Today we are reading Hosea 4. In this chapter we continue to read about the motif of Israel being compared to promiscuous people. “Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land; there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it languish, and also the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, and even the fish of the sea are taken away. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.”
Hosea 4:1-3, 6 ESV God’s rebuke for Israel is harsh and justifiably so. If the people turn away from God they lose their salvation and will suffer in a godless society. Hosea wrote 2700 years ago but his words fit our time also. How do we live in such a time and place? We live as those with hope. We live as those who know the truth. We live as those who know the way. May God raise you up in your community to teach others the ways of God. Pastor Tim
