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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“When they go, I will throw my net over them; I will pull
them down like the birds in the sky. When I hear them flocking together, I will
catch them. Woe to them, because they have strayed from me! Destruction to them,
because they have rebelled against me! I long to redeem them but they speak
about me falsely. They do not cry out to me from their hearts but wail on their
beds. They slash themselves, appealing to their gods for grain and new wine, but
they turn away from me. I trained them and strengthened their arms, but they
plot evil against Me. They do not turn to the Most High; they are like a faulty
bow. Their leaders will fall by the sword because of their insolent words. For
this they will be ridiculed in the land of Egypt.”
Hosea 7:12-16
This ends today’s
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
In yesterday’s devotion, we saw God exposing the sins of His
people, providing a comprehensive list of their transgressions within the
closing verses of Hosea, Chapter 6, and the opening verses of Chapter 7.
But what comes after that? What does God do once He has
exposed the sins of His people?
We find the answer in these closing verses from Hosea 7:
“When they go, I will
throw my net over them; I will pull them down like the birds in the sky. When I
hear them flocking together, I will catch them. Woe to them, because they have
strayed from me! Destruction to them, because they have rebelled against me! I
long to redeem them but they speak about me falsely. They do not cry out to me
from their hearts but wail on their beds. They slash themselves, appealing to
their gods for grain and new wine, but they turn away from me. I trained them
and strengthened their arms, but they plot evil against Me. They do not turn to
the Most High; they are like a faulty bow. Their leaders will fall by the sword
because of their insolent words. For this they will be ridiculed in the land of
Egypt.” Hosea 7:12-16
From this passage, we find that God doesn’t stop when He
reveals the iniquities of His people, reminding them that nothing is hidden from
His sight. No, God takes actions on those iniquities with the full intent of
disciplining the perpetrators and reestablishing His total intolerance for
wickedness and evil.
Note that the sinners here are not allowed to continue being
free in their sins. Rather, God hunts them down and throws His net over them,
pulling them down “like the birds in the sky”. When those living in wickedness
congregated, flocking together with a common goal of evil, God would catch them
because they had “strayed from Him.”
How did they stray?
God tells us.
“They do not cry out
to me from their hearts but wail on their beds. They slash themselves, appealing
to their gods for grain and new wine, but they turn away from me. I trained
them and strengthened their arms, but they plot evil against Me. They do not turn
to the Most High; they are like a faulty bow.”
The Israelites had abandoned God, turning their devotion and
affection towards pagan gods and idols. They sought out gods of their choosing
to appeal for grain, new wine, or anything else they needed, completely
ignoring the only One who could meet their every need. And as if that weren’t
enough, the people of God plotted evil against Him, a completely foolish idea
given the infinite power that God possesses, a power that allowed God to create
everything and everybody.
This was a snapshot of the spiritual attitude of the
Israelites, the people God had loved, nurtured, protected, and delivered so
many times in their history. The Israelites should have been an eternally
grateful people but instead, they snubbed the Lord who had done so much for
them to chase after their own sinful desires. Obviously, this was not going to
sit well with God.
So how did He deal with them?
As we see by looking again at His words, very harshly.
“Destruction to them,
because they have rebelled against me! I long to redeem them but they speak
about me falsely. Their leaders will fall by the sword because of their
insolent words. For this they will be ridiculed in the land of Egypt.”
First, God would bring destruction on His people because of
their rebellion against Him. We know He made good on that promise when He sent
the Assyrians to attack and annihilate the northern kingdom of Israel and the
Babylonians to destroy and plunder the southern kingdom of Judah.
Second, we see where God would not redeem His people, even
though He desired to do so. As mentioned prior, God had been the Great Redeemer
of His people over and over again throughout their history. But this generation
of Israelites was not deserving of redemption, especially since they not only
turned their backs on God but also spoke falsely about Him. God was not going
to stand for anyone disrespecting and disregarding Him in any way.
Thirdly, we find where the Israelite leaders would be held accountable
for not leading their people to a complete obedience and trust of God. Rather,
the leaders were just as insolent as the people they led, perhaps even
encouraging the people to sin through their own impudence.
Finally, we find that the once proud and revered nation of
Israel, a nation once respected because they had God on their side, would find
themselves no longer esteemed in the eyes of other nations but rather
ridiculed, a laughingstock as God sent His judgment upon them. Thus is the cost
when those who believe they can shun God and get away with it.
A life absent of God will be a life full of failing and
falling.
Friends, God’s word is speaking to us powerfully in
yesterday’s and today’s devotions. For He will not stand for sinfulness.
Period.
He will first expose it before hunting the sinner down,
capturing them, and then dealing with them harshly through some form of
punishment.
Let’s do ourselves a favor and not cause Him to have to do
anything but look on us with favor for how we are living our lives in complete obedience
to Him, behaving completely in ways that are pleasing to His sight.
Amen
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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