Bible League: Living His Word ... 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 If you have ever suffered an injury to your body, you may have had to undergo physical therapy to help it heal. If so, you would know to move forward n the healing process requires painful massaging of the injured area over numerous sessions to break up the scar-tissue to rebuild anew. As they say, "No pain, no gain." Our passage today speaks to such a healing process, but in a spiritual manner dealing with the scar-tissue of hardened hearts and lives. The literal definition of fallow ground is the land that is left unseeded during a growing season, which then becomes hard and unable to bear the fruits of harvest. To produce fruit again, the fallow ground will need to be broken up, cultivated, massaged, so to speak, to prepare to be seeded. The picture applies to humans who have hardened hearts and lives that need to be broken up and cultivated, massaged, in order for seeds of righteousness and truth to be sown and received, only then can the seed take root and God's blessings and works flow from hearts and lives. The first half of Hosea 10:12 speaks of sewing in righteousness. The idea is to let the seeds you sew be free and right and always of God's best. In doing so, one will reap the blessings of God's mercy and bring forth much faith with an abundance of harvest to the glory of God. However, before such blessings and harvest can be attained, the grounds of our hearts and lives must be prepared rightly for God to use. The fallow ground must be broken up along with the removal of hardness due to prideful attitudes about one's self, religious practices, power and positions. Breaking up the hardness of heart and negative issues of life will require self-reflection, repentance, surrender, commitment, and dedication to the Lord, and trust. The passage concludes, "for it is time to seek the Lord." The Bible says, "Seek the lord while He may be found, call on Him while He is near." (Isaiah 55:6) The time is now for getting the soil of your heart right with God. There will be a time soon when it will be too late to seed the ground the field of your heart, and you will be unable to plant, let alone reap a harvest. One can only reap what they sew. Is it your time to break up the fallow ground of your heart? It may be painful in the short term, but what a glorious blessing that will come eternally. Remember: "No pain, no gain." By Pastor David Massie, Bible League International staff, California U.S. Bible in a Year Old Testament Reading1 Chronicles 6, 7 1 Chronicles 6 -- Descendants of Levi; The Temple Musicians NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB 1 Chronicles 7 -- Descendants from Issachar, Benjamin, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, Asher NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading John 8:21-36 John 8 -- The Woman Caught in Adultery; Jesus the Light of the World; The truth will set you free NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion No, I will not unleash my fierce anger.I will not completely destroy Israel, for I am God and not a mere mortal. I am the Holy One living among you, and I will not come to destroy. Insight “I am God and not a mere mortal.” It is easy for us to define God in terms of our own expectations and behavior. In so doing, we make him just slightly larger than ourselves. In reality, God is infinitely greater than we are. Challenge We should seek to become like him rather than attempting to remake him in our image. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Psalm 107:7 He led them forth by the right way.Changeful experience often leads the anxious believer to inquire "Why is it thus with me?" I looked for light, but lo, darkness came; for peace, but behold, trouble. I said in my heart, my mountain standeth firm; I shall never be moved. Lord, thou dost hide thy face, and I am troubled. It was but yesterday that I could read my title clear; today my evidences are bedimmed, and my hopes are clouded. Yesterday, I could climb to Pisgah's top, and view the landscape o'er, and rejoice with confidence in my future inheritance; today, my spirit has no hopes, but many fears; no joys, but much distress. Is this part of God's plan with me? Can this be the way in which God would bring me to heaven? Yes, it is even so. The eclipse of your faith, the darkness of your mind, the fainting of your hope, all these things are but parts of God's method of making you ripe for the great inheritance upon which you shall soon enter. These trials are for the testing and strengthening of your faith--they are waves that wash you further upon the rock--they are winds which waft your ship the more swiftly towards the desired haven. According to David's words, so it might be said of you, "So he bringeth them to their desired haven." By honor and dishonor, by evil report and by good report, by plenty and by poverty, by joy and by distress, by persecution and by peace, by all these things is the life of your souls maintained, and by each of these are you helped on your way. Oh, think not, believer, that your sorrows are out of God's plan; they are necessary parts of it. "We must, through much tribulation, enter the kingdom." Learn, then, even to "count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations." "O let my trembling soul be still, And wait thy wise, thy holy will! I cannot, Lord, thy purpose see, Yet all is well since ruled by thee." Daily Light on the Daily Path John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.1 John 2:17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. Psalm 39:6 "Surely every man walks about as a phantom; Surely they make an uproar for nothing; He amasses riches and does not know who will gather them. Romans 6:21 Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. Luke 10:41,42 But the Lord answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; • but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her." 1 Corinthians 7:32 But I want you to be free from concern. One who is unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord; John 16:33 "These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." 2 Thessalonians 3:16 Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with you all! Numbers 6:24-26 The LORD bless you, and keep you; • The LORD make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; • The LORD lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.' New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. 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