READ: Hosea 9:10 - 10:15.
Verses chosen for meditation: Hosea 9:1-3.
1Rejoice not, O
Israel! Exult not like the peoples; for you have played the whore,
forsaking your God. You have loved a prostitute's wages on all threshing floors.
2 Threshing
floor and wine vat shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail them. 3 They
shall not remain in the land of the Lord, but Ephraim shall return to Egypt,
and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria.
REFLECT
In today’s reading, we read
further charges against the unfaithful Israel. In Hosea 9:1-3, the Lord rebuked Israel upfront
that they have nothing to rejoice about. Judgement was on the way because
they stood condemned spiritually and morally in God’s sight. They were about to experience
the end of the good life in Israel. Hosea 9:1 describes that
Israel practiced idolatry on the threshing floor (a place where grain was
processed); they worshipped Baal because they believed that the deity could
help in the harvest. So, they rather worshipped other gods than Yahweh, the
Giver of Blessings.
As a punishment, God would
destroy the farms and vineyards and sent the people into captivity to Egypt and Assyria. In exile, the
people would be forced to eat food that to them was unclean. Because of their idolatry practice,
the Lord had pronounced “the threshing floor and the winepress shall not feed
them” (v. 2). They had insufficient and thus not able to offer the usual food and wine offerings. They barely had enough to keep themselves
alive. In essence, they had experienced lack instead
of abundance from Yahweh!
RELATE
We can see that
people did not like prophet Hosea’s denunciations and warnings. The people called Hosea a mad man and fool, they had even tried to kill this messenger of God,
the nation’s watchman (Hosea 9:7-8). All of prophet’s warnings of doom and
punishments had fallen on deaf ears, despite of repeated warnings. Rejection of
a warning is the result of a hardened heart. This happened to the people of
Israel; they had hardened their hearts against the voices of the prophets. As a
result, the people were not able to enter a new era of fruitfulness, with Christ-like
living. They had missed out all of God’s blessings and abundance.
Relating to harvest,
the principle is clear - we reap what we sow. It is not some kind of doctrines
of another faith but as believers, this simply means that there are
consequences to our sins. If we sow apple, we will reap apple trees and apples but
not orange tree. Simply put, if we sow evil, we will reap sin and fruitlessness
(For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life...., Romans
6:23). If we hardened our hearts and disobeyed the Lord, we will face the consequences
of punishment, just like Israel having to face the consequences of exile and
barrenness (Hosea 9:10-14). Otherwise, God’s promises are meant for us to flourish
in our lives because He is our good God and Heavenly Father.
As believers, we
keep our lives holy because the Lord who loves us is the most Holy God. The
Lord desires for us to live in abundance and we obey Him because we love Him
(John 10:10). Let us therefore sow in His righteousness, sow right deeds and
live in the fear of God. The call for us is not to live our lives carelessly.
If we heed to God’s warnings, we will reap with seasons of fruitfulness that
comes from the Giver of all Blessings.
Friends, are you currently
living in fruitfulness or out of alignment with God? Or have your hearts
hardened to what God is saying to you?
REST
Song: “Jesus I Live”.
https://open.spotify.com/track/4AuBXQf6MxnzdKIHEJ0j5h?si=b8b560fffd1448e0
Vincent
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