Israel’s Love for Wickedness
Hosea 7-
1 “I want to heal Israel, but its sins are too great.
Samaria is filled with liars.
Thieves are on the inside
and bandits on the outside!
2 Its people don’t realize
that I am watching them.
Their sinful deeds are all around them,
and I see them all.
3 “The people entertain the king with their wickedness,
and the princes laugh at their lies.
4 They are all adulterers,
always aflame with lust.
They are like an oven that is kept hot
while the baker is kneading the dough.
5 On royal holidays, the princes get drunk with wine,
carousing with those who mock them.
6 Their hearts are like an oven
blazing with intrigue.
Their plot smolders through the night,
and in the morning it breaks out like a raging fire.
7 Burning like an oven,
they consume their leaders.
They kill their kings one after another,
and no one cries to me for help.
8 “The people of Israel mingle with godless foreigners,
making themselves as worthless as a half-baked cake!
9 Worshiping foreign gods has sapped their strength,
but they don’t even know it.
Their hair is gray,
but they don’t realize they’re old and weak.
10 Their arrogance testifies against them,
yet they don’t return to the Lord their God
or even try to find him.
11 “The people of Israel have become like silly, witless doves,
first calling to Egypt, then flying to Assyria for help.
12 But as they fly about,
I will throw my net over them
and bring them down like a bird from the sky.
I will punish them for all the evil they do.
13 “What sorrow awaits those who have deserted me!
Let them die, for they have rebelled against me.
I wanted to redeem them,
but they have told lies about me.
14 They do not cry out to me with sincere hearts.
Instead, they sit on their couches and wail.
They cut themselves, begging foreign gods for grain and new wine,
and they turn away from me.
15 I trained them and made them strong,
yet now they plot evil against me.
16 They look everywhere except to the Most High.
They are as useless as a crooked bow.
Their leaders will be killed by their enemies
because of their insolence toward me.
Then the people of Egypt
will laugh at them.
Wow – Kari you say…why read this whole chapter… it’s depressing!!
But I look around and it seems strangely fitting to our culture and world! The Israelites had the same problems that we do right now! We seem to have a never-ending cycle of rinse and repeat.
God wants to heal us – He came to earth as a man just like us so He could redeem us, but we are constantly toddling off. Like a 2-year-old that needs to be tethered to its mother so something horrible doesn’t befall them. You know…getting hit by a car, hit by the swing set because they walked too close and someone would swing into them, eating poisonous plants and crayons…you get the idea.
And then there’s the teens who want to go everywhere and do everything with anyone and everyone. Teens are just larger 2-year-olds… don’t smoke that, don’t put that in your mouth, no you can’t have 4 energy drinks in one day… oh and no you cannot live on goldfish crackers alone…
Adulthood is not much different – we are constantly wandering off in different directions, and you wonder why God doesn’t just get tired and wander off too!
Us, our culture is a bunch of liars, thieves and bandits- always contemplating sinful deeds. Entertaining thoughts of wickedness and mingling with those that do not encourage us to more Godliness. We worship things by prioritized them over God and Godly things.
We are arrogant and need help but don’t want to admit it and turn to the God who can meet us where we are.
It says the people of Israel became like silly worthless doves. I bet there is a politician’s face that just popped into your head didn’t it.
In so many ways we have deserted God. But you say – that’s not me – I love God!
There are always ways that we have walked away from God or just not allowed Him to touch that part of us.
I have deserted my God in some ways each day. Every sin, every thought I did not take captive. Every way I was supposed to be “in the world but not of it” but I managed to swirl around the rim of the toilet bowl with my comments at work or passive aggressive communication to a co-worker, or better yet, that thought about what you think of that person.
All of us are toddling off in different directions every day. I am going to say that this is natural because it truly is.
What it comes down to is how you bring yourself back. “Take every thought captive” . When intrusive thoughts come through… what do you do? Your mind is an airstrip! You decide what lands. When you start going down a rabbit hole of distaste for something or someone, you can choose to send a prayer up for that person instead. You cannot imagine how much your mind changes when you start praying for the people that tick you off!
It’s life changing! Definitely for you and possibly for them.
I am not going to lie… I have had a rough week! Work has been beyond stressful and there is more chaos around my home than usual – seeing people I love struggle.
I have caught myself numbing out in my car while driving. I will listen to audio books, mostly novels that have no spiritual significance or encouragement in that way. They are great for going to your “nothing box”. And that is a great place to be at times, but when you are emotionally worn down, the only place to recharge is at the foot of the cross. Time spent in singing worship songs while I drive has been the most significant, mind-altering game changer for me. I can refocus and feel recharged after I have spent this time in God presence.
When I do not spend this time, I pay the consequences. The buildup of emotional strain between seeing my clients becomes increasingly hard to recover from and by the end of the day I am hanging on by a thread…. then do this day after day, week after week. This is how people burn out, even from jobs they love.
And the clincher here is that without this intentional connection and refocusing on God each day, we will all become like those Israelites we read about.
The first verse above says “I want to heal you” but “Instead, they sit on their couches and wail.“ There might be a TicToker that popped into your mind.
God says “I trained them and made them strong,” and
“I wanted to redeem them, but they have told lies about me.” Fake news come to mind? I don’t trust any media outlet anymore. All of them are giving their “spin”, some more than others.
The only thing we can trust is our Savior and His word.
Challenge for the day – Can you change your mental numbing out to a focus on who can save you? Can you take the time you spend irritated with anything and everything to pray for those people or situations that irritate you? It will change your life. Can you put down your right to be right and turn to prayer and worship or conversation with someone who will keep you focused on God and His work in you?