Today’s Podcast
Today’s Scriptures
Today’s Bible reading plans include:
Ready – Hosea 12
Set – Hosea 12; Psalms 73; Hebrews 4
Go! – Hosea 10–12; Psalms 73; Hebrews 4
Hosea 12
1 Eternal One: Ephraim feeds on the wind.
He chases the hot east wind all day long.
He’s becoming more and more deceitful and violent.
They’ve abandoned their covenant to make an alliance with Assyria,
trading oil for favor from Egypt.
2 The Eternal has charges to bring against Judah;
He’ll punish the nation of Jacob for the way he’s acting
and pay him back for the things he’s done.
3 Even from the womb, he fought with his brother by grabbing his heel;
when he grew to be an adult, he struggled against God.
4-5 He wrestled with a heavenly messenger and won;
he wept and begged for his help.
It was the Eternal, the Commander of heavenly armies, who met him at Bethel;
the Eternal Himself spoke with him there; the Eternal One is His memorial name.
6 So you must return to your God, maintain loyalty and justice,
and wait patiently for your God.
7 Like Canaan, Israel is a merchant who uses dishonest scales—
he loves to cheat people!
8 Ephraim gloats, “I’ve gotten rich! I’ve made a fortune for myself!
And in all my dealings no one can charge me with iniquity and dishonesty.”
9 Eternal One: I’m the Eternal One; I’ve been your True God ever since you left Egypt.
I’m going to make you live in tents again,
As you do in remembrance during the Feast of Tabernacles.
10 Eternal One: I’ve spoken to the prophets; I’ve given them many visions,
and I’ve told you parables through them.
11 Because Gilead is so wicked, it is worthless.
They sacrifice bulls at the cultic center of Gilgal,
But their altars will be heaps of stone next to a plowed field.
12 Jacob fled to the fields of Aram;
Israel worked for Laban in exchange for a wife;
to pay the bride-price, he shepherded Laban’s flocks.
13 But the Eternal One led Israel out of Egypt by a prophet;
Moses, God’s own prophet, kept the people safe.
14 But now Ephraim has made his Lord furious, and this is His judgment:
God will punish him for the blood he’s shed
and pay him back for his defiance.
Today’s Devotional
From today’s background scripture God might say:
Farmers always expect a harvest. Can you imagine what it would be like to be a farmer but not expect a harvest from the work you put into the crops? You prepare the fields each winter and spring. You spend days and weeks fertilizing, plowing, checking the soiling and making sure it is ready for planting. Then you carefully plant seeds into freshly plowed ground to ensure the best crop possible for a good harvest when the fruit is ripe on the stalks.
You water, weed, fertilize during the season. You protect the crop from bugs, birds, and other animals that might destroy the crop before you can harvest it. Then the big day comes. The crop should be ripe. The harvest should be ready. But instead of a harvest, you have nothing. Can you imagine the heartbreak the farmer must feel? All year he has labored, but he has done so in vain. No farmer goes through that labor without expecting a harvest. He always expects to reap what he has sown.
Life is like that. You reap what you sow. If you sow good deads, in time you will reap a harvest of good. But if you sow evil deeds, in time you will reap evil. Your harvest will reflect the seeds you planted and labored so diligently to grow. So I have a few questions for you along the metaphor of the farmer and his crop.
Have you planted the right seeds? Have you planted good deeds and a righteous life or evil? Let’s assume you are planting good deeds, or trying to.
Are you working diligently on the preparation of the soil before you plant the seeds and after the seeds are planted? Too many think just planting the seed is sufficient to make a bountiful harvest grow. What they find instead is just planting a seed will often result in a scrawny plant.
Pay attention to the preparation of your own soil and in the place you plant the seeds of good deeds. Fertilize the soil of your life and the lives of others with prayer. Plow the field with My word, a sharp sword that can divide body and spirit. That dividing sword can be the plow that creates furrows in the mind and spirit and prepares the heart for the seed being planted.
Once seeds of good deeds are planted, care for them. Water them with My spirit. The evidence of My can be found in its fruit – unconditional love, joy, peace, patience, kindheartedness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Remove the weeds that come from the world’s interference.
Take care of the seeds of good deeds you plant in others and prepare the soil well. Then care for the field. When you do, you will see a bountiful harvest in yourself and in others.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.