If we SOW the WIND, we will REAP the WHIRLWIND!
September
17 Bible Reading: Hosea Chapters 7-9
If we SOW the WIND, we will REAP the WHIRLWIND!
"They
set up kings, but not by Me; they made princes, but I did not acknowledge them.
From their silver and gold they made idols for themselves that they might be
cut off. Your calf is rejected, O Samaria! My anger is aroused against
them--how long until they attain to innocence? For from Israel is even this: a
workman made it, and it is not God; but the calf of Samaria shall be broken to
pieces. They sow the wind, and reap the
whirlwind." (Hosea 8:4-7)
The Israelites
had willfully chosen to ignore their
covenant with God. They appointed kings without asking for consent from
God, and they had also made idols and altars in disobedience to God’s Law. The
heart of the idolatrous worship was Samaria, and the specific form that they
worshipped was that of a calf. They chose to forget their Maker and to put
their trust instead in their well-fortified palaces and towns. So God promised
them that their fortresses would be destroyed because of their disloyalty to Him.
Using a proverb to make his point, the prophet Hosea had made a statement that the
Israelites had ‘sown the wind’ and they
would now ‘reap the whirlwind’!
This phrase ('sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind')
alludes to the political turmoil surrounding the throne of the northern kingdom
during the eighth century B.C., when four kings were assassinated during a
20-year period (7:4–7). Israel’s independence from God in the political sphere
was apparent in their refusal to consult God in their choice of leaders. This
led to a series of conspiracies and violent assassinations (2 Kings 15:8–30). They have sown the wind and had soon reaped
the whirlwind!
The judgment
of God came upon Israel because they did not take His covenant with Abraham
(see Gen 12:1–3) and His laws that He had given to their forefathers seriously.
Israel hath cast off everything that God had proposed for them. So, any
benefits that they desired would fall to the hands of strangers to whom God
would deliver them, as Israel would fall into the hand of her enemy. All their
undertakings will be without any profit: "And
this also is a severe evil--just exactly as he came, so shall he go. And what
profit has he who has labored for the wind?" (Eccl. 5:16)
What we can
understand here is that Israel claimed to know God (v. 2) but they disobeyed
Him. They made kings and rulers without seeking God’s will, and they also made
idols in defiance of God. They tried to establish their own government, and
even their own religion, apart from God. This is how God’s Word describes them:
"They profess to know God, but in
works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every
good work." (Titus 1:16)
The lesson
to be learned here is described well in Proverbs 22:8: "He who sows iniquity will reap sorrow". If we disregard
God’s instructions that He has provided through His Word, and deliberately
choose to walk in own sinful ways, we will definitely
reap the consequences of our actions. The consequences that we face will be a
compounded effect of our wrong actions, so beware that “if we sow the wind, we will reap
the whirlwind”!
