Ezekiel 36:9

The plowing and harrowing are painful processes. And surely the Divine Plowman is at work in the world as never before. He plows by His Spirit, by His Word, and by His providences. Though painful be the processes of cultivation, they are essential.

Could the earth speak, it would say, “I felt the hard plow today; I knew what was coming; when the plow-point first struck me, I was full of pain and distress and I could have cried out for very agony, for the point was sharp and driven through me with great energy; but now, I think, this means the blade, the ear, the full corn in the ear, the golden harvest and harvest-home.”