It is time to seek the Lord

It is time to seek the Lord

Scripture: Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh; so I will put a yoke on her fair neck. I will drive Ephraim, Judah must plow, and Jacob must break up the ground. Sow righteousness for yourselves, 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 his righteousness on you. Hosea 10:11-12

Observation: In this passage, we are given the picture of God’s people likened to oxen plowing the ground. A heifer threshing the grain gives us the idea of contentment and luxury as threshing was not very hard work for a young ox and it was free to eat freely from the grain as commanded in Deuteronomy 25:4 Do not muzzle and ox when it is treading out the grain. In contrast, the plowing and breaking up of the ground was very hard work, yet without it, the crop would not be able to grow at all.

In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus depicted the hearts of men like soil and God’s Word like the seed. Some seed fell on the path, some among rocky places and some among thorns. But only those seed that fell on good soil produced a crop, a 100, 60 or 30 times what was sown. Now typically, good soil refers to soil that has been plowed. Observe the definition of the purpose of plowing sourced from Wikipedia:- “The primary purpose of plowing is to turn over the upper layer of the soil, bringing fresh nutrients to the surface, while burying weeds and the remains of previous crops, allowing them to break down. It also aerates the soil, and allows it to hold moisture better.” A proud heart is like hard soil. The proud resists God and depend on their own strength. The humble, soft hearts and the broken and contrite hearts seek God  and the Lord is near to them. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God. Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth.

When we humbly seek the Lord, He comes to us, and showers His righteousness on us. He crowns the humble with salvation, as the Psalmist writes. 

Jesus also used the picture of plowing in Matthew 11:28-30 ”Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” When we believe in Jesus, when we come humbly to our Master, He gives us rest. He deals with our hearts gently and we find that as we spend more and more time with Jesus, change comes easily and we become more and more like Him. It is not our vain efforts or human works that makes us better, but rather the closeness of our relationship with Jesus that improves us.

Application: Hold the image of the unplowed ground in our minds. Seek God humbly, asking Him to change us, to break up the fallow ground and make it fresh and moist, open to receive and learn from His Word. Let our hearts always be humble and contrite before the Lord. Seek a deeper relationship with Jesus day by day. It is by knowing Him, that life becomes so much easier, as His presence goes with us to help us day by day.

Prayer: Father God, I bring my heart before you. Mould it, change it, make it like Your Son’s. Forgive my pride O Lord, let humility and peace dwell in my heart I pray. Lord Jesus, be so real in my life I pray. Draw me to seek Your gentle presence day by day. Teach me Your ways, and refresh me anew. Bless You, Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.