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A Word from Hosea

A couple weeks ago, while I tidied up after camping (yes, I went camping again), I wanted to listen to Scripture and the Old Testament prophets seemed to be calling my name, so Hosea it was (for no other purpose then that I could listen to it in 35 minutes and that was the perfect amount of time). For the following week, I returned to it, reading it this time, and soaking it in a bit more. 

One of the themes in Hosea is that God called His people to know His law and obey it, but the people did not know the law so they did not obey, and this brought them destruction and discipline;

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." 4:6a. "Their deeds will not allow them to return to their God. For a spirit of harlotry is within them, and they do not know the LORD." 5:4. "Israel has rejected the good." 8:3a "Though I wrote for him ten thousand precepts of My law, they are regarded as a strange thing." 8:12

But it is the end of 9:10 that struck me this morning:

And they became as detestable as that which they loved. 

The context is that God had been with Israel in the wilderness and He saw them bear fruit... but then they turned to Baal-peor and devoted themselves to shame. Baal-peor was the god of the Moabites. Israel was introduced to his worship when they camped near the territory of Moab and the Moabite women invited them to participate in Baal worship and sexual immorality. (see Numbers 25&31).  The reason the women could entice them was because there was already a place in their hearts for false worship and immorality. It was something they were prone to love; something they already loved. 


Think of it like this: if you do not want or like something, when it is offered to you it won't have influence over you. I dislike amusement park rides, so if someone invited me to go to Canada's Wonderland, it wouldn't be hard for me to say "no thank you." However, I am a fan of live performances, either for classical musical works or plays, so if I was invited to a symphony it would be much harder to say no. 

The trouble we have is that, naturally, we all prefer things that are not good for us. We all like sin. The Israelites became like the detestable things that they loved...but we all love detestable things. We love things that God does not love. 

The question I want to ask you is the same one the Spirit left with me this morning;

What do you love? 

The good news is that if you know Jesus then you have been washed, sanctified, justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God (see 1 Corinthians 6:11) and now you are being changed from one degree of glory to another (see 2 Corinthians 3:18). As we delight in the Lord, the desires of our hearts are changed to reflect what He desires (see Psalm 37). 

This morning I told God the things that I love that are not Him, that, in fact, are detestable to Him, and I asked Him to change me. He will. 

In order to love the things that God loves, I need to know what those are, so I need to be reading my Bible. I don't want to be like the Israelites in Hosea's day who did not know God's law even though He had given then ten thousand precepts. 


If I could pick two indictments against the western church in my generation it is that 1) we love so many things that are not God, and 2) we do not know our Bibles. And it is my belief that unless Christians return to loving the Lord their God and walking in His ways, we will see Him bring judgement upon us and our nations. In our current state of affluence we, the people of God, have lost sight of God, and perhaps the way for Him to win back our hearts is through pain.  

"I, even I, will tear to pieces and go away, I will carry away, and there will be none to deliver. I will go away and return to My place until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me." Hosea 5:14b-15

The dearest idol I have known, 
whate'er that idol be, 
help me to tear it from Thy throne,
and worship only Thee.
Oh For a Closer Walk with God, by William Cowper

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