Hosea 4-5

Hosea is an amazing book.

It's filled with God's promises and with realistic applications on how to find that balance of being a Christian while living in the world.

It reminds me that no matter how much I mess up and fall into my old patterns that God is always there for me & is waiting for me to turn face towards him.

It reminds me that I need to have the same type of compassion, mercy, grace, and consistency towards my children.

The past month we've been plagued with illness - flus, coughs, stomach issues. And I realized as I was reading thru this book how much I didn't want to "bother God" - that I felt like I could get thru this time on my own. However as time progressed, I felt like my patience, my peace, and my consistency diminished. I realized that I really couldn't make it thru this time in the frame of mind that I desired without God. And that God doesn’t view our requests as annoyances - He desires us to come to him with our requests. He wants us to admit our mistakes, learn from them, and live our lives full of the peace, joy, and love that he created for us.

Hosea is a book about the consequences of Israel & Judah's disobedience against God. That they chose to do things their way, instead of God's way. That their faith was lacking - their disobedience was abundant, and the fruits of their own success were limited. I am convicted about my daily walk while reading this book.

Hosea 4:7
The more they increased
The more they sinned against Me
I will change their glory into shame.

It also made me think about the economic downfall of our country. I see how puffed up Americans can get trying to play "Keeping Up With The Jones'" The glory those sought in their own terms (buying things they couldn’t afford, putting things on credit, using their homes as banks) have now been turned to shame.

Sometimes I feel like I get this angry attitude towards those people - and how I don't want the government to bail these people out. Mike & I could have purchased above what we could afford but we didn't. We chose to buy a smaller home and now we are having to scrimp and save to purchase a bigger one. But God desires me to have an attitude of grace & mercy towards those who are suffering. It's not my job to push judgment or my anger on them. It's my job to pray for them, that God will use this time to bring these people onto a better path with him. That the greedy executives who have squandered people's tax $$ and have stolen - that their crimes would be found out but that they would get right and be ashamed of their greed. It's not just the criminals of greed that it affects.

Hosea 4:10-11
For they shall eat, but not have enough
They shall commit harlotry, but not increase
Because they have ceased obeying the Lord
Harlotry, wine, and new wine enslave the heart.

This verse spoke to me in how I can sometimes fall for the lie that having more things or eating better will make my life more satisfying or peaceful or better. It doesn’t work that way - no matter how much money you have or things you acquire or how much you work out or how much better you eat - there will never be full peace in any of that. There will always be a need for more.

Hosea 4:6
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge,

Knowledge isn’t just knowing everything. It's having a balance of trusting in God - having faith in what His will is. To trust that He will bring you thru anything. To be humbled to His Will. To seek Him above anything else. I would sometimes think that knowledge was having to know every detail about everything. Especially in the world of politics that is a one way ticket to bondage. As a person I can never know EVERYTHING. I can only know God who knows EVERYTHING!


Hosea 5:15
I will return again to MY place
Till they acknowledge their offense.
Then they will seek My face;
In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.

I just pray that my walk will be built up during times of trial - and during times of peace & tranquility - so that I am faithfully prepared. I hope to continually practice trusting in God with every detail of my life so that I am strengthened to trust Him with the big details. I also pray that I will not fall for the lie that my requests and needs are annoyances to God – and that I am more merciful & forgiving to those who are suffering, even if the suffering is the consequences to bad choices.