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Hosea 10:4,12-13

⁴They make many promises, take false oaths and make agreements; therefore lawsuits spring up like poisonous weeds in a plowed field.

¹²Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you. ¹³But you have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil, you have eaten the fruit of deception. Because you have depended on your own strength and on your many warriors...

Israel's sins are the sins of mankind. It doesn't matter which culture you are a part of, or what type of government you have, the experience of Israel is applicable to your situation. The nation had a revelation of God, but they refused to walk in the light of that revelation. Man tries to swindle man for personal gain or pleasure, and so, the legal systems of man are overwhelmed. There is the misuse of the legal systems to gain what is not ours. What a great description of lawsuits, "poisonous weeds in a plowed field"!

We should be deeply plowing the hard soil of our hearts so that they will be receptive soil for the seeds of righteousness. Then we would reap the wonderful fruit of unfailing love. If we would only seek the LORD until he comes and showers righteousness on us! That sounds like "praying through" to me. It is setting everything else aside and refusing to go on until God comes with His healing touch on your soul. "Showers of righteousness" sound so refreshing!

But instead, Hosea saw the planting of wickedness and the reaping of evil. The fruit of their efforts was not unfailing love, but deception. They had deceived themselves into thinking their strength and their warriors could save them. The path without God can only end in destruction.

Consider: What are you sowing? What are you depending on today? Seek the Lord until He comes and showers righteousness upon you. You will reap unfailing love!