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 Songs 1:16 Behold, thou art fair, my Beloved.From every point our Well-beloved is most fair. Our various experiences are meant by our heavenly Father to furnish fresh standpoints from which we may view the loveliness of Jesus; how amiable are our trials when they carry us aloft where we may gain clearer views of Jesus than ordinary life could afford us! We have seen him from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, and he has shone upon us as the sun in his strength; but we have seen him also "from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards," and he has lost none of his loveliness. From the languishing of a sick bed, from the borders of the grave, have we turned our eyes to our soul's spouse, and he has never been otherwise than "all fair." Many of his saints have looked upon him from the gloom of dungeons, and from the red flames of the stake, yet have they never uttered an ill word of him, but have died extolling his surpassing charms. Oh, noble and pleasant employment to be forever gazing at our sweet Lord Jesus! Is it not unspeakably delightful to view the Saviour in all his offices, and to perceive him matchless in each?--to shift the kaleidoscope, as it were, and to find fresh combinations of peerless graces? In the manger and in eternity, on the cross and on his throne, in the garden and in his kingdom, among thieves or in the midst of cherubim, he is everywhere "altogether lovely." Examine carefully every little act of his life, and every trait of his character, and he is as lovely in the minute as in the majestic. Judge him as you will, you cannot censure; weigh him as you please, and he will not be found wanting. Eternity shall not discover the shadow of a spot in our Beloved, but rather, as ages revolve, his hidden glories shall shine forth with yet more inconceivable splendour, and his unutterable loveliness shall more and more ravish all celestial minds. Daily Light on the Daily Path Romans 8:26 In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;John 14:26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. 1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? Philippians 2:13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Romans 8:26,27 In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; • and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Psalm 103:14 For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust. Isaiah 42:3 "A bruised reed He will not break And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice. Matthew 26:41 "Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." Psalm 23:1,2 A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. • He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. 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