A view to righteousness

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“One today is worth two tomorrows.�
BEN FRANKLIN

Sow with a view to righteousness,
Reap in accordance with kindness;
Break up your fallow ground,
For it is time to seek the LORD
Until He comes to rain righteousness on you.
HOSEA 10:12 NAS

Each time I read the prophet Hosea I seem to develop more compassion for the man. His job was not easy and his home life was a mess. Hosea was married to a woman who was unfaithful and worked as a prostitute. Then, the office he held as a prophet, was to deliver mostly bad news. People who bring bad news are sometimes rejected along with the news they bring. But God in His infinite wisdom and mercy always seems to sprinkle light in with the dark, salt in with the pepper. Before God’s judgment is applied, God always gives a warning with directions for the escape route. In the midst of prophecy after prophecy that tells Israel that they will reap the results of choices they have made, God deposits a shinning nugget of Gold. “Sow with a view to righteousness, reap in accordance with kindness.� The Dake Bible says that sowing and reaping always stand out against each other as labor and reward. God’s message here is to get busy, to sow our lives doing the right thing, and we will reap the mercy and kindness of God’s grace.

I started out this morning with the idea that I was going to write about breaking up fallow ground and rain, but the idea of sowing in right living got stuck in my fingers as they picked the letters to form words. We have been in a drought here in southern Missouri. The pastures are yellow, not green, and the ground is hard as stone. This morning I woke to rain. What a blessing. Then my reading brought me to the book of Hosea and these words about breaking up fallow ground, ground that was plowed once, but let go, and has become hard again. Then the words about rain seemed to fit into the timing of the rain we are receiving today. As I took direction with the help of the Spirit, the words “sow with a view to righteousness,� would not let me proceed. It became very clear to me, that in my life, if I have the ground prepared and the conditions are just right for growth, if I do not sow good seed, I will not reap a good harvest. If the ground is prepared and I don’t have any seed to sow, what good is it? Today I realize that if I want a good life tomorrow, I must sow good seeds today. I am learning that just as God, I must sow in forgiveness to be forgiven. I must sow in kindness to receive mercy. I must sow in listening, to be listened to. I must sow in love to receive love. Good seeds must be gotten, and weed seeds are just there, you don’t have to go find them. Today as I read the Word of God I am able to gather good seeds that I may sow after ground has been prepared. Thanks for letting me share, God continues to do for me what I could not do for myself………………………JRE

“Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.�
Augustine