“Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord until He comes to rain righteousness on you.” (v.12b)
Here Hosea speaks to Israel in agricultural terms, a language the people knew very well. He tells them to “break up the hard ground of their hearts” and “seek the LORD” until He comes.
Hosea preached this principle to the people of Israel because they had sown seeds of wickedness and trusted in their own way instead of God's. Now they were eating the bitter fruit of lies, especially the lie that their safety and success came from their own military strength (v.13).
We all sow into our life, but do we sow seeds of righteousness? What “crop” will grow up from the seeds planted in our lives today, or this past week, or this past month?
Hosea pleaded with Israel to go God's way—to break up the sin-hardened soil of their hearts and to "seek the Lord.” If they would sow seeds of righteousness, they would reap the Lord's mercy until He comes to rain blessings on them (v.12).
Is the soil of your heart resistant to God and His Word, rather than receptive? Do you trust in your own way rather than in God's? Then it's time to seek the Lord in honest repentance, to sow right actions and attitudes in your life, and to grow His way. Above all, depend on His power rather than your own to make you fruitful.
The Truth: “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:6-7)
Here Hosea speaks to Israel in agricultural terms, a language the people knew very well. He tells them to “break up the hard ground of their hearts” and “seek the LORD” until He comes.
Hosea preached this principle to the people of Israel because they had sown seeds of wickedness and trusted in their own way instead of God's. Now they were eating the bitter fruit of lies, especially the lie that their safety and success came from their own military strength (v.13).
We all sow into our life, but do we sow seeds of righteousness? What “crop” will grow up from the seeds planted in our lives today, or this past week, or this past month?
Hosea pleaded with Israel to go God's way—to break up the sin-hardened soil of their hearts and to "seek the Lord.” If they would sow seeds of righteousness, they would reap the Lord's mercy until He comes to rain blessings on them (v.12).
Is the soil of your heart resistant to God and His Word, rather than receptive? Do you trust in your own way rather than in God's? Then it's time to seek the Lord in honest repentance, to sow right actions and attitudes in your life, and to grow His way. Above all, depend on His power rather than your own to make you fruitful.
The Truth: “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:6-7)
