Sow to Reap

“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

What are we sowing?

As a child, every spring my parents would roll up their sleeves, grab shovels and all sorts of gardening tools, and bring my brother and I out in the backyard.  There, just beyond the fence in our 3 acre playground, they would plan and plot and walk the land to size up what size garden they would plant.  We each took a shovel (until the year my dad upgraded to a rototiller!) and started digging.  It was slow, it was hard work, and as a child, it seemed to go on forever. 

“Turn the soil over,” my father would remind us.  “Dig deep,” he would exhort my brother and I.  I don’t recall how long the process would take, but eventually, when my parents declared the soil was ready, we would then put seed in the ground and watch wide-eyed over the course of the hot summer months as things began to sprout, to grow, until we could eat from its harvest when it was the right time.

This is a grand image of farming and agriculture that is found throughout the Old Testament: sowing; growing; reaping; and feasting.  In the natural it is spectacular: as I write this, I’m longing for an ear of sweet corn hand picked from the garden.  God loves to use such vivid imagery to convey important spiritual truths, which is exactly what He does in this passage through His prophet, Hosea. 

The Israelites had been plowing iniquity and reaping injustice.  God was displeased and desired for His chosen people to change their ways and instead, sow righteousness to reap steadfast love.  In order to do that, they needed to pick up their spiritual shovels and break over the fallow ground of their hearts and minds.  They needed to prepare the soil, seek the Lord, and await His refreshing rain of righteousness upon them. 

It starts with a shovel and to, in the words of my dad, “turn the soil over.”

Written by Sue Johnson