I grew up on ranches and farms in Colorado and Minnesota. In the spring, we used a number of different farm implements to prepare the ground for planting. One of those implements was the harrow.

Some harrows use sharp round disks and others have tines. One of the harrows we used consisted of a heavy rectangular metal frame with several crossbars. On each crossbar, several tines were mounted. Each of these tines was like a thick and rugged dagger with a sharp point on one end. The sharp point faced downward toward the earth.

We attached the harrow to a tractor and dragged it back and forth over the field. The sharp point of each tine cut into the earth, digging through the surface and opening up fresh earth where new seeds would be planted. Unless the earth was broken and dug up, our crop would not grow. If seeds were dropped on the old surface, few would take root, and those that did would not thrive. We cut and broke the earth in the spring so it would produce a good harvest in the fall.

If the earth were a living being, the harrow would have felt like an instrument of torture. The earth had developed a hard surface that resisted penetration by productive crops. While that hard surface was not very fertile, the soil just beneath was capable of producing a rich harvest. Without the harrow, however, the good soil would never be exposed to light and air and seeds of growth. It would always have possessed the potential to bless us, but that potential would never be fulfilled.

The scriptures frequently use the harrow as a metaphor for the painful and difficult experiences that often seem to precede major spiritual change.

Alma the Younger was traveling through the land committing terrible sins when an angel appeared to stop him. Alma was struck down by the angel and describes the experience of confronting the true character and consequences of his actions:

“I was racked with eternal torment, for my soul was harrowed up to the greatest degree and racked with all my sins.” (Alma 36:12) (emphasis added)

This experience with a spiritual harrow is key to preparing Alma for his later repentance. He says:

“As I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.” (Alma 36:17) (emphasis added)

In an echo of Alma’s earlier problems that must have been particularly painful for him, Alma has a son who also commits serious sins. Corianton is sent to the Zoramites on a mission but abandons his work and is involved in sexual sin. Alma meets with Corianton to call him to repentance. In the process of doing so, Alma bluntly confronts his son with the magnitude of his sins and their consequences. Then he explains his reason for doing so.

“I would not dwell upon your crimes, to harrow up your soul, if it were not for your good.” (Alma 39:7) (emphasis added)

Alma is providing Corianton with the same painful experience that Alma himself learned was necessary for him to make a permanent change in his earlier life.

The blessing of the harrow and its attendant pain is not restricted only to the sinful who need to repent. It often comes through unearned trials that come into our lives. When we need to grow, when we need to change, when we need to take steps up to a higher and better place, sometimes the Lord must allow the harrow to cross and re-cross our lives. As it does so, it opens up our souls and fixes our attention on our Savior.

Elder Maxwell said, “When we take Jesus’ yoke upon us, this admits us eventually to what Paul called the ‘fellowship of [Christ’s] sufferings.’ (Philippians 3:10) Whether illness or aloneness, injustice or rejection . . . our comparatively small-scale sufferings, if we are meek, will sink into the very marrow of the soul. We then better appreciate not only Jesus’ sufferings for us but also His matchless character, moving us to greater adoration and even emulation.” (Neal A. Maxwell, “‘From Whom All Blessings Flow,’” Ensign, May 1997, 11)

If we are to respond to tribulation by either growing out of it or growing strong enough to bear it more easily, we must trust in the Driver of the harrow. We are greatly tempted to doubt in times of immense pain. We doubt ourselves and our righteousness. We doubt that our God and our Savior are really paying much attention to us. Some wonder if there is a God and others feel that He has turned His back to them.

These are the times of chastening, of tutelage, of testing, of preparation of our souls for a future harvest.

David P. Vandagriff

I Need Thee Every Hour – Applying the Atonement in Everyday Life