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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.
Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the
hills, “Fall on us!”
“Since the days of Gibeah, you have sinned, Israel, and
there you have remained. Will not war again overtake the evildoers in
Gibeah? When I please, I will punish them; nations will be gathered against
them to put them in bonds for their double sin. Ephraim is a trained heifer that
loves to thresh; so I will put a yoke on her fair neck. I will drive Ephraim, Judah
must plow, and Jacob must break up the ground.”
Hosea 10:8b-11
This ends today’s
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
God is in control.
We hear this said all the time, right?
Now typically this statement is made in regard to life
circumstances where the future remains uncertain, an assertion that God has a
hand in matters that we cannot possibly have a hand in.
But what if we looked at this statement in a different
light? What if God could actually be in control of us and bend us to His
bidding?
It’s a bit of a scary thought and it should be. For we often
take for granted the awesome, incredible power of God and how it could be
applied, a power that no mere human can stand up to, that’s for sure.
Hold this latter thought in mind as we read again our verses
from today from Hosea 10. For as we will see, God is indeed in control and can
direct that control onto His people.
Then they will say to
the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall on us!”
“Since the days of
Gibeah, you have sinned, Israel, and there you have remained. Will not war
again overtake the evildoers in Gibeah? When I please, I will punish them;
nations will be gathered against them to put them in bonds for their double
sin. Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh; so I will put a yoke on
her fair neck. I will drive Ephraim, Judah must plow, and Jacob must break up
the ground.” Hosea 10:8b-11
Note here that in the midst of God’s judgment for their
sins, God’s people would be running for cover or even contemplating disaster to
fall in order to spare them from enduring His punishment. God well knew His
people had sinned against Him and had been doing so for a long time. He tried
to warn them of what would come if they failed to repent and turn away from
their transgressions but the Israelites chose not to listen and instead chased
after their evil desires, desires that drew them to worship false gods and
idols, essentially pushing God out of their spiritual lives.
Well, as we know, this is something God was not going to
stand for and indeed, He sent war on His own people, the evildoers who decided
to test Him and the power He held over not only them but all creation. Looking
back at biblical history in Old Testament times, we know God called on nations,
Assyria and Babylon, to attack His people and put them into bondage, just one
of the penalties imposed for their iniquities.
In other words, God was in control. He controlled two very
mighty nations to carry out His judgment against His own people. And these
actions were taken in order for God to carry out one more act of control, this
time over His own people. But before we look at that, we need to look at a real
life example of control, one God uses here as an illustration.
To look at the real life example in context, we need to go
to a farm in biblical times and how a farmer exacts control over his beasts of
burden, the animals who he will use to tend to the fields and het his work
done.
In order to have control over these beasts, the farmer needs
to place yokes on them, fastening the yokes in a way where they cannot be
removed by the beast. The yokes were typically very heavy and would be linked
to a plough or cart, whatever the farmer would need the beast to pull in order
to fulfill the work needing done.
Note that once yoked, the animal is unable to do anything
except carry out the will of the farmer and will do so until the yoke is
removed. This was the matter of control that God was speaking of when He
proclaimed the following illustration regarding His people, the Israelites:
“Ephraim is a trained
heifer that loves to thresh; so I will put a yoke on her fair neck. I will
drive Ephraim, Judah must plow, and Jacob must break up the ground.”
Beasts of burden that carried out the act of threshing or
treading out grain or corn to separate the chaff from the grain were forbidden
by law (Deuteronomy 25:4) to be muzzled
or encumbered. This was so that the animals that were laboring would able to
enjoy some of the fruits of their labors, eating some grain or corn from time
to time. This work was much easier than the work of plowing, a much more
oppressive form of labor for the animals.
And so goes the analogy that God is using in our passage. He
was about to take His people from what had been a relatively easy labor for
Him, one where they could at least enjoy some of the fruits of their labors, to
a place where they would be yoked and forced into hard and harsh labor,
controlled by God and forced to “plow” which simply meant they would labor in the
extreme difficulty of oppression at the hands of either the Assyrians or
Babylonians.
The saddest part of all this to me is that it never had to
be that way. God should have never had to impress His control on the Israelites
to send a message that He was their Master and able to dictate every aspect of
their lives. All the people of God had to do was properly honor and revere Him
every day, submitting themselves to His word, will, and way with unwavering,
uncompromising obedience. Had they done that, freely acknowledging that God was
indeed in control of every aspect of their lives, they would have not had to
suffer the harsh consequences that God imposed upon them. They could have gone
on to live in the peace that comes when one lives basking in the glow of God’s
favor.
So where so we stand today? Are we, like the Old Testament
Israelites, living like we have somehow forgotten that God is in control of
everything and everyone?
I’m afraid in many ways we are making a big mistake by
repeating the mistakes of the past, and in doing so, putting ourselves in the
crosshairs of God’s judgment where He may just place us under the yoke of
punishment to remind us that He is still our Maker and Master, the One who
holds our present and future in His hands.
Amen
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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