Each week when I write another Bible study on Hosea, it's like a word just for my soul. It's been a profoundly private study for me. His Word burns in my heart in a way I haven't experienced before, and it's challenging for me to encapsulate the words.
Hosea's story was written to teach us about Israel's 3 primary sins: idolatry, ingratitude, and hypocrisy. I'm deeply grateful for this trying season I'm currently in. While it's hard and too much for this blog, it's worth it. Each day, I realize how familiar I am with these sins and how much more God has to offer when I surrendered my unbelieving self over to Him. I'm thankful for this journey. I'm grateful for the "action sermon" of Hosea that created action in my own heart thousands of years later. God is eternally patient, and He deserves the glory. Let's dig in by first asking Him to open the eyes of our hearts that we may see Him more clearly.
"Put the trumpet to your lips!
An eagle is over the house of the Lord
because the people have broken my covenant
and rebelled against my law.
2 Israel cries out to me,
'Our God, we acknowledge you!'
3 But Israel has rejected what is good;
an enemy will pursue him.
4 They set up kings without my consent;
they choose princes without my approval.
With their silver and gold
they make idols for themselves
to their own destruction.
5 Samaria, throw out your calf-idol!
My anger burns against them.
How long will they be incapable of purity?
6 They are from Israel!
This calf—a metalworker has made it;
it is not God.
It will be broken in pieces,
that calf of Samaria.
If we look back at Numbers 10, the Israelites used trumpets for several reasons: to announce special occasions, to sound alarms, to gather people together, and to proclaim war. That's why Hosea said, "...put the trumpet to your lips" because war (the Assyrians) were about to swoop down like an eagle and destroy God's nation. After all, idolatry was in their heart.
Verse 4's reference to kings reminds me of the exact opposite of what Jesus demonstrated in Luke 6:12-16: "One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles..." Notice that while the Jewish people were making and removing kings to satisfy their own wants, Jesus spent the night praying, and then chose His disciples.
7 "They sow the wind
and reap the whirlwind.
The stalk has no head;
it will produce no flour.
Were it to yield grain,
foreigners would swallow it up.
If you could underline, highlight, and emphasize any verse in this chapter, it should be this one. This verse reminds me of our American dream country, and one of the most silent killers in both believers and non-believers' lives: busyness. Our society values hectic schedules, back-to-back tasks, crammed calendars, and distraction. Our culture rewards hustle. However, the only harvest you receive from sowing into the wind is the whirlwind.
You know the whirlwind. You've been friends--or, maybe you still are (and need to break-up, btw). Chris McChesney wrote a business book called The 4 Disciplines of Execution. McChesney's definition "the whirlwind" is on point in many ways: urgent activities required to keep things running day-to-day, which then devour our time and energy. Ouch. Go back through last week's calendar in your brain and think about what ate your time and energy. Then, ask yourself whether that was an activity that redeemed time or depleted time. Know what I mean? That Netflix bing=depleted. The stewing of anxious thoughts=depleted. Bible study=redeemed. Spending time to encourage a friend=redeemed. You get my drift. And I get it, too, because I can look back on plenty of depletion activities from these past seven days.
8 Israel is swallowed up;
now she is among the nations
like something no one wants.
Those busy schedules—they will swallow us up. The fun, seemingly innocent activities can accumulate and become something that steals our attention from God. The micro-habits and liturgies we allow to form become who we are today. Romans 6:22 says: "But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life."
God did all the work for you when He sent His Son to die for your sins. He died for us, and the destructive habits in our lives; our reward of His work is a life of holiness.
2 Peter 1:3 tells us, "His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness." What an encouragement to know that if we're stuck in the whirlwind, He has given us everything we need to pull away from it. Follow Christ, beloved. That's the sacred secret. Follow. Him.
9 For they have gone up to Assyria
like a wild donkey wandering alone.
Ephraim has sold herself to lovers.
10 Although they have sold themselves among the nations,
I will now gather them together.
They will begin to waste away
under the oppression of the mighty king.
Sin will waste you away. Busyness will eat away your schedule and your life away. If we aren't careful, we will sell ourselves over to our calendars, our jobs, our chores, our children, and even “our” ministries. It is a slow fade, and one day we can be left wandering alone and not even know how we wound up under the oppression. Friends, as we were told in the beginning, we need that trumpet awakening!
11 "Though Ephraim built many altars for sin offerings,
these have become altars for sinning.
12 I wrote for them the many things of my law,
but they regarded them as something foreign.
13 Though they offer sacrifices as gifts to me,
and though they eat the meat,
the Lord is not pleased with them.
Now he will remember their wickedness
and punish their sins:
They will return to Egypt.
14 Israel has forgotten their Maker
and built palaces;
Judah has fortified many towns.
But I will send fire on their cities
that will consume their fortresses."
God spent much time warning the people of Israel—yet, they regarded His Word as something foreign and unknown. Their conscience was seared, and their hearts were hardened because of their sin.
Verse 14 introduces some irony: instead of trusting in their Maker for safety, they created their own man-made security strategies. We sigh at their stupidities, don't we? Yet, I see this daily in my own work. People who are continually strategizing and formulating the best way to win in the market, to overcome the competition, to beat the odds. Of course, I do that, too. I catch myself all the time over- planning, over-strategizing, over-doing, over-controlling. I'm learning (albeit gradually) to do as Jesus showed us in Luke 6: pray. Pray, pray, pray. Converse with God. Allow Him to sift through the day with you. He desires to instruct you, just as He did with Jesus in selecting His disciples.
Philippians 4:6-7 is a must-memorize Bible verse, especially if you struggle with anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, or the whirlwind. Put it on an index card next to your bathroom mirror. Place it on a sticky note on your desk at work. Make it your screen saver on your phone. Let God write this on the tablet of your heart, so your thoughts are ordered by Him:
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7