Sowing the Wind, Reaping the Whirlwind

UV 1178/10,000 Sowing the Wind, Reaping the Whirlwind

For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up
Hosea 8 v 7

The wind is symbolic in scripture for that which is vain, empty, unworthy, out of control, not substantial, sinful. Solomon spoke of life without a personal knowledge of God being just a chasing of the wind- an empty or vain pursuit. When we sow iniquity, we will reap vanity. We can sow iniquity by acts of commission as well as omission. We can commit to that which is evil or omit to do that which is good. When we pursue that which is not true or worthy of our attention and effort or when we fail to pursue that which is true and worthy, we are sowing the wind. We will reap the whirlwind at harvest time. The whirlwind is the symbol of massive destruction. Perhaps, the velocity of the whirlwind and the extent of destruction will be lower for acts of omission. But, there is no getting away for a jesting Pilate who omits to do that which he knows to be just.

We can sow the wind with a single thought or a word or an action or a habit or a decision. We can reap self-destruction in due time. Sowing the wind is easy and almost effortless. It is like an act of blowing through one’s mouth a thin stream of air. But reaping the whirlwind is the time when things are bizarrely out of control. We will wonder what is this force that is spinning us around. We will be desperate to get out of its deadly vortex. But we are staring into darkness and there is nothing or no one to reach out and help us. This is where the fear or personal reverence of an awesome, all knowing, all powerful God who guides and leads us is helpful and can prevent us from such acts of destruction. The law of sowing and reaping applies to nations as it does to individuals. In world history, we see nations believing in the Machiavellian man-made theory that what applies to ordinary people or individuals does not apply to the prince or the state have sown the wind and reaped the whirlwind. For example, Germany sowed the seed of racism and violence in the idea and regime of Nazism under Hitler, Italy sowed the seed of fascism and reaped the consequences, Japan sowed the seed of Japanese expansionism and reaped its consequences. The current crisis of ISIS is a seed that has grown due to the policy of removing one dictator like Saddam Hussein or Gadaffi and leading to thousands of extremists taking their place. The propping up of one Osama bin Laden against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan led to the 911 whirlwind and that in turn led to the invasion of Iraq and the toppling of Saddam Hussein. The capitalistic philosophy of accumulating as much profit and wealth as possible is the seed that is sown in many countries of the modern world from China to the USA. It finds expression in fuelling the arms race, violence and injustice globally and this leads up to the whirlwind of economic crisis like recession as well as conflicts and wars.

We need to yield to the Lord all of our lives and He will enable us to sow in the spirit and reap in the spirit righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost for that is what the Kingdom of God is about. We will sow wheat and reap wheat. Our stalks will grow to fullness of stature and the ears of corn representing our years on earth will be full and not empty or vain. Strangers or thieves and marauders will not threaten us with violence or take away our crop at harvest time. Gideon the farmer hid the barley from the marauding Midianites but when God came into his life in a big way He turned the tables and enabled Gideon to lead the Israelites and rout the Midianites. The Lord will enable us to sow the seed of victory and to reap the crop of victory, to sow the seed of success and to reap it manifold, to sow the seed of love, joy, peace, patience,kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self control and to reap the fruit forever. Planning, hard work and struggle is involved in our sowing, growing, waiting and reaping but the Lord underwrites the harvest and guarantees a great yield as we yield to Him. We will eat of the sweat of our brow and be satisfied.

Prateep V Philip