“They sow the wind, so they will reap the whirlwind.” (vs 7a)
If you scatter wind
instead of wheat,
you will harvest a whirlwind
and have no wheat (CEV)
Planting wind-seeds,
they’ll harvest tornadoes. (MSG)
Have you ever done this? Not only not sown what you needed to, but thrown what was good to the wind? Only to inherit a storm?
I have.
All through the Word, God points out the cause and effect of sin and punishment. He is such a good Parent.
“Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.” (Galatians 6:7-9 NLT)
The beauty of our God is His incredible mercy. At any point we can stop sowing to please our sin and instead sow to please the Spirit. That’s repentance.
Hear the original warning about reaping the whirlwind from Covenant Yahweh, combined with His mercy:
“The LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the LORD will drive you. There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.
But if from there you seek the LORD you God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and obey him. For the LORD your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your forefathers, which he confirmed to them by oath.” (Deut. 4:27-31)
Oh, even from there! It’s never too late. You’re never too far.
He is always faithful.
“Israel will be swallowed up among the nations;
They will be like a worthless piece of pottery” (vs 8)
Israel has become like any other nation and is as useless as a broken pot. (GNT)
The people of Israel have been swallowed up;
they lie among the nations like an old discarded pot. (NLT)
In looking for help from everywhere but Him, God warns His people that those from whom they seek help will use them up and spit them out. And it is well known that a broken pot is useless.
But we know better, don’t we?
“For God, who said, ‘Let there be light in the darkness,’ has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.
We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.” (2 Corinthians 4:6-7 NLT)
Just yesterday my friend was telling me how different life is now with Jesus. She goes, “I used to feel broken; now I just feel cracked.”
I just looked at her. She’d never read the Corinthians verse above about clay pots. And how even when He heals our brokenness, we’re still fragile and cracked.
What our useless idols would use up and then throw out, God can inhabit and shine through.
That’s redemption.
