Author: Dave Dishman (Page 345 of 475)

This is a warning, of course.

Hosea wrote this phrase under the inspiration of the Lord, as part of a litany of threats against Israel: The people have broken my covenant and rebelled against my law…Israel has rejected what is good…with their silver and gold they make idols for themselves…my anger burns against them.

They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.

Reminds me of Dust in the Wind, by Kansas (fyi, one of the greatest bands of the rock era).

Hosea preached his sermons to a nation far removed from its devotion to the Lord under kings David and Solomon. Every compromise over the years, every giving in to the expediency of leaving the rigorous path laid out by the Lord, constituted sowing to the wind.

The whirlwind blew back in the form of invaders who raped and pillaged and hauled off most all the people. Total disaster.

I glimpse how this principle—sowing and reaping—worked in world affairs through the centuries. A study of history, the causes of wars and famines for instance, reveals how bad decisions or lack of action or ignoring clear warnings often led to catastrophe. Our present climate crisis seems to meet the criteria.

Sowing to the breeze and reaping a tornado applies on a personal level as well. Which means I need to examine my life and ask—where might I be sowing in a frivolous or harmful nature? Maybe it’s time to finally stop smoking?

Or, on a positive spin, am I sowing among the better things in life? Deeper relationships with others? Stronger commitments to knowing and following the ways of Lord? Serious practices of reading and understanding and applying God’s Word?

Sowing in the soil of God and His Word results in a plentiful yield–so much better than throwing my energy to the wind.

Hosea 8 in week thirty-two of reading the Bible cover to cover

Photo by Nikolas Noonan

Perhaps the strangest marriage in the Bible involved Hosea and Gomer.

Hosea, told by the Lord to marry a promiscuous woman, asked around and found Gomer, who fit the necessary criteria. They married, produced children, and gave them odd names, including a daughter named Lo-Ruhamah (which means not loved), and their son Lo-Ammi (not my people). Hopefully, the kids discovered therapy in adulthood.

Later, Gomer left Hosea for another man. He found her and swapped her back for 15 shekels of silver ($140 today) and 430 pounds of barley ($3,000 in today’s organic barley prices, assuming Hosea trafficked in organic barley).

This absurd marriage demonstrated the relationship between the Lord and the people of Judah and Israel. In the midst of their promiscuity with other gods, the Lord stayed faithful. Despite wandering hearts, reconciliation beckoned.

As Hosea returned for Gomer, the Lord returned for his people. In a vision for the future, Hosea purchased Gomer back for himself, just as the Lord purchased each one of us for himself through Jesus Christ.

The life of an Old Testament prophet? No thank you. But the language of promise spoken by such a prophet? Yes, please (note the Lord’s message of hope for Israel, including those kids with unfortunate names):

I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.’ I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people,’ and they will say, ‘You are my God.’

Hosea 1-3 in week thirty-two of reading the Bible cover to cover

Photo by Edwin Andrade

If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.

While one might apply this truth to any number of bad ideas, and to those who pursue them (filling the internet with videos capturing their fascinating lack of sight), Jesus referred to an older group of influencers.

These blind advisors were religious leaders—Pharisees—who lived piously, specifically following the straight and narrow as it appeared to them.

Somewhere, however, their path angled downhill toward legalities and the thin-slicing of truth, leaving behind the uphill issues of compassion and concern for others.

As a religious leader myself, I pause and wonder—where might I be unseeing as I try to influence those around me?

The issue Jesus referenced involved caring for parents, which some Pharisees avoided using a bit of religious chicanery. Jesus saw through their clever arguments and into their hearts, curled black on the edges.

One lesson jumps from the page—my internal attitudes count more than my outward piety. But it’s so much easier to look like a good person than to allow a good heart to grow.

I relate to those Pharisees. Just give me a few rules to follow, and I shine. Ask me to develop into a person who considers others before myself, and well, I need Jesus.

Matthew 15 in week thirty-one of reading the Bible cover to cover

Photo by Ashley Jurius