June 27th
It's Time
Hosea 10:12
Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the Lord, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.
They say that timing is everything. Hitting a curve ball, catching a long throw and kicking the ball between the defends for a goal all take precise timing. A few seconds hesitation can change the outcome. If the timing is right it will result in an advantageous outcome, but if it is wrong it can be disastrous. Timing is important in every area of life, including ones spiritual life. Solomon agrees when he writes, "For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven"(Eccl. 3:1). Timing is everything.
They people of God had wondered into sin, but you know that. They had slipped away from sincere devotion to their Savior. Their affections had turned toward the gods of the people around them. They had compromised their commitment to the Lord. But God's love for them remained consistent and unchanged. But He longed for them to repent and return to their rightful relationship with Him. So, He sent prophets like Hosea and Isaiah to call them back.
The Lord directed Hosea to give the people a challenge and a course of action that would lead to hopefully a good conclusion. Hosea said, ". . . it is time to seek the Lord". There was to be no more hesitation or procrastination because the time was now and they must not delay. His challenge for them to seek the Lord was wrapped in an agricultural metaphor. It was if to say the season for seeking is about to past as a farmer knows when the time to plant has passed. The Lord was saying that the timing is right and if you don't do it now the moment will slip away and you will no longer have the opportunity. Judgement loomed on the horizon and the time of seeking is about to pass. Therefore, the challenge before them was for them to not delay, but to seek the Lord now.
Hosea then directs them in the course they were to take to seek the Lord. They were to do two things: Sow for yourselves righteousness . . . Break up your fallow ground . This course was individual and intentional. Every Israelite was to pursue this path. Notice the terms yourselves and your in the text. This was a course of national and individual repentance. This was not as at other times when the priest would represent the people and provide atonement for their sins, no, each person was to sow . . . righteousness and each person was to break up . . . the fallow ground.
In a spiritual sense the were to search and study God's word. This was the aspect of sowing righteousness. They had be living contrary to God's Word and now they were to seek to live according to it. They were also to break up the fallow dry fruitless ground of their heart. Their hardened hearts would not receive the Lord's word. Sowing on hard soil bears no fruit. The soil of their soul had to be plowed up by removing everything that had been set up against the Lord. This will enable the seed of the word to fall on good fertile growing soil bearing a fruitful harvest of righteousness.
In doing this, there was hope of a good conclusion. Hosea tells the people if the soil is prepared in the manner prescribed and the seed of the word is sown a good harvest will follow. Hosea says Reap in mercy. He doesn't by any means suggest that their action of sowing righteousness and breaking up the ground merits God's mercy. He is saying that the hope of God's unmerited mercy begins with heart of repentance and the hope of restoration. Mercy is wholly on God's part and man plays no part in it. Our hope and desire in seeking Him is that He will have mercy on us and turn from His anger for our abandonment of Him. We need His mercy now.
Today thank God for being merciful to You. As Him to forgive you from those times when you wondered into worldliness. Ask Him to break up the "fallow ground"in your life that prevents you from sowing righteousness and being spiritually fruitful . Ask Him to to help you do it now as "it is time to seek the Lord".
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