Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind - Daily Devotional November 11th, 2009

Daily Bible Reading: Ezra 7, Hosea 8, Acts 27.

Sow the Wind, Reap the Whirlwind.

There is an agricultural law about sowing and reaping. You always reap much more than you sow. It always amazes me that I put a little seed in the ground and depending on what the seed is, a huge plant grows out of the ground. One little corn seed can produce a tall stalk with several ears of corn on it, and each ear has numerous kernels. I have never been interested enough to count them. An aster plant that I had this year grew from one little seed to a plant about three feet tall and produced numerous blossoms.

Hosea 8:7, speaking of Israel, says "They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind." From the context of this chapter, this is not speaking of a good thing. They played on the edges with evil and now a harvest of evil was going to be reaped.

This principal is lived out in lives over and over around the world. No one believes that their first drink is going to lead to alcoholism and a destroyed liver. Young people think it's cool to smoke and never dream that in years down the road their lungs will look like a piece of black sponge. The first high on a narcotic seems like fun until it turns into an addiction that controls their lives. The office flirtation is so much fun but a divorce that wrecks two families and shatters the lives of who knows how many children is anything but fun. Sex in the single world is rampant; everyone does it. You're odd if you don't live with your boyfriend or girlfriend before marriage, but having to raise a child as a single mom is a commitment for the next 18 years along with the financial hardship it brings. The first look at porn seems titillating but being caught in the grasp of a porn addiction is something those involved in it didn't reckon on. There are many other scenarios that we could draw on, but I think you get the picture.

This principal is carried out in families also. Whatever you, as a parent, allow in your life, your children will carry one step farther. There is an old saying, "Monkey see, monkey do." Whatever you model before your child is going to be mimicked and then some.

This scripture has been quoted before in this blog, but bears repeating. Gal. 6:8, "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

There are choices regarding what we will sow. What we will harvest or reap depends on that choice. There are choices we make every single day. Some are not significant; what we are going to wear, what we are going to eat, etc. But some choices have eternal consequences and affect not only our own life but the life of others, sometimes multiple lives.

From the verse in Galatians we see there are two kinds of seeds to choose from. A seed that bears a harvest of destruction or one from which we will reap eternal life. Israel had a choice and God urged them more times than I can count to start planting a different kind of seed, but they were headstrong in having their own way. The Holy Spirit is constantly urging us to choose the right thing to plant. All we have to do is listen and respond to His nudging.

Don't be like Israel and plant the wind, or you will reap the whirlwind.

Tomorrows Bible Reading - Ezra 8, Hosea 9, Acts 28

God is good all the time,

Naomi Brinkman