Week 6 Day 2

Hosea 8:7

[7] For they sow the wind,

and they shall reap the whirlwind.

The standing grain has no heads;

it shall yield no flour;

if it were to yield,

strangers would devour it. (ESV)

What happens when you invest in the wind? You will be tossed around which ever way the wind decides to go. The wind goes where it pleases, with no concern for anything or anyone else.

Job 21:18

[18] That they are like straw before the wind, and like chaff that the storm carries away? (ESV)

Galatians 6:7

[7] Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. (ESV)

Imagine planting a garden. You build the raised beds, put in only the best nutrient filled soil, make sure there is proper drainage, and plant the vegetable seeds. You water these plants, provide them the nutrients that they need to grow, and all the while protect them from freezing and storms as they become seedlings. These plants grow and grow. You are so excited, anticipating that they are any day going to start producing fruit. Instead, these plants beautifully flower and then nothing. Time after time, they flower looking good, which should be followed by the fruit, but no fruit is ever produced.

Isaiah 5:1–7

[1] Let me sing for my beloved

my love song concerning his vineyard:

My beloved had a vineyard

on a very fertile hill.

[2] He dug it and cleared it of stones,

and planted it with choice vines;

he built a watchtower in the midst of it,

and hewed out a wine vat in it;

and he looked for it to yield grapes,

but it yielded wild grapes.

[3] And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem

and men of Judah,

judge between me and my vineyard.

[4] What more was there to do for my vineyard,

that I have not done in it?

When I looked for it to yield grapes,

why did it yield wild grapes?

[5] And now I will tell you

what I will do to my vineyard.

I will remove its hedge,

and it shall be devoured;

I will break down its wall,

and it shall be trampled down.

[6] I will make it a waste;

it shall not be pruned or hoed,

and briers and thorns shall grow up;

I will also command the clouds

that they rain no rain upon it.

[7] For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts

is the house of Israel,

and the men of Judah

are his pleasant planting;

and he looked for justice,

but behold, bloodshed;

for righteousness,

but behold, an outcry! (ESV)

GOD says that he took special care of His vineyard, named Israel, so much so that they should have wanted for nothing. Instead of yielding good fruit, what did the vineyard yield?

What does GOD say that He will remove and then what will happen?

What does GOD say He will break down and then what will happen?

The LORD goes on to say that He will withhold pruning, hoeing, and watering. This will make the vineyard a wasteland.

There is hope. There is a remnant that is producing fruit. Are we that remnant? Are we producing good grapes?

Galatians 5:22–26

[22] But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. [24] And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

[25] If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. [26] Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. (ESV)

Works Cited

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.

“Dictionary by Merriam-Webster: America's Most-Trusted Online Dictionary.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/.

Green, Jay P. “Hosea.” The Interlinear Hebrew-Aramaic Old Testament: With Strong's Concordance Numbers above Each Word, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, MA, MA, 1985

Publishing, Rose. Rose Book of Bible Charts, Maps, and Time Lines. Rose Publishing, 2015.

Strong, James. The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible: Showing Every Word of the Text of the Common English Version of the Canonical Books, and Every Occurrence of Each Word in Regular Order, Together with Dictionaries of the Hebrew and Greek Words of Th. Hendrickson Publishers, 1990.