Hosea 10

Israel’s land is found in what is called the Fertile Crescent, where the regions had unusually fertile soil. Lots of edible plants grew, and it was here where cultivation of cereal and grain began. God had blessed this land with abundance, yet Israel claimed the profits for itself. The more they grew and prospered, the more altars and sacred pillars Israel built (V1). Not to thank God for His generosity, but for their false gods. This angered God. If they would have only turned away from their false leaders (v3), God would bless them. Instead, they continued to rely on themselves and their false leaders, so God would destroy their idols, and punish them.

God considered his people espoused to him.  Still today, we are to be considered his bride. So if we act like an unfaithful spouse, who says they love their partner (by going to church and playing the part), all the whole living a lie (continuing to put other things first, and thinking our blessings are only because of our own success) this is the same way Israel’s heat was towards God. This infidelity lead God to want to be rid of his bride.

Hosea 10:12 Sow for yourselves justice, reap the fruit of piety.
God is telling his people that they had sown seeds of sin into their lives, and would now reap judgement from God. Yet, if they chose to make a new field and plant seeds of righteousness, they might could reap mercy. I love gardening, so I love the mentioned of sowing and reaping. In a garden, it takes weeks or months to see something produce from the seeds we plant. If the garden is not taken care of, weeds will overtake the plants and crush them. This is a great metaphor when thinking of sowing seeds for God. In the same thought, the “seeds” we plant today won’t show produce right away. We may not see results from our hard work for weeks or months. We must care for the seeds we have sown, or they won’t produce or they might be strangled by weeds we let into our lives.  At the same time, if we plant bad seeds, they can also grow and destroy our garden. What kind of “crops” will show up in a week or month from what I have planted today?

Even if we have been poor gardeners, there is a chance for redemption. God wants us to break our hearts for him, break the hardened land that hasn’t been plowed, and sow the seeds of righteousness. It will hurt, as this ground is hard and unforgiving. But we must do this until God comes and rains his justice upon us (v12b). He will then bless our garden with abundance. We just need to seek God in order to be fruitful. His grace is always there, we just need to want it. We must stop trusting in our own ways rather than God’s. I want to sow more seeds of righteousness in my garden of life. How about you?