Hosea 10-11  Israel has come to its end.. not heeding the warnings and refusing to give up its idols.  Punishment is coming.. and yet, God's heart still yearned for His people.
"When Israel was a youth I loved him." ( 11:1)
"I took him in My arms.." v3
" I led them with cords.. with bonds of love." v4
".. I bent down and fed them.." v4b
" How can I give you up, O Ephraim?" v8
"My heart is turned over with Me."
" All My compassions are kindled." 

The message of love and truth is still preached.. urging Israel to turn back to their God:

" Sow with a view to righteousness, reap in accordance with kindness; 
Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord until He comes to rain righteousness on you. " ( 10:12)

But instead, they had sown wickedness, reaped injustice, eaten the fruit of lies, and trusted in their own ways . ( v13)

We.. I have never lived on a farm.. and our society is no longer as familiar with sowing and reaping as we should be. After all, we are consumers of what hard working farmers produce and provide.
But, looking at these verses.. still brings a picture to our minds.
The plowing is important.. to break up the ground in order for it to receive the seeds.. they cannot grow in hard, dry ground.. Jesus talked about this in the parable of the sower. That seed that landed on the path, the hard ground... the hard heart, was snatched away.

To sow... to plant the seeds.. "with a view to righteousness" - is to plant truth.. the Word of God, good seed!
To sow, or plant wickedness.. is to plant lies and result in the "fruit of lies".  A harvest of  injustice- perversity, evil, iniquity, mischief, and punishment.

Proverbs 11:18 says "The wicked earn deceptive wages, but he who sows righteousness gets a true reward."  And Paul wrote in Galatians 6: 7-9 " Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption , but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary." 

God's great love and compassion.. is for all of His people.. including me!  He desires me to live in the same way as He desired Israel.. to turn to Him, to trust in Him alone, to do what is right and kind and good.  To live according to truth and not lies.  To sow.. to plant.. good seed so that I can harvest what is best!  

Father in heaven,  daily show me the soil that needs to be fallowed in my life and in my world.  Show me how to plant the seeds of kindness, truth, and love in this world.. in all I do and say.  Make me a sower of righteousness today, I pray.  In Jesus' name.  amen.