It is Time |
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Elder
Phillip Conley |
Hosea
10:12, "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."
This morning, Scripture continues to amaze in its freshness
and relevance. Over the years reading and studying the
Bible, it has been astounding to me to see how instep
Scripture is with life, and yet the world continues to play
catch up - if at all - all the while thinking they are in
tune or ahead of the curve. Friends, the Bible has always
and will always blow the world away in its superiority.
Nothing today is truly new, as man continues to find new
ways to repackage the same old things. Yet, something as old
as the Bible continues to be a treasure trove of new and old
things that can truly transform lives and provide comfort
through the maladies of life. A Book like no other, its
vibrancy stems from the fact that it has an Author like no
other: God Himself. As I study it, however, I find that
different things in it hit me more profoundly than other
passages do at different times. As a young father, I find
the passages on fatherhood to be more profound than I did
prior to fatherhood. Likewise with married life. Passages
talking about husbands and their responsibilities took my
breath away more than they ever had before shortly before
and after my wife and I tied the knot. Such is the case with
verses like our study verse this morning. Though the
vibrancy and relevance never truly fades, its effect charges
through the door of our lives and challenges us to look
deeply into our lives for examination.
The book of Hosea in general contains dark themes and
images. The Lord's man had a charge that I am glad that I
did not. His cross to bear was tough. The Lord instructs him
to take a wife of whoredoms and bear children with her, all
the while she continues to flirt with her wicked lifestyle.
The point that the Almighty is serving to His prophet is
that he would understand experientially what God felt. Like
as Hosea's wife continued to break his heart by her wayward
liaisons, the Lord's people Israel continued to grieve Him
by following after other nations and their idols. As our
heavenly Husband that has married us, He felt pain and grief
by our misdeeds, and Hosea understood this better having
lived the same in his own house. His message had the weight
and teeth of understanding to tell the people just how far
they had rolled off the rails.
However, the book of Hosea is not chock full of dark images,
themes, and tones to the exclusion of bright glimpses and
rich promises. In fact Paul quotes from Hosea 14:13 in his
grand declaration of the resurrection in I Corinthians 15.
Our study verse is one of those bright moments in the midst
of exhortation. Very briefly, let us examine some of the
other expressions leading up to the theme "It is Time" that
opens up the thought of a rich and comforting promise. God
compares His exhortation to the people to the way a gardener
tends his plot. Things must be sown before something can be
reaped, and breaking must be in attendance for
profitability. In our lives, we cannot honestly expect good
things to come in our lives when we constantly input evil
things. No one would expect a good crop by sowing few seeds
or sowing spoiled seed. Likewise, we should not expect truly
good and profitable spiritual ends when we constantly input
spoiled and tainted seeds. We must input righteousness (good
dealing, honest mindset, and upright decorum) to expect to
reap in mercy. Someone might say, "Oh but preacher, God can
still bless good things to come out of bad circumstances
right?" He can, and sometimes He does. However, to expect
the Lord to arrive and clean up our mess when He has given
us the tools to do better is like expecting Him to be the
worldwide nanny servicing the spoiled brats of a household.
As Paul would warn, "God is not mocked..." (Galatians 6:7b).
We should expect to reap after the same manner that we have
sowed.
To fulfill the reaping of mercy, we must break away the
things that offend and stand in the way. Breaking up fallow
ground in a garden provides the seed with a good environment
to nurture in. With the ground packed and clodded together,
the seed struggles to produce the desired fruit according to
its nature. Likewise, the seed planted within the child of
God needs the flesh around it broken with the affections and
lusts thereof to properly bring forth the mercy that we
desire to receive and should desire to impart to others.
Having gone through the gardening analogies, what is the
Lord's aim in using them? His aim is simple: it is time.
In farming and gardening, we see and understand there are
certain times for things. Almanacs and other tools provide
information on when to plant different seeds, and the
farmer/gardener is best suited to bring forth an ideal crop
by following those times. Consider where Israel was during
this time. Long periods of languishing had ensued, and Hosea
had lived in a form of hell to understand what God saw and
experienced. Dark, dark times. Does that sound familiar?
People chasing their own desires and fulfilling their own
pleasures. Sound familiar? One might be inclined to think,
"This season is wrong for a crop. Nothing good can come
now." The Lord's message is exactly the opposite. Right now!
It is time! Seeking the Lord needs no calendar date or time
restriction. Every minister has heard older souls bemoan
their younger selves in frittering away so much time before
renewing their zeal and effort in seeking the Lord. No
minister has heard an older soul lament the fervent time
they spent in serving the Lord from an early age. Consider
two examples: 1. John the Baptist and 2. Naomi. Both of them
were Israelites and blessed to be born into a land that God
favored with His presence. Yet, John the Baptist died early
by execution from a wicked man for simply standing up for
the truth. Naomi lived to be an old woman who had ups and
downs through her life. John the Baptist fulfilled his
course through faithfulness and righteousness. Naomi forsook
her land and came back empty, bitter, and heartbroken. Yes,
she had joy again before her life ended, but many years of
her life's experience were ruined by chasing after the world
(Moab). Both are housed in heaven now, and will experience
no less of its fullness than you or I. Yet, I would rather
have the faithful life of John the Baptist, even if it costs
me everything than the heartbreak of Naomi from the world's
destruction.
Think about the here and now. Are things really all that
different today than in Hosea's day? Is there anything new
under the sun? Life today is spent chasing vain dreams,
finding empty promises, and gathering great disappointments
and regrets. The prize of today is replaced tomorrow by
something different but equally empty. Children's toy boxes
are full of items that were "the thing" one day and
forgotten the next. Life is full of such empty pursuits and
prizes. I am reminded of the scene from Ben-Hur when Pontius
Pilate crowns Judah Ben-Hur with the laurels after he wins
the chariot race, "You are the people's one true god for the
time being. Permit us to worship." He then then states, "I
crown their god." What was Pilate saying in the scene? What
so many others today say. By the deeds of today or the
pursuits of today, someone/something becomes someone's god
for that day. Just as the victory in the chariot race is not
worthy of worship, so is nothing today worthy of
serving/seeking outside of the Lord.
At what time or season should He be sought? A farmer knows
that planting generally happens in the spring, harvest in
the fall, with select things grown in the winter. However,
the Lord's service knows no specific season or time. Notice
the phrase - it is time - is present tense. The phrase
cannot be uttered about past successes or future
expectations. It is uttered about the right now. What if
dark times beset us? It is time. What if our days are filled
with the sunshine of comfort and pleasures? It is time.
Whether old or young, rich or poor, male or female, Jew or
Gentile, it is time. For how long? The answer to that
question opens the door to a great promise that the Lord
manifests. This service endures until the Lord comes and
rains righteousness on us. To the people that Hosea had been
speaking to, the message may have seemed dark and hopeless,
but the Lord renews His affection and promise that He is
coming and righteousness is coming with Him.
The righteousness that He has will be freely and fully
rained upon us/given to us. Paul looked forward to that day
in II Timothy 4:8 as he described it as a "crown of
righteousness." Nothing that happens will stay or keep this
event from coming to pass. Dark times on the earth will not
prevent it. Our waywardness will not prevent. The devil
cannot stop it. It is coming. By implication, therefore, it
is still time right now to seek Him. He is coming, but now
it is time. Paul told the Romans our service should be right
now, "And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time
to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than
when we believed." (Romans 13:11) We are nearer that
salvation and deliverance than we have ever been, but now it
is time. Paul says it is high time. Life is not hopeless
friends. There is much to do, and He is worthy of living for
and following after.
Friends, nothing would delight our adversary more than to
keep us steeped in our own wayward actions and decisions,
and prevent our eyes from gazing upon that great
consummation when the Lord rains righteousness and delivers
us up. Evil men try to foster the mindset of terror and
dread in what they do. Corruption seeks to sear us and make
our love wax cold. Every day we must fight the hardening
that this old flesh enjoys doing. Seeking Him is not a "what
I once did" or "what I will do." Seeking Him must be a what
I am doing. I cannot serve Him today through future sermons
I will preach, nor can I serve Him today through past
successes/failures in preaching. I can only serve Him today
through my sowing and breaking today, hoping to reap mercy
through the effort. If we are waiting before we do something
or living based on something that we have previously done,
we are living in the "it will be the time" or "it was the
time" mentalities. We have lived many days, and He is coming
one day. We can only serve Him today.
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