Sowing and Reaping from Hosea 8:7

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/28/2015 9:35 PM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Sowing and Reaping

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Hosea 8:7

            Message of the verse:  “7 For they sow the wind And they reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; It yields no grain. Should it yield, strangers would swallow it up.”  “7 “They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. The stalk has no head; it will produce no flour. Were it to yield grain, foreigners would swallow it up (NIV).”

            Let us begin with looking at a number of verses that speak of sowing and reaping:  “Job 4:8 "According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity And those who sow trouble harvest it.”  Proverbs 22:8 “He who sows iniquity will reap vanity, And the rod of his fury will perish.”  Jeremiah 12:13 “"They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns, They have strained themselves to no profit. But be ashamed of your harvest Because of the fierce anger of the LORD."”  Galatians 6:7-8 “7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”  Hosea 10:12-13 “12  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. 13 You have plowed wickedness, you have reaped injustice, You have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your way, in your numerous warriors,”

            What can we say that the Israelites were doing to bring about this charge from the Lord?  Well we can see at least two things that they were doing, the first is that they were making wrong political alliances and the second thing they were doing was worshiping idols.  I remember that Warren Wiersbe has said in a few of his Bible commentaries that the worst thing that the Lord can do for a person or a people is to alloy the to reap the consequences of what they are sowing, for sin has a way of being paid for.  For instance if a man gets drunk and then breaks his arm because of his drunkenness that is what he can expect. If you look at the first chapter of Romans and verses 18-32 you will see this spoken of.  Israel though they were doing the right thing, but because it was against what God had written about in His Law and what the prophets had told them they would have to reap the consequences of their bad choices.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “The harvest would be more powerful than the seed!”

            Another thing that they would have happen to them is a fulfillment of what is in the Law for them and that is that their crops would fail them.  Now because they worshiped Baal they believed that he would provide good crops for them because that was the kind god he was.  They were wrong on this point too and would not receive good crops. 

6/28/2015 9:56 PM