Good morning!
Text: Hosea 9-11; Song of Solomon 8
Prophets like Hosea bring messages of clarity to God’s people. The Lord wants us to see our sin, His wrath, and to hear His invitation to receive His merciful love. In Hosea 10:12 we find God’s call to His people to repent, confess and come back:
Sow for yourselves righteousness;
reap steadfast love;
break up your fallow ground,
for it is the time to seek the Lord,
that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.
Our sin creates upon our hearts a thick crust like the hardened earth on top of a farmer’s field that has been fallow. Rain, frost, and snow compress the top layer so it is like pavement, and the plowman must labor hard to break it up. If it is not broken up, any seed sown will fail to take root.
The plowing of our fallow ground is accomplished when we get serious about confronting sin in our own lives. Not just the superficial stuff, but the deeper matters of pride, selfishness, malice, bitterness, greed and lust. When we dig deep and bring it to the Lord – the soil softens – and He is quick to “rain righteousness” upon us. Hard work, but a beautiful harvest.
in Him, Mike