SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
7/1/2015 10:06 PM
My Worship Time Focus: God Pronounces the Sentence PT’s-3-5
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Hosea 8:8-10
Message of the
verses: Since I have missed a few
nights looking at the book of Hosea I thought that I would look at some more
verses than I would usually look at and also give a reminder of what we are
looking at. The main point we are
looking at is “God Pronounces the Sentence” and Dr. Wiersbe points out that we
are looking at a “number of familiar images to show the people what God would
do to them because of their sin.” We
have looked at the first two images from chapter eight in our last two SD’s on
Hosea and we want to look at the next three in our SD for today.
Worthless pottery
(Hosea 8:8): “8 Israel is swallowed
up; They are now among the nations Like a vessel in which no one delights.” “8 Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be
among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure (KJV).”
It was a sad state of affairs that Israel was in when one
of you prophets tells you that you are like a worthless piece of pottery that
no one has any delight in you. Their
compromises, as they went to other nations to get help instead of trusting the
Lord and then all of their idol worshiping caused them to become an outcast not
only with God but also among the nations around them.
A stupid donkey
(Hosea 8:9a): “For they are gone up
to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself:”
“For they have gone up to Assyria /like/ a wild donkey going off on its
own. (HCSB)
Dr. Wiersbe writes “Israel wanted to be a part of the
alliances that were forming to fight Assyria, but she was actually very much
alone. She was like a dumb animal that had
lost its way in the wilderness. Israel
had forsaken her God, and she had been forsaken by her allies, so she was
abandoned to face a terrible future alone.”
A Prostitute (Hosea
9:b-10): “Ephraim has hired lovers. 10 Even though they hire allies among the
nations, Now I will gather them up; And they will begin to diminish Because of
the burden of the king of princes.” “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. (NIV)
When Israel was in trouble she began to pay other nations
to care for her including the Assyrians who eventually destroyed her. Israel did not want the Lord to help her but
she wanted help from the nations around her and also from the idols that she
worshiped. God hand only one alternative
and that was to allow the Assyrians to destroy her.
We have two longer sub-points to look at and I hope to do
them in the next two days.
7/1/2015 10:28 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment