The Planting

UV 459/10,000 Hosea 2 v 23 The planting Hos 2:23 And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God. Each human being is a planting of the Lord on the earth. Those who recognize this truth and seek the mercy of the Lord who is the Creator and Redeemer will obtain mercy. Jesus is the Prince of the Kingdom of God who became the Prince of peace on earth by paying the price of peace that we earthlings might become princes of His people. This is the first and foremost lesson of human history. This is the seed of the gospel and when it is planted with faith into the bed of our belief system, it transforms our value system. Our value system will lead to our choices and actions on earth or the fruits of our being sown by the Lord. The transformation of our value system after the planting of the gospel seed in our hearts and minds is evidenced in the fact that we now give highest value to the personal relationship that is made possible with the absolutely holy and powerful, wise and otherwise unapproachable God. God will take pride in declaring us His people formed out of all the people on earth. He will revel in revealing His splendour in us, the planting of His hands. The sense of the words ,” my people” and repeated in “ my God” is a sense of ownership, of adoption, of identification,of mutual affirmation, of complete absorption in each other. As the Song of Solomon echoes this in the words, “ My beloved is mine and I am His.” It is a more intimate and personal a relationship than a relationship between lovers for if lovers were to share all their secrets, scarcely any relationship would withstand the shock of such revelation. The relationship between lovers goes through several swings of up and down. But, the relationship with God is a constant growing in awareness, acceptance, affirmation and love. He has complete knowledge of us, more than we can ever know ourselves. We, too can grow in our knowledge and understanding of God by studying His Word, line by line and precept by precept. Prateep V Philip