Hosea 10:12 Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.
Much of the world is dealing with the greatest disruption of their lives… probably in their lifetimes, particularly in the West, and what is known as the “First World”. Here’s a helpful perspective toward understanding what is taking place.
Imagine for a moment that your life is a farm… a plot of land set aside to produce a crop. The Farmer knows what He needs to do to prepare an abundant harvest. Your soil is fallow, hardened, full of weeds. The seeds are dry and must absorb water to initiate respiration and begin to digest their stored food, and respiration requires sufficient oxygen in soil that is moist and broken up. Your field must be turned over and plowed.
Plowing seems to do violence to soil in its fallow state. Yet nothing will grow or can even be planted in hard unplowed soil. The plow turns the soil upside down and inside out, looks like a disaster zone, as thousands of weeds and chunks of earth fly apart. Insects in the soil endure an apocalyptic experience, and some of them are killed by the metal blades and crashing mounds of earth. The farmer is simply doing his job, what he must do to prepare an abundant harvest.
Now that the Farmer is preparing His field, and the mounds of earth and weeds are flying everywhere, step back if you can and observe what is taking place. The world is His field, not ours. and His crop is righteousness and steadfast love in a fruitful crop of human souls. Fallow ground full of weeds will not do for a good harvest. Take the Farmer’s perspective, endure the plow, and you will rejoice with him in the harvest to follow.
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]The third great awakening took place during the late 1850s into the beginning of the 1900s. It was during this era that the wave of revivals sweeping America began spreading throughout the world. The era saw the abolition of slavery, women’s right to vote, and the end of child labor in factories.
In Israel, cell phones are all the rage. You wouldn’t believe it but parents even buy cell phones for their kids and send them to school with them in their schoolbags. I’m talking about six and seven-year-old kids! While it is true that part of the reason for this cell phone craze stems from the fact that violence goes on here daily and people want to be able to contact one another in the event of an emergency, I would still say that it’s somewhat excessive.
Charles William Eliot, former president of Harvard University, had a birthmark on his face that bothered him greatly. As a young man, he was told that surgeons could do nothing to remove it. Someone described that moment as “the dark hour of his soul.” Eliot’s mother gave him this helpful advice: “My son, it is not possible for you to get rid of that hardship…But it is possible for you, with God’s help, to grow a mind and soul so big that people will forget to look at your face.”
Rockets are flying through the skies of Israel and many are landing on the ground. Emails are also flying through cyberspace as people all over the world express support through prayer for us and our nation. Words cannot express our gratitude for your care and concern. In times like these the best and the worst are brought out in people: either the peace, confidence, and strength which come from faith, or the fear and panic which overwhelms the souls of worldly men.
Since moving to Israel we’ve been thrust into a Middle Eastern culture of “extreme hospitality”. The above parable from Luke takes place in a similar cultural context, and it powerfully illustrates how God wants us to approach Him.
Unless you’re up on your biology, you’re probably wondering, “What in the world is a coney?” I certainly was. After doing a little research, I discovered that a coney is a rock badger.
I ran across a profound story that shows what happens when the family structure breaks down — but this didn’t have to do with people — it had to do with elephants.