Hosea 10:12 Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD… The characters represented by the term, "fallow ground," are to be found in every town and in every congregation. I. WHO ARE THE CHARACTERS INDICATED? Those whose affections, habits, and thoughts were once bearing a rich harvest for God, but in whom this is all changed, and the heart is become barren. But not the backslider only; the description applies to all who are careless or hardened in their sins; all whose characters have no religious fruitfulness. II. HOW MAY WE BREAK UP THE FALLOW GROUND? We must first satisfy ourselves that the ground is fallow; and in doing this prayerful meditation will greatly assist us. We may also have the guidance and assistance of the Holy Spirit. III. WHY WE SHOULD BREAK UP THE FALLOW GROUND? The constraining motive is this, "it is time to seek the Lord." Time because you have already spent too much of your short life in the service of sin and Satan. Because you will never have a more suitable season than the present. You have sought to persuade yourself that, by and by, you would be more at leisure for seeking the Lord. You must not think a time of affliction will prove a more suitable time. The more happy we are, in the fulness of our strength, before the eye is dim, and before the intellect begins to fail — that is the time to think deeply upon the claims of God. (R. K. Bailie, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
    |