Break up your unplowed ground & Seek the Lord
Jul 13, 2015 10:06:06 GMT -5
angelamichelle39 likes this
Post by Cindy on Jul 13, 2015 10:06:06 GMT -5
“Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you.” (Hosea 10:12)
What does it mean to break up your unplowed ground? God often uses metaphors to help us understand what He's saying, and that's what He's done here. This is a picture of someone who isn't growing in faith. Their life is barren of spiritual fruit. They live for themselves instead of for God and think the way the world does instead of having their minds renewed by His Word every day. This could be someone who's unsaved, or perhaps someone who's been saved but has turned their back on God for some reason and has been living for themselves and just not growing as they should be.
If we look at it from the perspective of the ground, the plow is going to hurt, so we try to avoid it. It digs up what's beneath the surface of the earth and turns it over, bringing it into the light so it can be examined. It's like surgery to our human body, the bad parts that are infecting our body need to be cut out so we can heal completely. If anything bad is left within, it will only grow and continue to infect us, so we need to get rid of all that's not of God. Surgery is painful, but to not have the surgery means death; and to not have this spiritual surgery also means death, for the wages of sin is death.
I know we have many people here who like to garden and we all know that breaking up ground that's hard and covered with weeds isn't easy. That's a good picture of what we're like. The weeds are sins. They grow and spread like crazy and seem to crop up out of nowhere sometimes. For every one we pull, we find two more in it's place. As long as that ground remains hard and covered with weeds, the only thing it's producing is unrighteousness, no matter how pretty some of the weeds can be at times.
God is saying we need to break up this ground, get the weeds out and sow righteousness instead. This isn't talking about witnessing to others, it's talking about growing spiritually in our faith, which is something required of every believer. We can't produce righteousness by ourselves - it's impossible, but God can and does produce it within us as His Word is sown in our hearts. Plowing is hard work, so God isn't talking about sitting idly by and thinking that this is all going to happen to us magically without any work on our part. (which seems to be the attitude of many who call themselves Christians). No, this shows someone who's making a determined effort to diligently examine themselves in the light of God's Word every day and apply His Word to their life.
Seeking the Lord shows us effort that's planned and deliberate and continued daily. Of course we know that this effort won't be finished until the Lord comes for us, just as the verse says. So this is calling us to a radical change in attitude toward God, toward His Word and toward ourselves. This always reminds me of the meaning of the parable of the seed in Luke 8:11–15. The seed of course is God's Word which is what God uses to cleanse us and renew us and basically reprogram our minds and hearts. It also reminds me of John 15 where Jesus talks about abiding in Him and His Word. He says “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (John 15:4–8)
Over and over all through the bible we're told we must seek God diligently with all our hearts, minds and strength, not just once in awhile, or on Sundays when we go to church, or when we need something from Him, but all the time. It amazes me how we tend to see the things we want to see and ignore the things we don't. Like where Jesus says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.” (John 15:16) Jesus didn't save us for no reason, He has a job for us to do: we're to bear spiritual fruit that will last for eternity. We also tend to not see the qualifiers of His promises, for He doesn't tell us that the Father will simply give us whatever we ask for, but says that IF we bear that kind of fruit, THEN the Father will give us what we ask for, because if we are doing that, then we will obviously know His Will and will be praying for what is His Will and not just our own. Just as the earlier verse had qualifiers that said our prayers would be answered IF He and His Words remain in us, or "abide in us" depending on which translation you use. This is what Paul is saying too when he says: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:16–17)
This shows us we're not to just "read our bibles", but that we're to study them and reflect on what God's Word is saying to us. It shows us a daily effort, not just a casual reading. It's not to be something that goes in one ear and out the other, but rather something we reflect on daily to get all we can out of every word, so that His Word becomes the very center of our being and what we base all our decisions, thoughts and actions on. There are quite literally hundreds of verses from Genesis to Revelation that tell us this because it's so important. Which brings up another point. Many people seem to think that we don't need to read or study the old testament and because of that only read the new testament. What they're actually doing is cutting off their noses to spite their face! Not only that, but they're also slapping God in the face. God gave us ALL of His Word for a reason and we need to know ALL of it, not just part of it. Reading only the new testament would be like trying to bake a cake from scratch without using any flour.
Notice the verse we're working with says we're to seek the Lord in this way "Until He comes". Again this shows continued effort on a daily basis. Not a quick job or one that we're to give up after awhile, but one we're to continue to do from day one until the day finally arrives that He returns for us.
Let's look at that verse again: “Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you.” (Hosea 10:12) God's love for us will never fail and He knows what is best for us. If we want to reap the fruit of His love, we need to break up the ground in our lives that's still covered with weeds by turning to Him in humility and repentance and seeking Him through His Word for cleansing and renewal. We are sowing righteousness when we allow His Word to cleanse and renew us daily. When we do that, it will bear the spiritual fruit Jesus was speaking of. The fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. “The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.” (Isaiah 32:17) We can't have peace without a good relationship with God, and we can't have that close personal relationship with Him if we are not obeying Him by daily spending time with Him in His Word. It's like a never ending circle; like a wedding band even. If we seek God daily in this way, with all our hearts, minds and strength, we will find Him and we will sow righteousness for ourselves and reap the fruit of His unfailing love.
What does it mean to break up your unplowed ground? God often uses metaphors to help us understand what He's saying, and that's what He's done here. This is a picture of someone who isn't growing in faith. Their life is barren of spiritual fruit. They live for themselves instead of for God and think the way the world does instead of having their minds renewed by His Word every day. This could be someone who's unsaved, or perhaps someone who's been saved but has turned their back on God for some reason and has been living for themselves and just not growing as they should be.
If we look at it from the perspective of the ground, the plow is going to hurt, so we try to avoid it. It digs up what's beneath the surface of the earth and turns it over, bringing it into the light so it can be examined. It's like surgery to our human body, the bad parts that are infecting our body need to be cut out so we can heal completely. If anything bad is left within, it will only grow and continue to infect us, so we need to get rid of all that's not of God. Surgery is painful, but to not have the surgery means death; and to not have this spiritual surgery also means death, for the wages of sin is death.
I know we have many people here who like to garden and we all know that breaking up ground that's hard and covered with weeds isn't easy. That's a good picture of what we're like. The weeds are sins. They grow and spread like crazy and seem to crop up out of nowhere sometimes. For every one we pull, we find two more in it's place. As long as that ground remains hard and covered with weeds, the only thing it's producing is unrighteousness, no matter how pretty some of the weeds can be at times.
God is saying we need to break up this ground, get the weeds out and sow righteousness instead. This isn't talking about witnessing to others, it's talking about growing spiritually in our faith, which is something required of every believer. We can't produce righteousness by ourselves - it's impossible, but God can and does produce it within us as His Word is sown in our hearts. Plowing is hard work, so God isn't talking about sitting idly by and thinking that this is all going to happen to us magically without any work on our part. (which seems to be the attitude of many who call themselves Christians). No, this shows someone who's making a determined effort to diligently examine themselves in the light of God's Word every day and apply His Word to their life.
Seeking the Lord shows us effort that's planned and deliberate and continued daily. Of course we know that this effort won't be finished until the Lord comes for us, just as the verse says. So this is calling us to a radical change in attitude toward God, toward His Word and toward ourselves. This always reminds me of the meaning of the parable of the seed in Luke 8:11–15. The seed of course is God's Word which is what God uses to cleanse us and renew us and basically reprogram our minds and hearts. It also reminds me of John 15 where Jesus talks about abiding in Him and His Word. He says “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (John 15:4–8)
Over and over all through the bible we're told we must seek God diligently with all our hearts, minds and strength, not just once in awhile, or on Sundays when we go to church, or when we need something from Him, but all the time. It amazes me how we tend to see the things we want to see and ignore the things we don't. Like where Jesus says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.” (John 15:16) Jesus didn't save us for no reason, He has a job for us to do: we're to bear spiritual fruit that will last for eternity. We also tend to not see the qualifiers of His promises, for He doesn't tell us that the Father will simply give us whatever we ask for, but says that IF we bear that kind of fruit, THEN the Father will give us what we ask for, because if we are doing that, then we will obviously know His Will and will be praying for what is His Will and not just our own. Just as the earlier verse had qualifiers that said our prayers would be answered IF He and His Words remain in us, or "abide in us" depending on which translation you use. This is what Paul is saying too when he says: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:16–17)
This shows us we're not to just "read our bibles", but that we're to study them and reflect on what God's Word is saying to us. It shows us a daily effort, not just a casual reading. It's not to be something that goes in one ear and out the other, but rather something we reflect on daily to get all we can out of every word, so that His Word becomes the very center of our being and what we base all our decisions, thoughts and actions on. There are quite literally hundreds of verses from Genesis to Revelation that tell us this because it's so important. Which brings up another point. Many people seem to think that we don't need to read or study the old testament and because of that only read the new testament. What they're actually doing is cutting off their noses to spite their face! Not only that, but they're also slapping God in the face. God gave us ALL of His Word for a reason and we need to know ALL of it, not just part of it. Reading only the new testament would be like trying to bake a cake from scratch without using any flour.
Notice the verse we're working with says we're to seek the Lord in this way "Until He comes". Again this shows continued effort on a daily basis. Not a quick job or one that we're to give up after awhile, but one we're to continue to do from day one until the day finally arrives that He returns for us.
Let's look at that verse again: “Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you.” (Hosea 10:12) God's love for us will never fail and He knows what is best for us. If we want to reap the fruit of His love, we need to break up the ground in our lives that's still covered with weeds by turning to Him in humility and repentance and seeking Him through His Word for cleansing and renewal. We are sowing righteousness when we allow His Word to cleanse and renew us daily. When we do that, it will bear the spiritual fruit Jesus was speaking of. The fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. “The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.” (Isaiah 32:17) We can't have peace without a good relationship with God, and we can't have that close personal relationship with Him if we are not obeying Him by daily spending time with Him in His Word. It's like a never ending circle; like a wedding band even. If we seek God daily in this way, with all our hearts, minds and strength, we will find Him and we will sow righteousness for ourselves and reap the fruit of His unfailing love.
!!
