Encouraging (and Biblical) Farmers’ Prayers

Farmers’ Prayers for you (and your family) to reflect on

Do you work closely with nature?  Is your lively hood subject to the changing seasons that ebb and flow unnoticed by many of us?  Or perhaps your grandparents are farmers and you have fond memories of growing up visiting them? 

Or perhaps you have friends that work the ground and raise animals and you marvel at what they do.  These farmers’ prayers are for all of you. 

Or maybe they are for everyone because we should all be praying for one another, am I right?!

Why farmers’ prayers?  Because farmers touch our lives every day and we don’t notice it.  If being a farmer brought you to this post, I want to say thank you.  Thank you for getting up early to feed your animals because in return you are feeding us.

Thank you for bumping around for hours in the hot sun on your tractors for weeks on end to provide us with the basics we take for granted.  We couldn’t live without it.

Are you mixing up flour to make pancakes?  Thank a farmer.  Cornbread for dinner?  Thank a farmer.  Apple sauce with those pancakes?  Thank a farmer.  I could go on and on, but you get the idea.

I live in a beautiful corner of the US where rolling pastures are my daily vista.  They breathe peace into my soul and they beckon me, calling me by name to walk through them.  I wish I could paint a word picture for you because they would fill your soul with a breath of fresh air also!  The video doesn’t do it justice, but here is a glimpse of my view!

Perhaps I am taking a long time to get to our topic of farmers’ prayers, but I wanted to get you into the mood first.  I want you to see the fields freshly plowed in the spring, the perfect canvas for God’s bounty to begin.  I want you to hear the calves mooing as they try to stand on crooked legs, butting their mothers for their first drink of nourishment.

I want you to think of the farmer who wanders out in the dark to ensure the chicken coop is locked and safe from predators.  The same farmer might be praying for rain to ensure his crop grows or perhaps he’s praying for a break in the rain so he can cut hay or harvest a crop.

Farmers have a difficult life, though I’m sure they would fill your head with all of the benefits to the point you are ready to go out and purchase acreage for yourselves!  They are subject to things far out of their control.  The weather, pests, disease, etc. all have them working hard and praying just as hard.

I found this the other day and just had to include it in a post.  It made me laugh as my neighbors are all weathered farmers and I could so easily picture one of them standing straight and confident in their clean overalls smirking as these words were prayed.

A NEW Pastor was attending a men’s breakfast in a rural area.

She asked one of the impressive older farmers in attendance to say grace that morning.

After all, were seated, the older farmer began:

“Lord, I hate buttermilk.”

The Pastor opened one eye and wondered to herself where this was going.

Then the farmer loudly proclaimed, “Lord, I hate lard.”

Now the Pastor was worried.

However without missing a beat, the farmer prayed on,

“And Lord, you know I don’t care much for raw white flour.”

Just as the Pastor was ready to stand and stop everything, the farmer continued,

“But Lord, when You mix ‘em all together and bake ‘em up, I do love fresh biscuits.

So Lord, when things come up we don’t like, when life gets hard, when we just don’t understand what You are sayin’ to us, we just need to relax and wait ‘till you’re done mixin’, and probably Lord, it will be somethin’ even better than biscuits.

Amen.”

Thank you to “Preserve Company” for sharing such a delightful poem!

The Old Farmers’ Prayer

Ok, let’s get into our round-up of farmers’ prayers.  This is a classic one and the author is unknown.

The Farmer’s Prayer

Old farmers never die, they just go to seed.

Time just keeps moving on

And many years have come and gone

But I grow old without regret

My hopes are in what may come yet.

On the farm I work each day

This is where I wish to stay

I watch the seeds each season sprout

From the soil as the plants rise out.

I study nature and I learn

To know the earth and feel her turn

I love her dearly in all her seasons

For I have learned her secret reasons.

All that will live in the bosom of the earth

She is the loving mother of all birth

When my body is old and spent

And my soul to Heaven has went.

Please compost and spread me on this plain

So my body Mother Earth can claim

That is where I wish to be

Then nature can nourish new life with me.

So do not for me grieve and weep

I didn’t leave, I only sleep

I am with the soil here below

Where I can nourish life of beauty and glow.

Here I can help the falling rain

Grow golden fields of ripened grain

From here I can join the winds that blow

And meet the softly falling snow.

Farmers’ Prayers from Scripture

The Bible is full of verses about gardens and farming.  Israel was an agricultural society and God often mentions things like “former and latter rains” and “first fruits”. 

Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.  You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.  (James 5:7-8)

Right from the beginning of creation, God tells us that He provided food from the earth for us to eat.

And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so.  (Genesis 1:29-30)

I am a huge believer in praying scripture.  I believe that the Bible is God’s word, it is holy truth and when we take these words and turn them into prayer, they become an expression of faith.

The idea is simple.  You take God’s words and then personalize them.  Here are three verses that we can turn into farmers’ prayers.

Psalm 85:12

Yes, the Lord will give what is good;

And our land will yield its increase.

Lord, we know that all that is good comes from you.  You created this beautiful land in which we live and you alone can bless it.  Bless our crops, increase our yield, and breathe health and life into our soil.

Deuteronomy 11:13-15

And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil.  And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled.

Dear Lord, I understand that obedience to you is of more importance than any source of income.  You bless those who follow you and guide those who are obedient to you.  I pray that you help me serve you with my whole heart.  Bless this land that you have given me, make it prosper and grow in abundance and I will praise you all of my days.

Psalm 104:14-15

He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and vegetation for the service of man,

That he may bring forth food from the earth,

And wine that makes glad the heart of man, oil to make his face shine,

And bread which strengthens man’s heart.

Lord, you alone can make the grass grow.  I acknowledge that you are all-powerful and all-knowing.  You can shut up the heavens or you can bring the needed rain.  I trust you with my land and my animals.  I trust you with my livelihood.  You alone can make my family healthy and strong.

How Can We Pray for Farmers?

Farmers face obstacles on every side and as I said earlier there are many elements that are completely out of their control.  How can we pray for farmers?

• Pray for stamina- Whether they are milking cows or raising wheat, a farmer puts in long hours and his animals and crops come before his own personal needs. Pray for their strength and endurance.
• Pray for good weather- which means different things to different farmers, but so many aspects of their lives are subject to the weather.
• Pray for abundance- The more healthy babies born to farm animal mamas, the more you will have to eat in the long run. The more harvest per acre the combine can achieve, the better the farmer can provide for his family.
• Pray for wisdom- farmers make difficult decisions every day.
• Pray for safety- large animals, huge farm machinery, and countless other dangers face farmers and their families every day.
• Pray for faith- it is no coincidence that faith is compared to a seed as it takes faith and a whole lot of hope to get farmers where they need to be. There are no instant returns in farming and it is easy to get discouraged.

I hope you have found a new desire for farmers’ prayers whether it be for yourself, your friends, or the strangers that provide your food.  May we join hands and support each other in prayer like never before.