the work behind restoration

This week... facing my own restoration of sorts with its frustrations... I asked God for a word... one to sustain... guide... He said...

Sow for yourselves righteousness;

reap steadfast love;

break up your fallow ground,

for it is time to seek the Lord,

that he may come

and rain righteousness upon you.

Hosea 10:12

ESV

A Word from God almost always spurs me on a journey through Scripture... my own spin on lectio divina... a word... or phrase... captures my attention... sparks a memory... bridges a connection to another Word...

The word... righteousness...

Sow for yourselves righteousness...

The connection... Abraham... the one credited with righteousness... not because of his works... but because he believed... he trusted God's promise...

And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness...

Romans 4:5

ESV

(emphasis mine)

Planting... belief... trust... faith... this is righteousness... believing in God's promise... trusting in the work of restoration... through the pain... the mess... the delay...

Sow for yourselves righteousness...

A specific place to plant... in your fallow ground... another says... your unplowed ground... hard ground... uncultivated... a place that needs to be broken...

...break up your fallow... unplowed... ground...

Plant belief in a new place... a place previously unplanted with faith... a place hard from the effects of the world and sin...

Restoration requires a breaking up... or down... a tearing away of the old... the corrupted... to make new... In a spiritual restoration... unbelief... doubt... must be broken up...

Paul's word to the Romans included this about Abraham...

No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was "counted to him as righteousness."

Romans 4:20-22

ESV

Abraham did the hard work of breaking up his unbelief... his fallow ground... where previously there was no faith... he wrestled with self... his flesh... his understanding... broke it... crucified it... that he might believe...

This planting of hard soul ground... planting faith... leads to a harvest of steadfast love...

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Hebrews 11:6

We reap the love of the Father in faith... breaking up unbelief... sowing trust... here in the previously hard places... we can reap... experience... God's steadfast love... Always present... but impossible to receive... harvest... without faith... belief... trust... righteousness...

...seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.

Doing the work... of not working... instead believing... trusting... seeking God in faith... leads to increased faith... the grace of God raining down...

What an amazing way to not work... the hard work of breaking up unbelief... allowing God in new areas of your life... a continual cycle of restoration... until we are completely free of the hard... fallow... ground...

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Romans 5:3-5

ESV

The Word... the work... needed to find rest... in the process of restoration...

Sow for yourselves righteousness...