PLOUGHING/SOWING/REAPING
Today’s Reading: Hosea 9-10
Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).
A Farmer at Nazareth Village in Nazareth uses a sickle. Reaping before modern farm implements was a very labour intensive task. Over and over again, the Scriptures make the point that what we sow in our lifetimes, we will inevitably reap as a harvest, as in our key verse, either “mercy” or “iniquity.”
GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.
Key Verses: Hosea 10:12-13a
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.
You have plowed wickedness;
You have reaped iniquity.
In Hosea 9 & 10 the message is clear. A Holy God and sin cannot co-exist. Therefore, sin must be dealt with. The sacrificial offerings were a way of covering sin by the picture they presented of the final sacrifice for sin by Jesus Christ (Messiah) on the cross. We can learn from Hosea. We must determine to live holy lives in order to please God. Every day we are sowing by our actions and we reap in our lives, and in our families, the consequences of sin. Breaking up fallow ground (ploughing) is hard work, requiring firm discipline. “IT IS TIME TO SEEK THE LORD!” Sin almost totally destroyed God’s chosen people. They sowed sin and reaped a crop of destruction and pain. While our sins are forgiven and we have the assurance of eternal life because of the cross of Christ, as long as we are in this life, we hurt ourselves and our loved ones as a result of sin.
Jesus taught about sowing and reaping. When our hearts are hardened by sin, the Lord’s efforts to plant good seed are thwarted. Are there stones that need removal from our lives? Or have thorns grown in our lives which hurt ourselves and others? (read Luke 8:4-15).
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord God, I repent!!! I pray for Your rain of righteousness to fall on me, soaking me with pure and holy living. I seek You, Lord Jesus! Forgive my sin and change my heart and mind! May I take deliberate actions to move away from the occasion of sinning and from those who would entice me to sin. By repentance I break up the hard ground in my heart, and I ask for the good seed of Your Word to penetrate into my innermost being, producing a harvest of holiness!!! In the Name of Your 100% Holy Son, Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen!!!
100 PERSONAL WORDS:
Here are some random thoughts. Surely Hosea 9:17 has been fulfilled, “They shall be wanderers among the nations.” Until 1948 God’s ancient people had not had a sovereign state for over 2,000 years. They wandered the world over. They are gathered back to Israel, but a national revival of faith in God and obedience to God is still to take place there.
Hosea 10:3b, “As for a king, what would he do for us,” reminds me of President Kennedy’s statement, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country.” It is rather obvious that the people of Israel were refusing to take responsibility for their own lives and wanted big government to do almost everything for them.
The summer I turned eight, my Uncle Harvey Lindsay, on whose farm we lived while my Dad was overseas during the WW2 years, taught me to break up the hard ground with a one-furrow plough behind Mischief, his one and only horse. He reprimanded me whenever I was distracted and took my eyes off the post across the field. By a steady gaze at that post, I was to plough a straight furrow. I’ve never forgotten that lesson. As long as I keep my eyes fixed on Jesus, and by focusing on His unchanging holy Person, I can continue to live straight.
Yours for consistently living a holy life by God’s grace given to us as we plough up the hardness in our lives, sowing daily the seed of God’s Word in our hearts and minds, and we surely will reap holiness before our Holy God!
David
Amen may we have the patience and faith to keep the word of the Lord in our thoughts and mind and do his good work.
Yes, Lord. We keep our eyes fixed in a steady gaze upon You! Amen, David. Blessings dearest saints, in the Lord.
“When I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Cor 12:10
Amazing Love by Newsboys with lyrics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwjTT2bqKk0
Yes, Amazing Love!! Thank you Beverlee for this song.
In memory of my darling sister, Laura, who left us, 19 years ago, March 29, 1997, Saturday of the Easter week-end. Today’s reading from Streams in the Desert reminds me of her, especially. She loved lilies and would have loved this story. It sounds just like her!
“Many years ago there was a monk who needed olive oil, so he planted an olive tree sapling. After he finished planting it, he prayed, “Lord, my tree needs rain so its tender roots may drink and grow. Send gentle showers.” And the Lord sent gentle showers. Then the monk prayed, “Lord, my tree needs sun. Please send it sun.” And the sun shone, gilding the once-dripping clouds. “Now sent frost, dear Lord, to strengthen its branches,” cried the monk. And soon the little tree was covered in sparkling frost, but by evening it had died.
“Then the monk sought out a brother monk in his cell and told him of his strange experience. After hearing the story, the other monk said, “I also have planted a little tree. See how it is thriving! But I entrust my tree to its God. He who made it knows better than a man like me what it needs. I gave God no constraints or conditions, except to pray, ‘Lord, sent what it needs – whether that be storm or sunshine, wind, rain, or frost. You made it, and you know best what it needs.'”
“Yes, leave it with Him,
The lilies all do,
And they grow –
They grow in the rain,
And they grow in the dew –
Yes, the grow:
They grow in the darkness, all hid in the night –
They grow in the sunshine, revealed by the light –
Still they grow.
Yes, leave it with Him,
It’s more dear to His heart,
You will know,
Than the lilies that bloom,
Or the flowers that start
‘Neath the snow:
Whatever you need, if you seek it in prayer,
You can leave it with Him – for you are His care.
You, you know.”
Thank you.
Thank you dear sister Beverlee I am so encouraged by our daily blog and all of the links and readings you share with us. I pray you are gaining strength each day. I haven’t posted lately but all prayers are brought before Our Lord and King.
Praising God for good news about our granddaughter Cathryn. While she still has a heart murmur the specialist has said she can continue in all of her activities. A stress test has been ordered for a later date and on going monitoring will be in place. Thanks to everyone for their prayers. She is doing well.
Blessings to all. Praying for you Ger at this time.
Amen, Our Lord know exactly what we need, and we can trust Him to complete what He began in us!
Thank You Beverlee!
Excellent analogy, David! Thank you!
thank you
Great analogy Pastor David “breaking fallow ground one needs to keep focused on THE GOAL, JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD!!! IN ORDER TO WIN THE PRIZE!!!
Great blog, again today, Pastor David and friends in the Lord! Thank you Beverlee for the beautiful poem, how true and we have something else very precious in common. Today is my dear Mother’s birthday, March 29 who passed away in 2001. She is a saint, such a quiet faith in God and love for her big family. My pastor said once in a service, “Can you imagine someone not liking Alice,” and he would give her a kiss every Sunday. Thank you Catherine for your prayers! God bless you all!
Once again I am blown away by this blog! I did the same thing for my dad, had to plough a field, holding a plough pulled by a beautiful black horse called Trigger! I had the same site to follow: a spruce tree in the next farm! It was tall, I could easily see it! I did this task after school and once in awhile on a Saturday after confirmation classes! WHen I think back, as I have said before, I am thankful I grew up in a very dysfunctional family!
Blessings to all!
P.S. very thankful to the Lord for briinging the neighbour’s son-in-law across my path. He cleaned the back hill of all the pines needles! Thank you Lord! Bless this young man and his wife! Thank you!