"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
I read this verse last night and the subsequent verses and thought how applicable it is to my current life and probably yours. NOW is the time to seek the Lord, while He still may be found. NOW, not later, not when you're less tired or when all that paperwork gets done. Not right after your pop that movie in or go run a few errands. Not after you already get to work or after you do your morning schedule. But NOW. Ok, maybe I'm speaking a little more to myself here but I far to often wake up and think I can sleep a little later and read my Bible after I get out of the shower. I think I can run those morning errands and then I'll have time to sit down and pray, when it's "more convenient" to my schedule. I think, after I go to this meeting then I have the rest of the day off so I'll wait, and here's the good Christian kicker, so I'll have 'more time' to sit down and do it instead of right now. It's so wrong.
Jesus commands us, "Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" Matthew 26:41. I've realized recently that I would have to put a "so very" in front of weak from Jesus' words. My flesh is so very weak. I give in to fatigue, convincing myself that I'm treating my body like a holy temple like God also commands. Here's the truth. If we want to justify our actions to make ourselves feel more spiritual or holy we can, there's always a band aid in scripture. But, if you're wanting it to be like it was intended, in it's authenticity, then it's not a band aid to make you feel better, but it's also not a bullet to make you helpless. Hosea says, "Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love, break up your fallow ground."
There are things in my life I'm not proud of, things I hold onto that aren't good for me. There are sins that I commit over and over and I still don 't trust God enough to let them go. I'm choosing not to break up my fallow ground. But you know, because I'm not doing it I'm withholding the shower of righteousness that He promises to rain on me. I act like the Israelites did in Hosea and I act as though that won't be my end. "You have plowed iniquity; you have reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your own way and in the multitude of your warriors" v13.
God help us to trust in Your Way, in Your path, in Your direction. Our spirit is willing, but our flesh is so very weak. Let us break up our fallow ground, sow righteousness and reap steadfast love. Let us seek You, Father, while You may be found and while You are near. Teach us how faulty our way is and the great deficiencies of our human defenses and solutions. Let us glimpse your great abundance so that we might be able to more accurately weigh our scales to find how much more valuable your gifts are than our own resources. Let your strength outweigh our fleshly weakness everyday.
