Sow Righteousness & Reap Mercy

"Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you."

Hosea 10:12

Even though you may appear to be in the vineyard alone, sow the seeds that you desire to reap in your harvest… As a child of God we are tested to think outside of the box, step out on faith and walking in the trust in belief that His desires will produce unimaginable results… Remember that when Jesus was speaking amongst His disciples He declared in Matthew 9:37 that “Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” Galatians 6:7 says, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” Hosea was called by the Lord at a time in which the house of Judah was carrying on in disobedience… The Lord called Hosea to marry a promiscuous woman and have her to bare him a child; later on in the verse chapter the Lord compares the adulterous woman that Hosea married to the children of God… Make no mistake about it; even if we don’t see it immediately, the bible is clear that we reap what we sow… Hosea is calling for the children of God to sow seeds of righteousness… Righteousness is virtue, morality, decency and uprightness… We are called to live according to the will of God and the seeds that we sow are evidence of the way in which we walk… Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:16, “By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?” The seed that you sow today is what you will indeed reap tomorrow… Hosea is reaching out to the people before it too late, several months pass before the season of harvest, today in spring we plant seeds to harvest a crop later in the year… Some of us that have children or even the people that we are around are receiving the seeds that we plant… Let us check the seed we are planting now (both in our lives and the lives of others), if it is corrupt talk, if it is malice, if it is anger dig up that seed now before it takes root… The bible says that the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, meekness, temperance against such there is no law… When you sow seeds of righteousness there are no chains that can withhold the blessings that God will pour out upon you… As you sow your seeds in humility we are reminded in Hosea today it’s far more important that you reap in that same humility… This is why Hosea says that we must “reap in mercy…” We must remain humble in our season of reaping; we must recognize that what we receive from the Lord is not what we deserve… There is no man on this earth that deserves the touch of God’s love or kindness, mercy is compassion, sympathy and understanding… Let us recognize the compassion God has shown toward us, let us sympathize with those around us (extend a hand of love and help) and let us understand that all good and perfect gifts come from above… Make no mistake about it, we all understand the seeds that we need to plant, but know that there is a lot of work involved in this process. Hosea says “break up your fallow ground…” If you want to be about the work of God and live according to His will than now is the time to go to the shed and pull out your shovel, pick axe and rakes… We must dig deep within our core and break apart the dirt to plant the seed… The fallow ground that Hosea is talking about is the stony heart that we have, the sinful nature that exist and the pride that we all embody… You must break it up and remove it in order to plant the seeds that God will give for your life to increase… David said, “…a broken and contrite heart thou will not despise…” When you heart is broken and contrite it is a soil that is ready to embrace, nurture and take care of the precious seed God has for your life… You must take hold now of the promises of God, you must take hold of the faith that can move mountains and you must maintain that faith until God shows up and shows out… Hosea says, “…for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you." Paul said some plant, some water but God provides the increase… Take the seed of God’s word, love it, nurture it and stand on it… You may be going through now, but when God shows up He will bless you in such a way that the good will indeed outweigh the bad and you will see the fruits of your labor…

BE BLESSED!!!