Sowing, Ploughing, Raining, Reaping

UV 1687/10000 Sowing, Ploughing, Raining and Reaping
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.
Hosea 10 v 12

There are two worlds out there: a big, bad and mad world and a small, good and wise world. The choices we make determine which world we belong to. Apparently, God puts His weight behind the latter and it is the winning side. We need to join the winning side and always sow in the spirit of righteousness, with right motives and actions. Then, we will reap in abundance of the tender mercies of the Lord that falls like the morning dew on us. We will reap abundance of blessings of peace and grace and joy. The fallow ground or the areas of our lives that are not productive so far will be made fertile and fruitful. The Lord will send His latter rain and former rain of blessings of the righteous on us in due time, never late and never early. IF we sow mercy, we will receive mercy. If we sow peace, we will receive peace. If we sow good news, we will receive great news. If we sow grace, we will receive grace. It is more vital than even sowing wheat or rice or fruits or vegetables for the yield from the latter will perish while the yield from the spiritual seed will flourish forever.

If we sow in the spirit, we reap in the spirit. We will enjoy eternal and abundant life. The quantitative and qualitative dimensions of life would be impacted. If we sow in the flesh, we will reap the consequences of lust of the eye, lust of the flesh and pride of life. The shadow of hamartia or the lack of blessing of the Lord will be upon us. When we sow in the spirit, the shadow of the Almighty will be upon us and we will be blessed by His grace and peace. Sowing in the spirit implies that we need to seek the Lord with all our hearts and all our minds and in all that we do wholeheartedly. We need to seek His face to know Him better. We need to seek His grace to do better. In every phase of life, we need to acknowledge and give priority to the will, word and work of the Lord.

We break up the fallow or unyielding ground, the hardened parts of our lives by ploughing in the spirit. By hearing and meditating and applying the Word in a spirit of reverence, obedience and prayer, we plough in the spirit. The fallow souls of our fellow human beings are also ploughed in the spirit when we pray for them and share the Word with them. The Word filters out the perverse influence of the big, bad and mad world and keeps us at the centre of His will. It fertilizes the positive seed planted in us. When we so plough, the Lord will send showers of blessing to further soften the soil of our souls and bring a great harvest into His kingdom.

Prateep V Philip