"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" (Hosea 10:12).
A friend I once had liked to say that a whole lot of life was actually explained by the principle of sowing and reaping. The older I get, the more I'm convinced Steve knew what he was talking about.
SOWING LEADS TO REAPING
Life is soil. We choose which seeds to plant. What we choose to "sow" (or plant), in time, sprouts back into our life as a consequence--a consequences that is either rewarding or debilitating.
Paul said the same thing to the young Christians living in Galatia.
Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. Whatsoever a person sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life (Galatians 6:7-8).
In Hosea's day, when most in his country were sowing to sinful idolatry and misplaced worship and trust, the prophet dared to command the opposite. "Sow right living...sow a living that keeps God's law and thus is right." Plant that in the soil of your life, and you will "reap [God's] faithful, steadfast love." The ground (fallow) in your life which has been dormant, unused...use it to plant "righteousness."
Seek the Lord. He'll rain righteousness upon you.
AN OFFER TO ACCEPT
Once again, the voice of God in the prophet graciously offers a way to gain what is best in life. Regardless of what people around you are doing -- regardless of the poor seeds others may be planting in the soil of their lives -- anyone can choose a better planting. A quiet commitment to know God's Word and "plant" seeds of obedience to it in their living....
...God promises, over time, a remarkable reaping of goodness. Sowing, and reaping, explains a lot.
So...what are you planting in the soil of your life every day?
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