Scripture Text : Hosea 5:8-15
I will return again to my place,
until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face,
and in their distress earnestly seek me.
Hosea 5:15
Judging from the number of advertisements for pharmaceuticals and weight loss products, it appears that most people are increasingly focused on getting physically healthy—or at least thinner. Even as obesity rates climb and many poor people find access to health care restricted, the obsession with an ideal standard of health and fitness sells magazines and gets television viewers to tune in.
The people of Israel were more concerned with their physical health and than their spiritual well-being, and their search for healing was desperate and futile. On many occasions, God showed His power to heal those who called out to Him for mercy, but God also showed His power by bringing affliction to people who rebelled against Him. God compared Himself to a moth and to rot (v. 12)! His glory had not diminished at all, but His relationship with Israel had switched from healer to destroyer.
Today’s passage references Israel’s attempt to find help from Assyria, their future captors. But even the greatest human king could not save Israel from the wrath of God, whether it came in the form of disease (v. 13) or violence (v. 14). Israel’s decision to turn to a foreign ruler instead of their own sovereign Lord illustrated just how clouded their minds had become. Verses 8 and 9 raise an alarm of panic in Israel about the judgment coming to them, but God made it clear in verse 15 that He would not be rushing in to save them. He was done playing the role of healer and protector for a reckless nation.
The prophecy from Hosea was God’s final call to the people of Israel. For some time following Hosea’s ministry, God would retreat into silence and wait for a trembling, hurting people to return to Him. In His omnipresence, God could never leave Israel alone, but in His holy justice, God would seem infinitely distant from the culture so steeped in wickedness. If His Word would not turn Israel back to Him, God’s actions would bring on a change of heart.
Reflect
1. In which are you more focused attending in life, your physical or spiritual well-being?
2. If life seems to be so hard pressing now and weighing down on you, perhaps you have to stop doing something and ask God for forgiveness?
3. How is your obedience to God?
Remember
Some believers presumptuously attribute any natural disaster or epidemic to a specific judgment of God. On the other end of the spectrum, many people naively exclude the possibility of any divine judgment in our world today. Consider these two principles: first, before turning your requests to God in prayer, turn your heart to Him in obedience; and second, instead of trying to interpret the incomprehensible sovereignty of God, follow the Word He has clearly revealed.
God will never punish obedience to His commands!
Read
Deuteronomy 32:39; Proverbs 8:17; John 14:21-23
Pray
Our Lord Jesus, I ask for for forgiveness for my disobedience. I thank You for You have reminded me that You are faithful and will prove to be faithful when we are faithful to You. Please continue to lead me to Your path and to stay there, for there is everlasting peace and joy; above all, Your presence is what I truly desire for. In Your Name. Amen.
Comments