
Stay surrendered in the soil. Stay hidden. Stay buried.
Because every seed God plants will rise—
not in spite of the soil, but because of it.