- 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 4:6 – Starting in chapter 4 the whole visual example of Hosea and his adulterous wife is set aside and God begins to speak plainly about the state of Israel. The nation had fallen deep into sin, they had broken all restraints, and they were diving head first into all sorts of sin and worship of false gods. In verse six we learn a primary reason the people of Israel lacked the knowledge of God’s word which caused them to stray so heavily. The priests, the ones who were supposed to be teaching God’s word to God’s people, had themselves chosen to reject God’s word and were not teaching it to the people. When the teachers of God’s word don’t teach God’s word, God’s people stray to sin. While this sort of passage is certainly directed at me as a preacher, know if you are a Christian, this passage is speaking to you as well. Every follower of Jesus is to be a proclaimer of His Word. We are to share His word to our fellow believers to help them grow, and we are to share God’s word with non-Christians to help them know of God’s salvation. So when we look at the state of the world we are in now, would we say the world knows God and knows God’s word properly? Sadly no, and that’s on all of us believers. Today, however you can and with whoever you can, start sharing the truth of God’s word and make His word known to everyone. Let lack of knowledge of God’s word not be the case for the people that God has put in your reach. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2943
- The more they increase, the more they sinned against me; I will change their glory into shame. (V.7) Have you ever found yourself praying for an increase of some sort and it didn’t come to pass? You didn’t get the job or get into that school. That person didn’t look your way or reply back to your messages. Things just didn’t work out, but you prayed hard that they would. Why would God listen to your prayers, but not offer the answers that seem so good to us to have? Maybe those things didn’t enter your story because God knew they would hurt your story. Maybe they didn’t enter your story because God had something better in mind for your story. Maybe they didn’t enter your story because God knew they would lead you away from Him. Whatever the reason is, God held off on giving whatever it was to you because He knew it was best for your story not to have it. That’s often hard to accept, especially when it seems so perfect at that time and no explanation is available currently as to why it wouldn’t work out. Thankfully though our God is trustworthy. If He chose to keep that thing out of your story, know it was for your benefit. His goal is to lead you to Him and to help you accomplish His mission. If something doesn’t fit into His goal, He’s not going to add it to your story. – Daily DEVO 27
- My people inquire of a piece of wood, and their walking staff gives them oracles. For a spirit of whoredom has led them astray, and they have left their God to play the whore. Hosea 4:12 – This passage sums up the stupidity of following an idol. They seek advice from a piece of wood? They get their directions in life from their walking stick? That’s sounds so idiotic, but we do things just like they did. We listen to our non-Christians friends on how to live our life. We let our calendar tell us if we have enough time for God this weekend. We let our emotions determine what we do in a current situation. See, we can be just like these people worshiping a stick so don’t make yourself as any better. We all need to daily choose to listen and follow God. If we don’t, something else sure will tell you what to do and where to go and how to respond. Make sure that the God you claim as your God has the authority you claim He has in your story. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 554
- They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the whore, and your brides commit adultery. Hosea 4:13 – Because their shade is good, another way to read this is because their darkness is good. Even in the light of day they could hide within the dark shadows of these trees and commit their sins of adultery. However deep the darkness, it apparently wasn’t able to hide from God what was happening under those trees. We too may have places of “shadows” that we believe go unseen by others and God. We visit these shadows because the darkness is good there and we enjoy what we find in those shadows. While we very well may be able to hide what we’re doing in those shadows from people in our story, know God sees into those shadowy parts clearly. Nothing is hidden from Him. Let’s then seek to end our visits to the shadows. Let’s make sure that what God sees in our story is a complete pursuit of Him, one without side trips to the shadows. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1672
Daily DEVO 