August 12, 2026 - Hosea 8-10

A well-known proverb is drawn from Hosea’s prophecies:  “For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind” (8:7).  All the way back to the years of wilderness wandering, the Lord had warned Israel that, if she disobeyed him she would be disciplined.  This is simply a restatement of that warning.  If Israel stays on her current path, she is in for trouble.  So far had Israel strayed from obedience that the Lord declared, “Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands, they would be regarded as a strange thing” (8:12).  Still, the prophet cries, “Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you” (10:12).

Saviour! visit Thy plantation;

Grant us, Lord, a gracious rain;

All will come to desolation,

Unless Thou return again.

Keep no longer at a distance--

Shine upon us from on high,

Lest, for want of Thine assistance,

Every plant should droop and die.

Break the tempter’s fatal power;

Turn the stony heart to flesh;

And begin from this good hour,

To revive Thy work afresh.   –John Newton (1779)