Hosea 10:12, commentary and pictures

The call was given to a people sunk in wrongdoing to turn to right doing and kindness, to get their hardened inner life ready for change, and to pursue the Lord without delay and without stopping, with the assurance that he will come to those who seek him and pour right standing upon them. A harvest of kindness comes only by planting what is right, for the seed is the word and truth and good news planted by human hands, the soil of the heart must be worked with care, and God himself gives life to what is planted and blesses the labor. The untilled ground is the human heart, hard and closed like unplowed earth, which must be opened and softened and made tender before it can take in truth and bring forth fruit to God. That opening must go deep and continue on toward completeness, not stopping with a surface stirring or a first feeling, and it is done by letting truth tear out wrong habits and sins, putting away love of the world and pride and selfish sufficiency, through deep sorrow for sin and honest confession and full giving of self to God in the strength of Jesus and by the softening work of the Spirit. Now is the time to seek the Lord with the whole heart in earnest devotion, and to keep seeking until he comes and sends down right standing and blessing that melts the heart and turns life to him.

Call to Repentant Return

The call was addressed to Israel in a time of idolatry and wrongdoing, summoning a people who had departed from God to repent and return to Him. It bids them practice righteousness in conduct and thus be fitted to receive mercy, for mercy is promised to those who sow in righteousness. Breaking up the fallow ground means preparing the hardened heart for that change, making it responsive and ready to receive truth. Seeking the Lord is to be continual and urgent, pressed upon them as the work for the present time, and it carries the assurance that He will come and rain righteousness upon those who seek Him.

Those who have followed iniquitous plans must abandon wicked courses and turn to righteous conduct in order to receive mercy. Breaking up the fallow ground is the preparation for this change, and seeking the Lord must be continued until He sends righteousness. This is set forth as their only hope after sowing wickedness and reaping its consequences.

Sowing Righteousness, Reaping Mercy

Sowing in righteousness and reaping in mercy means that a spiritual harvest depends on both sowing the right seed and diligently tilling the heart, with divine blessing accompanying the human work. The seed to be sown is the Word, the truth, the gospel, and the Son of man is its sower, while God alone gives life and vitality to what is planted. The fallow ground is the heart, which must be broken up and cultivated through deep repentance and sincere preparation for the seed, uprooting evil tendencies by earnest effort in the name and strength of Jesus in cooperation with God. That breaking work includes God's searching discipline, which may be severe and must continue until stubborn resistance is broken.

Those who take part in God's work must themselves be in a healthful spiritual condition, with a healthful atmosphere circulating in soul and mind, so that they can give light and strike the right chord in others and sow the seeds God wants sown in righteousness. Hearts hardened to the gospel must be broken open, and kindness and love can soften and subdue them. Sowing the gospel seed in hearts thus softened through Christlike tenderness, sympathy, kindness and love brings a rich harvest.

Parents are to cooperate with God by breaking up the fallow ground of their children's hearts and tilling the garden of the heart with unceasing, faithful, patient effort. In the earliest years the soil of the heart is to be carefully prepared for the showers of grace, then the seeds of truth are to be carefully sown and diligently tended by teaching the knowledge of God's will. That tending means cultivating every good trait and repressing every evil trait, removing weeds and natural imperfections, guarding words and actions, and watching vigilantly with wise correction. God helps every faithful effort, putting life into the seed sown and raining righteousness upon it, so that growth appears progressively from blade to full corn. Neglect to train children aright displeases God, leaves the heart to Satan's sowing, and yields a harvest of shame and sorrow.

Breaking Up the Fallow Heart

The fallow ground is the human heart, hard like untilled soil, hardened and unresponsive, needing to be searched and made ready before it can receive truth. It must be softened and subdued by the Holy Spirit, with vigilant, intelligent, persevering effort, as soil is tilled before seed is sown. Only when so softened and subdued does it turn to God, respond to truth, hold the Word in the heart, receive blessing, let light reach others, and bear fruit to His glory.

The breaking must go deep and be thorough and continue toward perfection, not merely touch the heart or stir the surface. A beginning of unity or reform is not a completed work, and an initial impression or acceptance of truth is not enough. The plowshare must go deeper by careful, prayerful effort until conviction is strengthened and the sanctifying power of truth brings genuine conversion. Truth must penetrate until deep repentance, faith, and abiding principles grounded in the Word replace shallow effort, passing feeling, and emotional assurance. Then confession with tears under the Spirit opens the heart, with trust resting on the Word, and with confession and restitution where possible bearing the fruits of genuine repentance.

Breaking up the ground means refusing any parley with the enemy and letting the plowshare of truth tear out weeds, briers, and thorns. The thorns of wrong habit and sin must be killed or they will kill the person, with evil tendencies uprooted and wrongs removed and the heart stirred so truth can take root and grow. Like thorn-covered ground reclaimed only by diligent labor, the heart's harmful growth is overcome only by earnest effort in the name and strength of Christ and of Jesus, in cooperation with God.

What must be put away is selfish love of the world, pride, and avarice, exposed by deep repentance for sin. Self-righteousness and self-sufficiency must also give way to confession, repentance, and a transformed heart turned to God. Otherwise entrenched evil habits and temptation choke the good seed and overcome good resolutions before truth can grow into a holy life and bear fruit.

The soil is broken up by repentance, humbling, confession, consecration, and dying to self, taking real steps toward God rather than settling for false hope or halfhearted change. It requires a deliberate summons of the will to face sin and choose genuine repentance. God's searching discipline, which may be severe, may continue until stubborn resistance is broken, while sincere repentance prepares the heart for the seed of the Word. The work comes through the Holy Spirit leading to a broken heart before God and earnest seeking after Him.

When the heart is thus broken up, the good seed takes root, springs up, and bears good, abundant, and much fruit to God's glory. Seeking God with the whole heart belongs to this preparation to receive the seeds of truth. Without this inward work sin is not truly sensed, spiritual instruction and testimony bring no radical, lasting change in life, practice, or habits, and without thorough repentance and reconversion people return to their former ways.

Seeking God and Sharing Truth

It is time to seek the Lord now and to keep seeking with the whole heart until he comes and rains righteousness and blessing upon the seeker. That seeking is earnest consecration and humble looking to him, with the heart made ready like hard, fallow soil to be softened and subdued so people turn to God and receive his blessing. Breaking up that soil is God's searching discipline, which may be severe and continue until stubborn resistance is broken, and it is the Holy Spirit's work producing a broken heart before God, with Christ's melting love received through the Spirit preparing the heart to bear fruit. Sincere repentance prepares the heart for the seed of the Word, for spiritual harvest requires both proper sowing of seed and diligent tilling of the heart while divine blessing accompanies this human work.

Literature that opens blind eyes and brings the message helps break up the hardened ground of the heart and prepares people to receive truth. Spiritual work itself is like tilling stubborn soil by breaking up fallow ground and sowing seeds of righteousness and truth. Churches are to take part in this work with hope of a future harvest, and workers must continue despite resistance and discouragement, whether in established churches or in opening new missionary territory amid opposition and discouragement. Entering new fields to prepare human hearts draws workers nearer to God and teaches them, especially young workers, their own inability and dependence on him.

In Battle Creek many hearts remained unbroken and merely touched by shallow efforts, so the work needed to deepen and extend to every church member. A general breaking of the heart before God in confession would bring liberty and make room for Jesus to abide. If the hearts of those at the Oakland meeting had been broken up, they would have gone forth to work for Christ as they never had before.

At the 1901 General Conference, leaders' failure to humble and prepare the heart through confession, consecration and full surrender, shown by unrelinquished sins and refusal to yield, closed the way for the Spirit's work and the revival and heart-purification that could have followed. When those bearing responsibility accept correction and turn from sin the way is prepared for revival, while refusing to confess and surrender leaves the heart hardened and bars that work. At the 1909 General Conference, searching and humbling the heart in heartfelt repentance, confession and decided reformation was not thoroughly done because not everyone yielded to the Holy Spirit, though some felt his influence and responded. Humbling the heart would have brought great blessing, and those who later advanced by faith and followed instruction received blessing and brought spiritual reformation. At the Washington meeting the searching and readying of hearts through repentance and confession should have been given time but was not done, and doing it would have helped those present understand the work required of them.

Hearts opened through confession and tears under the Spirit's working illustrate the call, pointing to repentance, faith and abiding principles grounded in trust in God's Word rather than a passing feeling or emotional assurance. A meeting's subdued, softening influence in earnest prayer likewise illustrates hearts softened and made ready as fallow ground, with the Lord drawing near as people gathered. The heart must be broken up through humble repentance and confession for spiritual reformation to take place, so people are no longer self-deceived and blind to light given, but see the wonders of God's law, devote their lives to Christ, let his light reach others, and allow pure religion to lead to the salvation of souls. Believers are to do thorough inward work and seek to know how they can advance God's work, including the work in Los Angeles, for the call means a deep renovation of mind, soul and spirit, especially among the churches in Denver and Boulder. Spiritual hardness must be thoroughly broken up before the Lord can work through a person, as in the case where a heart needs spiritual awakening and light.