In 1859 Samuel Smiles published, at his own expense, the book he had written entitled "Self-Help". By the time of his death just under 50 years later that book had sold more than a quarter of a million copies and made Smiles something of a celebrity. This concept of self-help has certainly developed dramatically since then.

Now in the 21^st century the self-improvement industry, inclusive of books, seminars, audio and personal coaching, has become a mutli-million pound business.

Not only do we speak of self-help but we also speak with approval of the one who has made his way upwards from a lowly start in life to a position of power and influence – a self-made man we call him.

But is this what life is really all about? Self-help, self-reliance, self self self? Some have thought it is and so are attracted to The Power of Positive Thinking etc.

Is self-help or self-reliance really a solution to the problems we experience in life?

We find it very easy to make sweeping generalized statements and because in some spheres of life self-help methods may bring about some positive results we are ready to think self-help is the way to go in other areas of life as well. When we try to apply self-help to the spiritual we immediately get into trouble.

Did you know that the old saying "God helps those who help themselves." is not to be found in the Bible? Did you know that on the spiritual level the Bible in fact teaches the complete opposite?

Jer.17:5 "Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD."

Or again in

Prov.28:26 "Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool,"

It looks then that rather than being a solution, self-help and self-reliance is really a part of the problem! It certainly was that way for the people of Israel in Hosea's day.

The opening verse of ch.10 contains an evocative picture of the prosperity of Israel. The imagery of the vine was a familiar one but here no ordinary vine is in view – the vine that was Israel was a luxuriant vine that was highly productive.

God in His goodness had done wonderful things for the nation but that was not how Israel saw it at all – they thought they had secured everything by their own efforts and achievements. They did exactly what Moses had warned against back in Deut.ch8. Let me read what he said then: first Moses outlines what the LORD was about to do for the people:

Deut.8:7-10 "For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper.  And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you."

Having described the LORD's generosity Moses then moved on to advise the people to be careful not misinterpret their success when it should come:

Deut.8:11; 17-18 “Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today… Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day."

Finally Moses issued a serious warning of the consequences of failure at this point:

Deut.8:19-20 "And if you forget the LORD your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. Like the nations that the LORD makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God."

Now what was Israel doing with the prosperity that she was enjoying? Was she expressing her thanks joyfully to the LORD being careful to respond to His wonderful generosity with faithful service? Not a bit of it! Israel had got her investment policy all wrong – as Israel prospered materially so she went ever further into apostasy. Altars and sacred pillars flourished in the land but these were not what the LORD called for.

Instead of offering a pure and upright heart to the LORD Israel's heart was hopelessly divided – she had a false heart! And such a heart was a guilty heart – Israel bears the responsibility for her sin and the judgment of exile is looming.

As that judgment begins to break upon the guilty nation and those things in which she had put her trust begin to fail her, there will be sadness and sorrow amongst the people. But such disappointment is not the equivalent of repentance. They are only sorry for the consequences of their sin not for sin itself. Israel has long been characterised by sinful rebellion. Israel has long been characterised by doing things her way but now as judgment approaches her leaders fail and count for nothing in the scales of history – their king is like a twig floating down the stream powerless to do anything.

They had thought that they were secure, that their circumstances were fine, but the LORD was the One directing their circumstances and He does not have to wait for a happy coming together of events – He directs those events and He calls the nations together for the purpose of disciplining Israel!

For a long time Israel had sinned with seeming impunity. Warning after warning had gone unheeded as she stubbornly went on ploughing her own furrow – injustice was endemic and her evil was great. She had even come to believe her own publicity that her prosperity and security was her own doing! But her trust in her armies is misplaced and destruction is very near!

At last, it seems, with the crumbling of her society and the deportation of her religious idols Israel begins to acknowledge that there is a problem!

It is both sad and strange that men and women will prefer to wait until all their hopes are blasted and destruction is nigh on total before they will take the warnings of God seriously. May that not be the case for us!

But what will be her response?

v.8 "and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us, and to the hills, Fall on us."

What a hopeless response this actually is! No mountain is big enough to hide us from the wrath of God and no hill can cover us when God comes in judgment. But this people no think that that is all there is left for them to hope for. And let us understand clearly that this is not surprising – after all they have sinned with a high hand against the LORD, they have deliberately turned their backs on Him preferring to put their trust in their own understanding and that has led them into sinful idolatry and godless religion!

Cover us they cry to the mountains and to the hills – we have no other hope!

This cry appears twice more in the Scriptures. As Jesus was on His way to be crucified women lined the streets mourning and Jesus spoke of the coming destruction of Jerusalem:

Lk.23:30 "Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’"

For unrepentant Jerusalem the time was too late! Destruction surely overtook that wicked city.

The next time this phrase is used is in the very last book of the Bible, Revelation.

Rev.6:15-17"Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”"

This time it is the judgment at the end of time, the final judgment, that is in view. Once more lack of repentance is an awful thing when the realisation hits home that it is then too late to repent!

The judgment of exile that fell in Hosea's day and the Fall of Jerusalem in AD.70 are meant to leave us in no doubt concerning the reality and devastation of the final judgment!

Doesn't the situation now appear to be an absolutely hopeless one for Israel? But one moment, Israel's word of abject despair as she cries out to the rocks is not the last word on the subject! The LORD God has yet another and remarkably surprising word to speak. We hear it in v.12.

It is here in v.12 that we reach the high point of ch.10. The God who has been rejected again and again declares that it is still not yet too late for the people to undergo a change of heart! If their heart had been divided and false up till now He is a God who delights in changing hearts, indeed in removing the stony cold hard heart and replacing it with a heart that is sensitive and alive.

There are many ways that new life is described in the Bible. Here in Hosea ch.10 the picture is that of fallow ground, lifeless unproductive ground, being broken up, dug over and planted with fresh good seed that brings forth a wholesome crop that is beneficial to all!

Listen again to these wonderful words of invitation and exhortation!

v.12 "Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you."

A call for a reversal of the people's values is called for. Up till then the people had been marked by injustice and unfaithfulness towards the One True Living God. They must repent – that is they must undergo a thorough and heart-felt change of mind – the old unproductive way of life. They must sow for righteousness and then they will reap steadfast love.

This reaping can be understood in a twofold manner:

Firstly, as they sow to the Spirit they wait for the mercy and steadfast love of the LORD to be shown towards them.

Secondly, such sowing will lead to greater faithfulness towards the LORD in their own lives – their previously divided heart will become steadfast and sure.

It is not that by trying harder they will somehow merit the LORD's favour towards them but in such an attitude they will wait upon Him to have mercy upon and give them the righteousness they most definitely don't have in themselves.

With the threats of judgment hanging precariously over the people they might be tempted to give up and throw in the towel but that is not what the LORD would have them do!

Yes, the need of hour is great and urgent but yet there is hope! Do you see what the LORD says through Hosea?

"It is the time to seek the LORD!"

It is not too late, even at this late stage. If only Israel would hear and heed His invitation.

But, don't put it off any longer seek the LORD now. Now is the day of salvation – call upon Him while He may be found.

The same is true for us today as we have warnings of the Final Judgement – that judgment has not yet broken upon us and so there is still a "now" in which we may seek the LORD. Our "now" is also the Day of Salvation! Have you availed yourself of it? Have you repented and sought the LORD and His mercy and grace?

Finally see what incentives the LORD holds out:

1.       The people are to seek the LORD that He might come to them and they are to go on doing so until He does come.

Faith in Christ is not a matter of simple mental adherence to certain historical facts – it involves that but is more. Faith in Christ involves trust and relationship. We are told to seek God, to seek  Christ, until He comes to us. Have you done that? Don't give up until you know He has heard your cry and that He has accepted to you, that He has come to you by His Spirit.

This is a wonderful thing to know God in our lives and we are never to think of it as a small thing – that we former rebels can enjoy communion with the Living God!

2.       The LORD does not only speak of providing the righteousness that the people so desperately need but He speaks of providing it in exceedingly generous terms. We do not have to do with a niggardly God who reluctantly and grudging hands out amnesties and pardons. No, our God delights to be generous and to save to the uttermost those who come to Him. Do you see how He speaks of bestowing His righteousness? He talks about it raining down upon them – such abundance such abundance!

This people of Hosea's day had chosen to go their own way trusting in their own abilities but they are not unique in that. Isaiah declares "all we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way;" and Paul writing to the Romans declared that we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. Our need therefore of righteousness is no less great than theirs.

In NT days it is no mystery where such a righteousness is to be found. The Lord Jesus Christ came to rain righteousness upon us. As we believe into Him we are united with Christ. In this union He justly paid the penalty of our sin and we are made the righteousness of God in Him (2Cor.5:21)!

The LORD God does not call upon us to pull ourselves together, to try harder and by a little bit of self-help to solve our problems rather He sets forth His own dear Son – it was while we were yet sinners that Christ died for us (Rom.5:8)! There is abundant grace in Jesus and abundant riches – have you broken up the fallow ground of your own heart and life and come in repentance and faith to Jesus calling out for mercy? Oh how He loves to answer such cries! The One who cried out "Why will you die?" is surely willing to give new life to those who respond to His Word!

My friends there is to be a Day of Judgment and rightly so for how awful it would be for us to live in the presence of a morally indifferent God! Yet we need not be left with the threat of judgment hanging over our heads with no other hope than to cry to the mountains to hide us from God's wrath. No mountain is sufficient to cover our sins. But there is another way! The Psalmist declares the man whose sin is covered to be a blessed man:

Ps.32:1 "Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered."

Paul declares this to refer to the blessings associated with justification by faith. Our sin is covered by Jesus' blood!

My friends the need is urgent! Have faith in Christ and in His redeeming work. Abandon any fond hope you might have of saving yourself by some form of self-help – that path is a dead end.  Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Don't find yourself on that great day of reckoning pitifully crying out to the mountains to hide you – they won't! But Jesus does save and Jesus will in that day present all those who have gone to Him in repentance and in faith faultless before the throne of God.

To close let us again resort to Hosea's own words in v.12:

"it is the time to seek the LORD,"

To God be the Glory.