SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/10/2015
9:06 PM
My Worship Time Focus: The nation
as a Whole PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Hosea 4:1-3
Message of the
verses: We are beginning to look at
chapters 4-10 in the book of Hosea. Dr.
Warren Wiersbe entitles this chapter, which is his second chapter in his
commentary on the book of Hosea, “What Will I Do With You?” When I looked up his commentary on the
internet I found that when he first wrote this book on Hosea that it included
six of the Minor Prophets and was entitled “Be Amazed.”
“1 Listen to the word of the LORD, O sons of Israel, For
the LORD has a case against the inhabitants of the land, Because there is no
faithfulness or kindness Or knowledge of God in the land. 2 There is swearing,
deception, murder, stealing and adultery. They employ violence, so that
bloodshed follows bloodshed. 3 Therefore the land mourns, And everyone who lives in it
languishes Along with the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky, And
also the fish of the sea disappear.”
Dr. Wiersbe quotes Thomas Jefferson at the beginning of
this chapter who said “Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God
is just.” I think that this statement
has multiplied meaning when we look at it in today’s world, but when we look at
these first three verses of Hosea and beyond we will see that it had great
meaning to Israel in Hosea’s day.
The Psalmist wrote the following in Psalm 89:14 “Righteousness
and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Lovingkindness and truth go
before You.” We know that God is Holy,
just, long-suffering, merciful, and gracious and because He is all of these
things and more He had to judge Israel.
God desired to forgive their sins for they were His people, but the
problem was that they would not repent and so God’s long-suffering ran out and
He had to bring about His justice. Dr.
Wiersbe writes “It’s a basic spiritual principle that until people experience the
guilt of conviction, they can’t enjoy the glory of conversion.”
As we begin to look at this section we can see that God
is going to convene the court as Dr. Wiersbe entitles this first main section
that covers Hosea 4-5. Now don’t forget
what happened to Hosea in the first two chapters with his wife and children for
his book builds off of that experience as his marriage and the unfaithfulness
of His wife picture what is happening to Israel. Hosea had quarrels with his wife and now we
will see God quarrels with Israel, his estranged wife as we read in the first
part of the first verse of chapter four:
“Listen to the word of the LORD, O sons of Israel, For the LORD has a
case against the inhabitants of the land.”
Now as we have studied Isaiah, Jeremiah, and will eventually get to
Micah and even into the book of Romans we have seen that the Lord brings others
into His courthouse too.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “The Judge read the charges to the
accused as they stood before Him,” and first of all He looks at the “Nation as
a Whole.”
The Law of God and the covenant that God made with Israel
at Mt. Sinai is where the charges will come from. In Exodus 19:8 we read the following
statement showing that Israel aggress with the terms of the covenant and the
Law: “All that the Lord has spoken we
will do.” Israel broke that promise very
soon after it was made just as Gomer did with Hosea. Gomer turned to prostitution while Israel
turned to spiritual prostitution as they worshiped idols.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “When people reject God’s covenant,
they begin to exploit each other, for the Ten Commandments deal with our relationship
with our neighbor as well as with the Lord.
If we love the Lord, we will also love our neighbor (Matthew. 22:34-40;
Rom. 13:8-10). But there was no mercy in
the land, no love for one’s neighbor, no compassion for the poor and
needy. People were falsehearted toward
God and hardhearted toward one another.” The greatest commandment is to Love the Lord
and the second is to love your neighbor and the Ten Commandments are built from
these two commandments. I like to
picture the Ten Commandments in the shape of a cross the vertical part is
loving God while the horizontal is loving your neighbor. All of the rest of the laws are built on the
Ten Commandments.
We will continue to look at these verses in our next SD
on Hosea.
6/10/2015 9:38 PM
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