Just Like Them

Hosea doesn't pull any punches! The Israelites had abandoned their faith and were mixing with those around them and worshiping the gods of their neighbors. They had become a wicked and sinful people and no longer acknowledged God as the LORD.

Sometimes I need preaching like Hosea's. Sometimes it takes frank talk to wake me up and confront me with my sinfulness. Most people don't like it. Most people won't hang around to hear that kind of preaching. Most people want to hear that they are saved and that they are going to live eternally in a beautiful home in Heaven. They want to hear how much God loves them and how they are blessed and will be blessed if they show up on Sunday morning. That's what most people want to hear.

I know, because that is what I like to hear... but this is what Hosea had to say to the LORD's people...

Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land; there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it languish, and also the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, and even the fish of the sea are taken away. Yet let no one contend, and let none accuse, for with you is my contention, O priest. You shall stumble by day;
the prophet also shall stumble with you by night; and I will destroy your mother. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. (Hosea 4:6-9)

The scary part of that section of scripture is how much it sounds like us. Us, Americans, we are very quickly loosing our knowledge of God and our sinfulness is on full display. We celebrate our sins. We make movies about our sins. Television shows glorify our sins. We have become just like them! If Hosea were alive today, I think he would write the same words to us as he did to them. His words are a sober warning about the consequences of such conduct. If we as a nation or if I as an individual depart from my faith and begin living like those outside of Christ, we should expect to loose His blessings. (go back and reread the section of scripture above, see his warnings)

So what is the solution to our problem, what is the cure for our disease? Hosea points us to God's word. What is right or wrong is eternal. If God's word recorded that something is wrong a thousand years ago, it is wrong today. There is no evolution of the standard. The same standard is in place today as was in place when Jesus walked this earth. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) Nothing has changed with God. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (James 1:17)  No variation or shadow due to change. We can count on God to be God!

He has always been and will always be.... the same, yesterday and today and forever! The world changes it's view on things regularly. What was  wrong ten years ago is right today. What is wrong today, will be right in a few years. Thankfully, God is not like that. When we submit to His authority, His rule in our lives, we get to live by the same standard that Peter did, that Paul did. What was wrong then, is wrong now. What was pleasing to God then, is pleasing to God now. Learn what pleases Him! Live out your lives in submission to His will! May we never reject knowledge of God and begin to accept the world's view on things. We are called to be strangers on this earth and citizens of the household of God.

May we live in such a way that Hosea would say.... "good job, you have sought and obtained knowledge and because of that I accept you as being a priest to me". Hold on to your faith and when your day are finished, you will hear the words of the Father, "Well done, good servant". Hosea is sounding the warning, may we determine to hear and change our conduct to comply with His desires. May God richly bless you as you become more and more like His Son.