DAILY HOPE DEVOTIONALS: OCTOBER 7 SOWING TO YOURSELF RIGHTEOUSNESS (2) SCRIPTURE: HOSEA 10: 12 – 14
During the world of Prophet Hosea, his people Israel though blessed abundantly; got themselves involved in pagan practices. The more God was blessing them the more they were building sacred altars for the pagan gods and goddesses. This is one of the reasons Hosea was asked by God to tell his people to sow to themselves righteousness. This command is for our world of today. God has blessed our present age abundantly. Instead of living righteously and doing good things for fellow human beings, we have taken to ways of wickedness and worshipping of gods and goddesses. Many people’s hearts are too hardened against God. This is what King James Version referred to as “fallow ground”; a ground left uncultivated. The Bible here never left us in the dark of what will happen to us if we refuse to sow to our hearts seed of righteousness by doing only things which are right and acceptable to God.
The more the world is cultivating wickedness into her hearts and harvesting crops of sins, God will keep raising “terror of wars” among the people of the world. No amount of armies built and weapons and weaponries established will alleviate the world from terrors of wars. We may try to fortify ourselves and our countries against foreign attacks, yet the fortification will crumble one day. The killing of children and women going on where the attackers dashed them to death is part of our wickedness and refusal to turn to God. Hear the Bible: “Now the terrors of wars will rise among your people. All your fortification will fall…” Again, it says: “Even mothers and children were dashed to death there.” The “there” is referring to the people of Betharbel. We are witnessing same everywhere today where foreigners are attacking and killing natives living in their own land.
Gospel truth is things will only change for good when the world breaks away from their hardened hearts against God and human beings. We are to help those in need with genuine love. We are to allow our hearts feel the pains of those in torments of hunger and adverse penury. Interestingly, talking of behaving rightly for God to reward us with goodness is rated as the babbling of a mad man these days. Those who refuse to do right things for God and to human beings, but rather increasing in evil doing, fraternizing with man-made gods and goddesses always witness one problem or the other internally. God has been visiting nations with wars and natural disasters. But those who will hear this devotional and begin to act righteously and obediently to God will be rewarded with peace on the earth.
PRAYER:
FATHER, change my hardened heart towards your words and people who deserve my love to doing your words accordingly, and doing good things for the less privileged people around me in Jesus name.
bishopubaudenyi@hopealivechurch
