Sowing Mercy

“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 NKJV)

“I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.’ (Hosea 10:12NLT)

“You have plowed and plotted wickedness, you have reaped the [willful] injustice [of oppressors], you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your [own] way and your chariots, in the multitude of your mighty men,” (Hosea 10:13 AMP)

We’re told to plow the ‘hard ground of our hearts’, in other words, our hearts are hardened and in order to soften our hearts;  we need to seek GOD and sow mercy for others. The Bible is filled with references of ‘sowing’ and ‘reaping’ and some of Jesus’ most famous parables used examples of sowing. The verse above uses the Hebrew word,  ‘zara’, which means: to sow, to scatter seeds; to plant seed in order to increase the returns; to disseminate. “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” (Galatians 6:7 NKJV) There are several sayings today that follow that scripture, 'you get what you give' concept, or 'sowing' and 'reaping'. If you give 'love' you will receive 'love', if you give 'bad things' you will receive 'bad things'.

Mercy is when someone does something and deserves a punishment, but we reward them with mercy. Mercy shows, even though, someone gave us 'bad things', we can show 'mercy' by responding  with 'good things'. Everyday we have opportunities to show mercy: like when your child does something that might normally get them grounded, you offer more leniency or if your spouse upsets you, instead of responding in your usual fashion, you might overlook the matter. Because GOD gave us mercy, we need to show mercy to others. We can never do anything good enough to earn our way to heaven, through GOD's son, is the only way we can achieve GOD's righteousness. “We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.  Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.” (Romans 3:22-24 NLT

In verse Hosea 10:13 (above), our sin is the belief of self-sufficient strength and wisdom. One of the hardest things is to give up control, because giving up control means giving up of power. Sometimes we get stuck on ‘if I want it done right, I have to do it myself’. When I turned in my resignation, I took pride (major sin alert) because so many people said that they needed me, that the business wouldn’t run without me, etc. I was the type of person, who multi-tasked, did so many things at once, and boasted about it (another sin). I also took on so many responsibilities that it was draining me, and I was putting my work above all other things in my life (yet another sin). This is why I caution people who go around saying, “God won’t give you more than you can handle", because people are taking control and taking on more than they can handle. We are the ones taking on the extra burdens and then believing GOD is the one giving us these extra responsibilities and problems – Do not be deceived, that is a lie the devil wants you to believe!  So next time, you’re asked to do something (even if it’s a ‘good thing’), don’t say yes (or no) right away, pray about it, make sure it won’t distract you from what GOD has planned for you.  When we seek GOD’s will for our lives, we are giving control to HIM. When we stay in GOD’s will, we are staying on the path and purpose HE has for us, “We can make our own plans, but the Lord gives the right answer. Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed. We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.” (Proverbs 16:1,3,9 NLT)

Faith is an action, faith is stepping out, it wasn’t just that people ‘believed’; it was when they ‘spoke’ or made a ‘movement’- once you believe, show  you believe. “You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete. And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” He was even called the friend of God. So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone.” (James 2:22-24 NLT)  Faith is believing that even though we see the circumstances surrounding us, we are not worried, because GOD will see us through.  Faith is giving up control, letting go and letting GOD. Faith is losing our pride and acknowledging that we don’t know what to do and we need GOD to help us through. Faith is saying, I was wrong GOD, I made a mistake in taking on this (even if done with good intentions), I need you to help me get back to the path you have for me, not the path I want for me. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” (Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT).

GOD sowed love and mercy with HIS Son, and as HIS children we reap HIS righteousness. We can come to GOD with tears of sorrow, repentance and shame, yet, no matter what we’ve done, HE forgives us and loves us. HE allows HIS children to reap something far greater than we would have been able to sow, “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.” (Psalm 126:5-6 NIVUK)