PROMISES FOR THOSE WHO SEEK THE LORD

By Penn Clark

The prophet Hosea spoke to the children of Israel, telling them it was time to seek the Lord:

Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till He comes and rains righteousness on you. (Hosea 10:12)

Seeking the Lord means taking time to hear from Him and gaining His perspective on the issues of our lives. Knowing His will has become even more necessary during these last days—which will be filled with social upheaval, dramatic change, and constant confusion.

Hosea also gave clues as to what seeking the Lord meant. It meant breaking up the fallow ground and sowing righteousness.

Fallow ground describes a field that had once been fruitful, but then had been let go, neglected, or given a rest. When it was time to restore the field to usefulness, it would need to be cut down, cleaned up, and plowed again.

Fallow ground can often be overrun with weeds or become stony. The hard ground needed to be broken up, turned over, and rocks needed to be removed once again. This would take time and effort.

Once the soil of our hearts has been broken up, it is time to sow new seed.

You don’t have to start by doing something big (like a forty- day fast). You can sow toward a long fasting period by fasting a bunch of little things at first.

Sowing is doing a bunch of little things repeatedly.

Some people think they need to do something radical, dramatic, or extreme to bring about the change they desire. You can try, but I have found that doing little things consistently is more effective than doing something dramatic all at once.

Do the things you know are right like prayer, worship, giving, fasting, and meditating on God’s Word. Putting seed in the ground means we need to expose our hearts to the Word of God. That’s where the power to change lies. It is the Word that changes us.

When the Lord spoke to Israel through Hosea, inviting them to begin seeking Him again, He gave them a promise that He would respond to their efforts (acts of righteousness) by raining righteousness upon them. He promised that, after all the breaking, tilling, and sowing, they would reap His mercy.

There are a number of promises found in the book of Hosea that help inspire us to seek the Lord afresh, trusting that He will respond. One of my personal favorites comes from Hosea 6:3:

Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, like the latter and former rain to the earth.

My paraphrase of this verse is:

“Let’s learn all we can about the Lord. Let’s press in to know Him, and He will respond to us as sure as the morning comes, and as certain as the rains of the spring and autumn which water the earth.”

Hosea goes on to prophesy,

So you, by the help of your God, return; observe mercy and justice, and wait on your God continually. (12:6)

My paraphrase of this verse is:

“Here is what you do: Turn to the Lord again, embrace both His mercy and judgment and wait continually before your God with expectation.”

Then Hosea assured Israel that God will help them:

O Israel, you are destroyed, but your help is from Me. (13:9)

My paraphrase of this verse is:

“You have brought this trouble upon yourself, but in Me is your help.”

If you don’t like your present circumstances, it helps if you realize that you once sowed the crop you now see.

God promised healing:

I will heal your backsliding, I will love you freely, for My anger has been turned away from you. (14:4)

My paraphrase of this verse is: “For the Lord says,

‘I will show them how to put an end to their spiritual regression and will demonstrate My love for them, proving to them that I am no longer angry for what they have done.’”

As for the term backsliding, we tend to see it as being a prodigal, leaving the Lord, or leaving church, but there are degrees of it. Other degrees may be more subtle. You may have subtilty slipped away. While others may not see the difference, you know on the inside that you have lost ground. I think the word regression might be better. One thing for sure, we are not going forward we are going backward; in spiritual things there is no neutral.

Finally, he gives them a powerful picture of spiritual growth:

“I will be like the dew to Israel; He shall grow like the lily, and lengthen his roots like Lebanon.” (14:5)

My paraphrase of this verse is:

“I will be like dew upon Israel, and they shall look like a lily on the surface, but underneath will be roots like the cedars of Lebanon.”

This is an amazing picture. On the surface you look like a simple lily growing among the hardscrabble soil, which is a brownish-grey barren landscape. But below the surface, there are roots growing like a massive cedar tree. When you begin to seek the Lord, you may not see any outward change or notice the big shift you are longing for but be assured of root growth.

Taken from my book The Great Quest. Look for it and others in this series on our on-line store at www.wordsmithpublishing.store