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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.
“Israel was a spreading vine; he brought forth fruit for
himself. As his fruit increased, he built more altars; as his land prospered, he adorned his sacred stones. Their heart is deceitful, and
now they must bear their guilt. The Lord will demolish their altars and destroy
their sacred stones. The people who live in Samaria fear for the calf-idol of
Beth Aven. Its people will mourn over it, and so will its idolatrous priests, those who had rejoiced over its splendor, because it is taken from them into
exile. It will be carried to Assyria as tribute for the great king. Ephraim
will be disgraced; Israel will be ashamed of its foreign alliances. The high places
of wickedness will be destroyed—it is the sin of Israel. Thorns and thistles
will grow up and cover their altars.”
Hosea 10:1-2, 5-6, 8a
This ends today’s
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Have you ever dismantled anything?
I’m sure you probably have as the word can be thought of as
an antonym of the word “assemble”. In other words, when we dismantle anything,
it’s predominantly a taking apart of something that was once put together.
Since this is a Christian blog featuring daily devotions, it
would be prudent for me to look at the matter of dismantling things from the
perspective of the Lord for if you really think about it, the Lord is in the
dismantling business to a large extent. We’ve seen it happen first-hand in the
Old Testament through most of the books detailing God’s judgment on His people.
We know He dismantled cities, nations, and empires, tearing
down what man had built up.
We know He dismantled sin, attacking it when it occurred with
the intent of trying to eradicate it once and for all.
And we know He dismantled His people, tearing them down from
their high and mighty wicked spiritual attitudes, breaking them down to their
knees as they got a chance to feel what life would really be like without the
God who made them.
Indeed, God had shown and continues to show He will
dismantle and break down anything He desires in order to fulfill His purposes
and plans.
We see such a case in the opening verses of Hosea 10 as God
sets His sights on the adulterous, spiritual adultery of the Israelites, an
unfaithfulness evident through their worship practices and the instruments used
for those practices. Look again at these words here:
“Israel was a
spreading vine; he brought forth fruit for himself. As his fruit increased, he
built more altars; as his land prospered, he adorned his sacred stones. Their
heart is deceitful, and now they must bear their guilt. The Lord will demolish
their altars and destroy their sacred stones. The people who live in Samaria
fear for the calf-idol of Beth Aven. Its people will mourn over it, and so will
its idolatrous priests, those who had rejoiced over its splendor, because it is
taken from them into exile. It will be carried to Assyria as tribute for the
great king. Ephraim will be disgraced; Israel will be ashamed of its foreign
alliances. The high places of wickedness will be destroyed—it is the sin of
Israel. Thorns and thistles will grow up and cover their altars.” Hosea 10:1-2, 5-6, 8a
It wasn’t that Israel was impoverished. No, the nation of
God was doing very for themselves, bearing lots of fruit. The problem was that
they were using the blessing of God’s provision to promote and support the
worship of false gods and idols. The more the Israelites flourished, the more
altars they constructed and sacred stones they adorned in honor of the pagan
idols. God called their actions deceitful and wicked, a sinful guilt that His people
would have to bear.
So what did God do?
He systematically dismantled the Israelites’ inappropriate
worship by:
1. Demolishing the altars and high places used for idol
worshiping.
2. Destroying the sacred stones His people had been
worshiping.
3. Getting rid of the idols.
And after He had done these things, He enacted His judgment
on His people, sending them into exile while disgracing and shaming His people
for the sins they had committed in His sight. In other words, God dismantled
the lives of His people, the lives that promoted disobedience and sinfulness,
so He one day could build them back up to be the people He desired for them to
be.
Today, we find worship practices taking place in churches
that are not glorifying or honoring the Lord. Rather, they are services where
all the wrong things are worshiped and adored, services where the focus is on
worldly idols and the desires of the people, not the desires of God.
In these instances, the church should pay close attention to
the word of God found here in Hosea. For God will never just idly stand by and
allow sin to be manifested against Him through the illicit worship practices of
His people. Rather, He will always intervene and dismantle anything that doesn’t
bring Him the reverence and tribute He deserves, tearing down anything used for
wicked purposes and promoting proper worship that is pleasing in His sight.
Tomorrow, we see that God will also dismantle those in
positions of leadership.
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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