Rev. Don Campbell
Hosea 8-14
THOUGHT FOR TODAY, July 21, 2019
“SOWING TO THE WIND”
Hosea 8:7 has been used as the text for many sermons: “For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; it shall yield no flour; if it were to yield, strangers would devour it.” Paul spoke of sowing and reaping, saying, “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life” (Galatians 6:7-8).
They had sown idolatry and reaped emptiness (the standing grain has no heads). Emptiness, however, would give way to violent storms (whirlwinds) of God’s judgment against them.
Charles McKay, Staff Columnist for the “Crimson White,” wrote, “Many people have stressed the need to raise ‘awareness’ on the issue, erase the ‘stigma’ of depression or invest in mental health clinics. Such measures, while necessary, won’t address the underlying emptiness that’s contributing to the recent depression epidemic. This emptiness in many ways reflects the void in American society caused by the breakdown of American families, decline in religious belief and the superficiality of social media” (2/1/19). [The “Crimson White” is a student-run publication of the University of Alabama]
It seems that America is already reaping what she has sown. Such statements will not be received by many who, as in the days of Hosea, considered prophets as fools: “The time of Israel’s punishment has come; the day of payment is here. Soon Israel will know this all too well. Because of your great sin and hostility, you say, ‘The prophets are crazy and the inspired men are fools!” (Hosea 9:7, NLT).
Richard Dawkins, a British evolutionary biologist to whom many in the scientific field metaphorically bow down, wrote a book titled “The God Delusion” in which he argues that “the process of non-thinking called faith” is not a way of understanding the world, but instead stands in fundamental opposition to modern science and the scientific method, and is divisive and dangerous.
CONNECTIONS
1. Is there evidence in everyday life that once again spiritual people are considered mentally deficient, if not insane?
2. Someone has wisely said, “We reap after we sow, we reap what we sow, and we reap more than we sow.” How can this law of sowing and reaping be applied both to the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit?
