Rēad to Read …Again
Daily Reading: Hosea 8-14
Hosea 10:12
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.
Sowing and reaping cannot be separated. Peanut butter and jelly make a tasty sandwich and most often are coupled together, but peanut butter can be eaten alone, so too can jelly, they are not exclusively tied together for they can be separated. But sowing and reaping cannot be separated. They are a combination that are inexorably tied together. Sowing brings forth reaping, reaping is contingent upon that which is sown. This is a truth that is largely lost today.
The farmer knows this to be true. Sowing the seeds of corn will bring a harvest of corn. Never did a farmer sow wheat and gather beans. Naturally speaking that would be impossible. Likewise, sowing in righteousness results in reaping in mercy. On this topic volumes could be written, but there it is in its stark simplicity. Hosea recommends that those of Ephraim sow to themselves in righteousness, and in return they will reap in mercy. Without going into detail, notice the small two letter word “in.” He does not say “sow to yourselves righteousness,” he states: …sow to yourselves in righteousness.
Get this, none are righteous, no not one, Paul said as much in Romans 3:10. It is impossible for humans to be righteous. But they can be “in righteousness.” This central truth, the impossibility of sinful individuals to be righteous, creates a problem. How can one sow in righteousness that cannot be righteous? Hosea tells how: …seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you. Paul said it like this: And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. (Ephesians 4:24)
Time and space prohibits the full explanation. But know this, if a person walks in the rain, they will be in water. Water will be above them, below their feet, and on their person. Likewise walk in righteousness and you will be in mercy. Mercy will surround you; you will be in mercy. The righteousness is not of yourself, it is of God that rains righteousness upon you. The result is to be in mercy. Check it out, do a study of the 261 verses that contain the word mercy. Mercy is repeatedly tied to righteousness. Daniel stated this to king Nebuchadnezzar: Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity. (Daniel 4:27) The king didn’t.
But you can, the people of Ephraim in Hosea’s day could, all people everywhere and at any time can. Just seek the Lord until He rains righteousness upon you, then you will sow in righteousness and will reap in mercy. For the righteous acts of God sown in, and by, you will result in mercy. Always.
Dr. William T. Howe
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