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.”
The laws of sowing and reaping are very evident in the verse above. The patience of most Christians is very small when it comes to seeing God’s blessings for doing right; however, you can see that many things must happen between the time a person decides to do right and the actual blessings of God upon their lives.
As a young preacher boy, I used to look at the preachers I admired and wondered if somehow I could have what they had. I often talk to younger preachers who truly desire for God to use them in a great way, but they want everything now instead of waiting for God to rain righteousness upon them. Though I have not come close to the blessings of God upon my life as many of the preachers I admired, I still can say that the waiting process has been worth it. Let me show you the steps from turning to God to the point where you receive God’s blessings.
First, you must decide to do right. God says, “Sow to yourselves in righteousness…” Every person needs a point in their lives when they make a decision that they are going to serve God no matter what. Sowing in righteousness is more than choosing to do a couple of things right and expecting God to immediately bless, it is a choice that you are going to serve God even if He doesn’t bless.
Second, you begin to reap God’s mercy. The first harvest is not always going to be the blessings you expected, but mostly it will be receiving God’s mercy. In other words, God stops the spout of chastening to see what you will do. Christian, don’t waste God’s mercy, for it is a test to see if you are going to continue to do right.
Third, God’s mercy should motivate you to break up the dormant part of your life. Fallow ground is uncultivated ground. In other words, it is ground that has never been sown before. God is saying that when you receive His mercy, it should cause you to step out and do things for God that you have never done before. It is more than just getting back to where you used to be, but it is doing more for God. Notice though, you still have not received the blessings for which you were looking. God’s mercy is simply seeing if it will motivate you to want to do more for God.
Fourth, breaking up fallow ground should motivate you to seek God. In other words, God is saying that as you do more for Him you will seek Him in everything you do. Notice that the heart of the Christian is truly being turned to God. Notice that the Christian at this point is not thinking about anything or anyone else other than being sure that God is involved in every area of their life. Friend, before God truly blesses you, He wants to see if you will become so wrapped up in Him that you seek Him in everything you do. This is truly Matthew 6:33 being applied. It is coming to the point in your life that you want God to be first in everything you do.
Fifth, there will be a dry spell. This is interesting because after all these things are done God says, “…till he come…” In other words, you have yet to receive God’s blessings, but you continue to do all of these things by faith understanding that God will eventually come through. You may be in a dry spell, but hang on, God’s blessings are on the way.
Finally, God rains righteousness upon you. When God rains righteousness, He is literally pouring righteous acts upon you. In other words, If you will hang on, you will see God begin to open so many doors of opportunities to do right. In all reality, God is saying that when you get to the point that the only blessings you want are opportunities to do more for Him, then that is when He rains righteousness upon you. My challenge to you is don’t give up until you see God rain righteous acts upon your life.