Seek the Lord Now!

Hosea 10:10-12

"When I please I will chastise them, and hostile peoples shall be gathered against them when I shall bind and yoke them for their two transgressions [revolt from the Lord their God and the worship of idols]. Ephraim indeed is a heifer broken in and loving to tread out the grain, but I have [heretofore] spared the beauty of her fair neck.  I will now set a rider upon Ephraim and make him to draw; Judah shall plow and Jacob shall break his clods.  Sow for yourselves according to righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God); reap according to mercy and loving-kindness.  Break up your uncultivated ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, to inquire for and of Him, and to require His favor, till He comes and teaches you righteousness and rains His righteous gift of salvation upon you."

The Lord has me reading in Hosea and Colossians lately and I realized they are very similar in nature and content.  Both seem to be a call to repentance and turning back to God.  When I read these Scriptures in Hosea the Lord unfolded before me a beautiful picture of how He turns our wrong choices into opportunities of discipline in order to bring us to a place of righteousness before Him.

The period of time in which Hosea was called to prophesy is when Israel had separated themselves from Judah and created their own nation with their own king.  This was not in God's plan for Israel and He was calling them on their sin.

The interesting thing is God says in verse 10 He will chastise them with hostile peoples that will gather against them and He will bind and yoke them for their sins which were rebellion from Him and worshiping idols.  When I read this what I realized was even though God was saying "He" was going to gather nations against them and bind and yoke them, in reality it was their choice that brought these things upon them.  They had stepped out from under God's will, protection, and authority over their lives and the result was the consequence of war and bondage.  Yes God allowed it, but only because they chose it.   We always have the choice to choose life or death.

Verse 11 reinforces this notion as God speaks of Israel being a "heifer broken in and loving to tread out the grain."  The picture the Lord showed me, as I read this portion, was of a work horse that only knows how to slave in the heat and sun breaking up the dirt through hard labor and is satisfied to be there, not realizing he was created for so much more.  Israel was satisfied in the slavery of their bondage and sin, even loving being there.  They were deceived into believing that this was the good life, that this was the best it was going to get.  They did not understand how much better it could be as a son with inheritance and authority, but God did.  In His mercy He "spared the beauty of her fair neck."  This statement stood out to me and the Lord showed me how the heat and sun that came and burned their neck stripped them of their identity and dignity as they worked plowing in the field of their sin.  During this time in history a person who worked in the field was a slave or of lower class and you could identify them from the sun burn or tan on the back of their necks.  So God is saying He is coming to spare them the humiliation of being known as a slave or servant and He will do this by setting a warrior on the work horse with a sword in his hand so that the work horse can now become  who he was created to be, a war horse with authority and power. "I will now set a rider upon Ephraim and make him to draw."  Even when we make wrong choices and find ourselves living in the bondage of our sin experiencing the resulting consequences, God says that is not who we were created to be and it is not our inheritance to stay there.  He comes and calls us into our inheritance of power and authority over the sin we have chosen and the consequences, giving us the grace to come out of the fields as a mighty warrior.

It is fascinating the next statement God makes appears to not fit at all, but if we understand the true identity of Judah and Jacob we will see clearly how well it does fit.  Judah means praise and Jacob represents intercession.  "Again she conceived and bore a son, and she said, now will I praise the Lord! So she called his name Judah [praise]; then [for a time] she ceased bearing." Genesis 29:35 (Amplified).  Jacob meant supplanter because as he was being born he held onto his brother's heel.  "Afterward his brother came forth, and his hand grasped Esau's heel; so he was named Jacob [supplanter]"....Genesis 25:26 (Amplified).  This is a perfect example of intercession because when we pray for someone or something we stand in the place or position of that person or situation to see it changed.  So what does praise and intercession have to do with a work horse becoming a war horse?  Everything!  It becomes that war horse through the tools of praise and intercession!  God is showing Israel how He will help them become who they were created to be through praise and intercession.  As we engage in prayer and intercession we become who God created us to be with power and authority.  We no longer have to sweat and labor to break up the clods of dirt in our lives because, "Judah shall plow and Jacob shall break his clods."  Our praise will plow through and intercession will break the hard clods of dirt.  These are the tools of God's grace and power that we have been given.

Once the ground has been plowed and the clods broken up in our lives then we can sow the seeds of righteousness and reap a harvest of mercy and loving-kindness.  "Sow for yourselves according to righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God); reap according to mercy and loving-kindness."  Just as God showed His mercy and loving kindness toward Israel so will He show us the same.  The call to Israel comes forth in the last part of verse 12 when He says, "Break up your uncultivated ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, to inquire for and of Him, and to require His favor, till He comes and teaches you righteousness and rains His righteous gift of salvation upon you."  Just as it was time for Israel to seek the Lord so I feel the Lord is speaking the same to us.  Through praise and intercession break up your uncultivated ground so He can teach you righteousness and give you the gift of righteousness, grace, mercy, loving kindness, and the fullness of His salvation for you to walk in.  We are His sons and daughters with an inheritance of power and authority so we do not have to live in the bondage of being a slave to our sin and the consequences of it.  Break up the uncultivated ground in your heart and minds and seek the Lord today!