Hosea 11:8

“I have had a change of heart; My compassion is stirred!”

Does God change His mind? No. His heart was moved and this is a good thing.

We should never appeal to God’s plan. As an Administrator God’s economy is set.

But there is much good that can come from appealing to God’s heart! He is full of compassion and tender mercy.

When we pray for America we should make the appeal to God’s heart for mercy. I do not know what God’s plan is for America, but I know in His heart He only wants to do good to us.

“Lord, You love us with an everlasting love. You want us to return to You and glorify You. But we cannot do this with without Your help. We don’t even have the desire to return without You putting that desire in our hearts. So I ask you, Dear Father, remember Your mercy. Love us and pity us as a Father loves and pities His rebellious child. Bring us back to Yourself—whatever it takes—turn us back to You.”

Hosea 10:12 (HCSB)

Sow righteousness for yourselves

and reap faithful love;

break up your untilled ground.

It is time to seek the LORD

until He comes and sends righteousness

on you like the rain.

It is time to seek the LORD!

We have pursued our own self-interests. We have sought our own gain. We have sought our own advantage. We have sought our own pleasure. I am not speaking of the world. I am speaking of the church—believers.

Now it is time to break up the untilled ground of our hearts. It is time to repent of our sins—to call them by name, to ask the Lord’s forgiveness, and to put them away from ourselves. Now it is time to seek the LORD!

We have nearly hit the bottom. If we do not turn to Him and seek Him now it may be too late. We desperately need Him to come and rain righteousness on us like rain.

Let us turn and seek the LORD with all our hearts!

Sowing and Reaping the Whirlwind

I have heard the Law of Sowing and Reaping explained like this:

1) You always reap what you sow

2) You always reap after you sow

3) You always reap in proportion as you sow

We reap what we sow. That is, if we plant apples we harvest apples. If we plant oranges we harvest oranges. We do not plant one thing and harvest something different. If we plant apples we do not harvest oranges. The harvest corresponds exactly to the planting. What we give is what we get. If we sow to the flesh we reap from the flesh. If we sow from the Spirit we reap from the Spirit. If I sow kindness I’ll reap kindness. If I sow anger I’ll reap anger.

The harvest season always comes after the planting season. A farmer must be patient. If he expects immediately results he will be disappointed. He does not plant in the morning and then go the nest morning with a basket—unless he planted mushrooms. We have to wait for the seed to germinate and sprout. This takes time. God sends the sunshine and the rain. “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart” (Galatians 6:9, NKJV).

Finally, we reap in proportion as we sow. In other words, if we sow sparingly we reap sparingly. If we sow abundantly we reap abundantly.

The third part of this law is the only one that is flexible. Hosea 8:7 says, “they sow the wind and they reap the whirlwind.” In other words, they got worse than they gave. But there are also times when we get better than we deserve. So we best not argue with this component of the law!

The Age of Disgrace

Hosea 4:6 (HCSB)

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

This charge is directed to the priests, to the spiritual leaders of Israel. They do not love truth, therefore they do not know the truth. Because they cannot teach what they don’t have the people are devoid of truth. The consequence is that the whole population is “doomed”!

Hosea 4:14 (HCSB)

People without discernment are doomed.

I cannot read this without feeling a burden for America, for my nation today. I believe there is a famine for the Word of God in our land. Those who are to be leaders in holiness have an insatiable appetite for sin. We read routinely of preachers falling into disgrace because of sin. Only now it is no longer considered disgraceful. To the contrary, they say that their experiences have equipped them to be better communicators of grace.

Where was the power of grace to keep them from sin? They didn’t want that!

Our desperate need today is for holy men of God to faithfully fulfill their ministry to proclaim the truth! Without these men—and the people who will listen to them—we will continue to be a people without discernment. Has anyone noticed we seem to be in a flat spin and picking up speed?

Father, forgive us. There is no truth, no faithful love, and no knowledge of God in this land. Cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and adultery are rampant. One act of bloodshed follows another. The land mourns! Unaware of it our people are languishing. You lay blame at the preachers and spiritual leaders of our nation. We have turned our honor to disgrace. We feed on the sin of Your people. We are under your judgment. Please forgive us. Please heal us. Please turn us around! Please give us credible preachers, men of integrity, who preach the truth and back it up with holy living!

Hope from Hosea

Hosea 1:2–3 (HCSB)

When the LORD first spoke to Hosea, He said this to him:

Go and marry a promiscuous wife

and ‹have› children of promiscuity,

for the whole land has been promiscuous

by abandoning the LORD.

So he went and married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

Imagine the Lord telling you to marry someone who you knew would be unfaithful to you! The Lord chose Israel knowing they would be unfaithful to Him. And the Lord chose us—and who of us have not been unfaithful to Him? We have been unfaithful by putting other things in the place of God in our hearts.

Hosea 2:14–15 (HCSB)

Therefore, I am going to persuade her,

lead her to the wilderness,

and speak tenderly to her.

There I will give her vineyards back to her

and make the Valley of Achor

into a gateway of hope.

There she will respond as ‹she did›

in the days of her youth,

as in the day she came out of the land of Egypt.

Look at that—the “Valley of Trouble (Achor)” became a “gateway of hope.” How many times, when we have wandered from the Lord, has He sent a season of trouble to turn our hearts back to Him? Our adversity has truly become our best friend.

Now listen to the words of the Father:

Hosea 2:19–20 (HCSB)

I will take you to be My wife forever.

I will take you to be My wife in righteousness,

justice, love, and compassion.

I will take you to be My wife in faithfulness,

and you will know the LORD.

Are we not grate for the unfailing love of God? Our relationship with Him does not depend upon our faithfulness to Him but upon His faithfulness to us!

Dear Father,

I am sorry that I have sinned. I have been rebellious and disobedient. I confess the sin of my people, of my nation. We have acted wickedly. We have turned away from You. We have pursued other gods. We have been rebellious. We are a perverse people. We call evil “good” and good “evil.”

Dear Father, in wrath please remember mercy! You are Righteous in all Your ways—in all Your actions. No one can lay blame at Your doorstep. We have always done wrong. It is us! We have turned away. We have been unfaithful. But You are Compassionate, full of Mercy, and infinite in Grace. Remember us. Have mercy on us. Be compassionate to us.

Father, please forgive us. Please restore Your good hand upon us. Make Your Name renowned again in this nation. For the sake of Your Great Name please restore us to holiness. Make us good once again. Stop our hypocrisy. We say we are better than to torture our enemies yet we slaughter our babies! We are an international disgrace. Please forgive us and restore us to Yourself. Send Your Holy Spirit to wash over us like a flood. Please revive us again.

In Jesus’ Name

Daniel 6:23 (HCSB)

The king was overjoyed and gave orders to take Daniel out of the den. So Daniel was taken out of the den, uninjured, for he trusted in his God.

All of us find ourselves in the lions’ den sometime. It may be in your marriage. It may be at work. It may be in your family. You did right but you were misunderstood. Maybe your faith in God was used against you. You wouldn’t cut corners because you committed to do your work according Christian principles. Now you find yourself in the den of lions… or critics. You questions are: “What will I do and what will happen to me?”

The answers are: “Trust in God and you will not be harmed.” Keep trusting in your God. Keep your eyes focused on Him. Keep talking to Him. Keep relying on Him for strength and wisdom. He will bring you out. You will not be injured, but you will be better. Give Him praise for that!

Remember: keep trusting in God.