“Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the LORD, that He may come and rain righteousness upon you.”

Hosea 10:12

After devoting myself to dive in the book of Hosea, one thought came to mind. God’s love for His children is unconditional. 

He loves you and looks at you with eyes of tender love and mercy. 

No matter how far you have gone and traveled into ways of sin, His love runs after you relentlessly. His grace washes over you. 

Israel was a nation and people founded on God. But soon after, they turned their backs on the Lord and worshipped idols instead of Him. They no longer wanted Christ as King in their life. They wanted man, fleshly kings and idols. But man couldn’t save them from their turmoil of sin. Only God could do that. Only God could redeem. 

Dear sister, there is only one true God who could rescue us from the sin we’ve allowed to creep into our hearts. It’s Jesus Christ Himself.  Only He can tear down the idols we’ve allowed to creep into our hearts. 

Are you sowing for yourself seeds of righteousness or sin? When we choose to sow seeds of righteousness, we will experience His great steadfast love for us. 

What have we chosen to sow? Seeds that will spring forth life and abundance or seeds that bring forth turmoil?  We must stay walking in His ways. We cannot be like Israel who chose to sow the seed of sin. Christ desires to see you produce long lasting fruit through your obedience and submission to Him. After all, that should and needs to be our goal, sisters. We need to be women who fear  the Lord so that others can see the fruit of Him through us. But before we can sow any seeds of righteousness, we must ask ourselves what the condition of our heart looks like. 

In Hosea 10:12, we are introduced to remarkable words God uses. He says, “…break up your fallow ground.” Fallow ground is stubborn soil that hasn’t been plowed for some time. Because it hasn’t been plowed, weeds and thorns grow. 

 Before the seeds can bring forth crop, the fallow ground must be broken up. The stubborn soil must be broken up. Once that takes place, then seeds can bring forth crops and then there is harvest. 

We must allow God to remove the weeds and thorns that we have allowed to grow. We must allow Him to break up our fallow ground so that the soil of our hearts can become fruitful through the receiving of His Word. 

Then He continues in the same verse and says, “…it is the time to seek the LORD” (Hosea 10:12). That’s the only way  God can restore us and make us new. By seeking Him, He makes us clean. He washes away all of our impurities and makes us white as snow. It’s a daily choice to choose Him. 

If you feel as though your heart is like fallow ground, very hardened or stubborn or dry, lean into Him and ask Him to soften your heart. That’s the only way we can receive His encouragement, His life-giving, God-breathed Word, through submission to Him, so He can make the soil of our hearts fruitful once again. 

In doing so, He ends with, “…that I may shower My righteousness upon you” (Hosea 10:12).

“…My heart recoils within me; My compassion grows warm and tender” (Hosea 11:8). 

That is the Father’s heart toward you. He’s tender in love and mercy and wraps you around with compassion. Even through our wretchedness, He still pursues us. He still chases after us. May we come back to Him. May we run after Him.

His love for you is unmatched, sweet sister. 

Heavenly Father, 

Remind us of Your love toward us when we forget or when the enemy tries to tell us otherwise. Break up the fallow ground in our hearts and bring forth good soil so we can receive Your love and experience it for ourselves. Help us to sow seeds of righteousness. Forgive us if we have sown seeds of sin. Wash us over with Your grace and forgiveness. Thank you for Your relentless pursuit after us. May we have that same heart toward You.

In Jesus Name I pray, 

Amen.