Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till he comes and rains righteousness on you.  Hosea 10:12 (NKJV)

Have you ever tried a new recipe? Sometimes we’ll visit someone who has made a fabulous dish, and we ask for the recipe so that we can give it a try. We take the recipe home and follow it meticulously – only to have it turn out mediocre. Whenever I fry up hamburger, I always add about three tablespoons of brown sugar to the hamburger. It adds a bit of sweetness that I like. I’ve done it for so long now that I don’t even think about it. Sometimes those automatic moments don’t get written down in recipes.

When I eventually bought myself a new lawnmower, I went to the store and checked out the options, choosing a gas motor that looked like the mowers I had learned to use when I was growing up. I read the directions carefully and followed them to the letter. Unfortunately, when I put the oil into the motor, it was clear, and I couldn’t tell when the oil came up to the mark on the dipstick. I ended up using a whole quart of oil before I turned on the mower. Needless to say, there was a black oily cloud coming from under the mower when I started it up.

From the time the Israelites first became a tribe and then a nation, they kept trying to follow directions but like with the recipe and the lawnmower, they kept missing the boat. We do the same thing sometimes. We get used to one brand of orange juice and, when it is no longer available, we stop drinking orange juice rather than try a different brand. Our habits become so ingrained in us that we refuse to even think of trying something new.

Time and again, God would put his people into a time out, sending them into exile or sending armies against them. Time and again, God’s people would apologize and promise to do better, so God would bring them home again. Things would go well for a while and then the cycle would repeat itself.

The thing is, God never left his people – even when he was disciplining them. He was always right there with them when they went into exile and when they were going to war. God suggests a new thing for them; in much the same way he suggests it to us. Why not try to plant righteousness, justice, fairness? Why not try to reap your harvest with mercy? Keep knocking on God’s door until he opens it to you.

There’s a saying, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!” What that saying fails to mention is that hitting your head against a brick wall will most likely lead to a massive headache. If you don’t succeed, why not try something new?

Becky Gillette is a former teacher, newspaper reporter, and preacher who seeks to take an original approach to life’s lessons. She her first book, “Jessie’s Corner: Something To Think About,” is available for purchase. Based on several lesser-known scriptures from the Bible, this is a collection of articles which she wrote for a weekly newspaper.