“Sow for yourself righteousness, reap the fruit of the 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
Here we see Hosea prophetically preaching to the Northern Kingdom of Israel about their wickedness. In this section, he implores the Israelites to break up the ground, implying that it is time to do some much needed soul searching and give up their former ways and turn to serve God.
David’s son Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes says that the righteous and the wicked are rewarded the same in the end. In parts of the book he states that it seems to be folly to try and maintain a holy life when it can seem in vain in this world. In fact, he states the wicked may prosper while the righteous are punished. Yet, in the end Solomon does see principle over practicality and concedes a righteous life is worth living. Even under the sun there is a benefit for the righteous man for he will have peace from God and the wicked will never have inner peace from what they have.
However, above the sun, righteousness means so much more because the righteous build eternal rewards not just for us but for others. This is why it is important for the righteous to break up the unplowed ground so that weeds do not grow. The unplowed ground are areas in your life where the worries and cares of life can come in. If you let them remain they will choke out all you have built eternally. Ground that is never broken up becomes hard. When seed is spread it lays on top and birds or water wash it away. No matter how close a person is to God, there is always a need to break up our lives, our schedules, and our attitudes and refocus back to biblical principals.
You cannot keep the cares and worries of life from coming into the weak areas of your life while you live under the sun, but you can continue to break them up by devotion to God by seeking him in his Word, in fellowships, and the fruit from the Spirit which produces a reciprocal affect that breaks up these areas before they can do damage.
Israel planted wickedness, reaped evil, and ate the fruit of deception. The words of Hosea fell on hard unplowed ground. In the field of man it is time to seek God.
In Hebrews 6:6-7 Hosea preludes his warning:
“ Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is
Hebrews 6:6-7
farmed receives the blessing of God. 8 But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.“
Ground that is broken can receive the rain. Hosea is saying Israel is in danger of being cursed. For us, if we keep our hearts broken we can receive what the Holy Spirit is giving us to drink. If we humble ourselves and see the hurt around us, we keep our hearts broken. It is this empathy that Jesus often felt while on this earth and it is this empathy that helps us reach out to the lost. The harvest is now and God is showering righteousness on those who seek him.
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