ESOCS Devotional 18 July 2025 – He Sows the Wind
MEMORY VERSE: “Israel hath cast off the thing that is good: the enemy shall pursue him.” Hosea 8:3 KJV
TEXT: HOSEA 8:1-15
“Set the trumpet to your mouth!
He shall come like an eagle against the house of the Lord,
Because they have transgressed My covenant
And rebelled against My law.
2 Israel will cry to Me,
‘My God, we know You!’
3 Israel has rejected the good;
The enemy will pursue him.
4 “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.
5 Your calf is rejected, O Samaria!
My anger is aroused against them—
How long until they attain to innocence?
6 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.
7 “They sow the wind,
And reap the whirlwind.
The stalk has no bud;
It shall never produce meal.
If it should produce,
Aliens would swallow it up.
8 Israel is swallowed up;
Now they are among the Gentiles
Like a vessel in which is no pleasure.
9 For they have gone up to Assyria,
Like a wild donkey alone by itself;
Ephraim has hired lovers.
10 Yes, though they have hired among the nations,
Now I will gather them;
And they shall sorrow a little,
Because of the burden of the king of princes.
11 “Because Ephraim has made many altars for sin,
They have become for him altars for sinning.
12 I have written for him the great things of My law,
But they were considered a strange thing.
13 For the sacrifices of My offerings they sacrifice flesh and eat it,
But the Lord does not accept them.
Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.
They shall return to Egypt.
14 “For Israel has forgotten his Maker,
And has built temples;
Judah also has multiplied fortified cities;
But I will send fire upon his cities,
And it shall devour his palaces.”
Read Other ESOCS Devotional Here
The adage that states: “He that sows the wind shall reap the whirl-wind” is eternally true. Even the scriptures affirm that (Joshua 7:1). In our text, the enemy descended like an eagle on the people of God because Israel had broken God’s covenant, and revolted against His divine law (vv. 1 and 7).
Israel was a backslidden nation. They had forsaken the Lord’s commandments through Moses (Exodus 20:1-17). Therefore, it follows that God’s judgment on them through the proxy of the Assyrian invasion was based on the fact that Israel had broken the conditions of their covenant with God. Their prayers and desperate cry to the Lord was unanswered. Yes, they claimed to know God, but they did not, because of their disobedience. They slighted the true God of heaven, and worshipped idols. They set up calf idols in their cities. Without doubt, this was a loathsome act in the face of Jehovah. Their calf idols were clear proofs that they had completely turned away from God their maker and king (Exodus 32:4, 8). And God also turned away from them, as a consequence.
Their idolatry and rejection of God had come to a climax, and thus they had to reap what they had sown, for God is not mocked, and whatsoever a man sows, that he shall reap (Galatians 6:7). They had sown disloyalty to God. God turned them over to the nations into captivity. Israel would become a powerless, worthless vessel that would not hold water any more.
Child of God, what seed are you sowing now? (Galatians 5:19-22). Don’t forget: “They that are Christ’s have nailed the passions and desires of the flesh to the cross, and crucified them there” (Galatians 5:23). Take heed to yourselves, and be not deceived any more.
CHALLENGES
- The Blood of Christ shed at Calvary has taken care of our future sins. What is your take on this?
PRAYER POINT
- Lord Jesus, give me the grace to sow righteously in order not to reap corruption.
FURTHER READING: Hosea 9:1-17; Acts 25:16-27; 26:1-13
ESOCS Devotional 18 July 2025
