“Promiscuity, wine, and new wine take away one’s understanding. My people consult their wooden idols, and their divining rods inform them. For a spirit of promiscuity leads them astray; they act promiscuously in disobedience to their God.
Ephraim is attached to idols; leave him alone!”
Hosea 4:11-12, 17
(This is still happening today, but what are the things you and I put our desires in? What are your "wooden idols" that inform you of whether something is right or wrong? Is it the presence of money, beauty, or comfort? Where have these things taken you...have they brought you understanding of God or understanding of their own power in themselves?)
“Their actions do not allow them to return to their God, for a spirit of promiscuity is among them, and they do not know the Lord.
Ephraim will become a desolation on the day of punishment; I announce what is certain among the tribes of Israel.
(God will have the last word for what is certain about any given circumstance.)
Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, for he is determined to follow what is worthless.”
Hosea 5:4, 9, 11
(What is worth our time and energy and money? Is it God or is it whatever else we use it for? How much time do we spend on God and how much money and energy do we spend on Him being praised? Do we offer up our thanks with our money and energy or do we do things from obligation or routine or duty? For us to follow God it must come from Him being worthy, and this means there is a sense of gain from giving to Him whatever He first gives us (time, energy, money, good looks, etc. How might we give God our good looks, you might ask? By giving our physical images in praise of Him and not for praise of others. We delight in our physical makeup by thanking God for His craftsmanship, not by indulging in the praise of men or by worrying that we will lose some measure of our worth in beauty. If it is for God and to God, like money or time, then it can be spent all on God. You are beautiful for the purpose of praising God, not for the purpose of being praised. When beauty takes a turn away from that purpose of praising God it turns into idolatry, which in turn becomes decay and death.).
“Come, let us return to the Lord. For He has torn us, and He will heal us; He has wounded us, and He will bind up our wounds. He will revive us after two days, and on the third day He will raise us up so we can live in His presence.
Let us strive to know the Lord. His appearance is as sure as the dawn. He will come to us like the rain, like the spring showers that water the land.”
Hosea 6:1-3
(We can return to God even after we have for so long indulged ourselves with our idols, even to the point of utter darkness and resentment. This breach of decay is a gift from God to those that realize that we can return to Him that heals and restored to us the treasures of eternal life and glory! Not a bad bargain at all considering that you trade in your decay for His glorious life!)
“What am I going to do with you, Ephraim? What am I going to do with you, Judah? Your loyalty is like the morning mist and like the early dew that vanishes.
For I desire loyalty and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”
Hosea 6:4, 6
(No matter what we do it is our hearts that God sees most clearly. No amount of crying or repenting or confessing or giving will be able to cover the true state of our inner being. God desires for us to know Him and to remain faithful to Him through every difficult season, not because it is easy and painless, but because we know how good and true and powerful He is, He that loves us with the same love that gave up His one and only Son to die for us. Can we be faithful to that God in the midst of our most trying moments?)
“They do not cry to Me from their hearts; rather, they wail on their beds. They slash themselves for grain and new wine; they turn away from Me.”
Hosea 7:14
(At the core of our anguish, what is it that we want? Are the tears we shed for things we've lost or have yet to obtain (money, marriage, health, etc) or are they shed for God to heal us of such inferior desires compared to Him? Have our hearts acknowledged that we need His help to help our unbelief?)
“They have installed kings, but not through Me. They have appointed leaders, but without My approval. They make their silver and gold into idols for themselves for their own destruction.
For they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey going off on its own. Ephraim has paid for love.
When Ephraim multiplied his altars for sin, they became his altars for sinning.”
Hosea 8:4, 9, 11
(This portion reminds me that we cannot fasten for ourselves any certainty, but that we remain constantly clinging to God who makes known to us the paths of life. You can do this or that thinking it will help you, but if it was not from God it will be useless. This is our reason to recognize our true state, that we are all beggars and weaklings in need of God to do for us what we could never do for ourselves. Utterly dependent. No amount of money or serving or actions could reward to us the faith needed to be kept, but even our good deeds become our miserable sins, or even become our own destruction unless God is directing us. In this way, we remain humbled, and never too zealous that we know what to do, but that by grace what we end up doing is a gift from God.)
“Their hearts are devious; now they must bear their guilt. The Lord will break down their altars and demolish their sacred pillars.
Samaria’s king will disappear like foam on the surface of the water.
Sow righteousness for yourselves and reap faithful love; break up your unplowed ground. It is time to seek the Lord until He comes and sends righteousness on you like the rain. You have plowed wickedness and reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your own way and in your large number of soldiers,”
Hosea 10:2, 7, 12-13
(Soon enough our empires will crumble and vanish like foam on the seas, and all that will be left was the portion of our meager souls that clung to God and His promises.)
“It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them in My arms, but they never knew that I healed them. I led them with human cords, with ropes of love. To them I was like one who eases the yoke from their jaws; I bent down to give them food.
How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I surrender you, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? I have had a change of heart; My compassion is stirred! I will not vent the full fury of My anger; I will not turn back to destroy Ephraim. For I am God and not man, the Holy One among you; I will not come in rage. They will follow the Lord; He will roar like a lion. When He roars, His children will come trembling from the west. They will be roused like birds from Egypt and like doves from the land of Assyria. Then I will settle them in their homes. This is the Lord’s declaration.”
Hosea 11:3-4, 8-11
(This is the Lord's declaration, His unfailing Word, His truth that nothing can come up against: his compassion is stirred! He is the healer, the feeder, the right teacher, and the one who settles us in our home. It is Him who does all these things, as it is written. To believe otherwise or to remain ignorant of these truths, that it was not God who gave us every good thing is to go up against His declaration.)
“But you must return to your God. Maintain love and justice, and always put your hope in God.”
Hosea 12:6
(We must return. We must return, for we have all fallen away like sheep, but we must return.)
“Therefore, they will be like the morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes, like chaff blown from a threshing floor, or like smoke from a window.
I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought. When they had pasture, they became satisfied; they were satisfied, and their hearts became proud. Therefore they forgot Me.
I will attack them like a bear robbed of her cubs and tear open the rib cage over their hearts. I will devour them there like a lioness, like a wild beast that would rip them open.”
Hosea 13:3, 5-6, 8
(The necessary judgment of God is that sin is atrocious to Him for His holiness cannot suffer to be defamed by it. All darkness and all sin experience death in the presence of the True God. Whatever sin we carried will be necessarily and violently ripped from our bodies because it defies the glory of the Lord!)
“I will heal their apostasy; I will freely love them, for My anger will have turned from him.
Let whoever is wise understand these things, and whoever is insightful recognize them.
For the ways of the Lord are right,
and the righteous walk in them,
but the rebellious stumble in them.”
Hosea 14:4, 9
(Amen and amen.)
Jmegrey
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