Hosea 7 is a very vivid picture of why God is going to judge the Israelites right before Assyria is going to take them over in 722 BC. God says that every time he tries to heal Israel they are fully exposed. Meaning that every time he tries to lead them and dwell with them they choose the world instead of him. God says even their prayers are corrupted. He says when they pray their prayers are selfish and self centered. They pray and repent for their own comfort, food, and survival instead of praying for God’s will for their lives. The Israelites are more concerned and consumed with these things and have become infatuated with themselves. They connect their comfort level with the blessings of God. This hits so close to home for me. I can’t tell you how many times my prayers are full of just me asking for God to keep me comfortable and safe and it says right here how the Israelites were filled with this self centered attitude towards God. I read this and it challenges me to pray in a more reverent way and to pray with the main focus of being filled by God and his will instead of my will for myself. We should concern ourselves with what He wants instead of what we want Him to bless us with. Blessings come and go. Even though they are not a bad thing, they shouldn’t become the main priority of our prayers. We should keep in mind that in our prayers sometimes God uses suffering to build and mold us into being more like him which should be our main goal. Be an empty vessel. Be able and willing to be used by God instead of just using God for a handout. Love y’all! Have a great day!
Hosea 7:1-16
Read scripture…
“when I heal Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim and the crimes of Samaria will be exposed. For they practice fraud; a thief breaks in; a raiding party pillages outside. But they never consider that I remember all their evil. Now their actions are all around them; they are right in front of my face. They please the king with their evil, the princes with their lies. All of them commit adultery; they are like an oven heated by a baker who stops stirring the fire from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened. On the day of our king, the princes are sick with the heat of wine — there is a conspiracy with traitors. For they — their hearts like an oven — draw him into their oven. Their anger smolders all night; in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire. All of them are as hot as an oven, and they consume their rulers. All their kings fall; not one of them calls on me. Ephraim has allowed himself to get mixed up with the nations. Ephraim is unturned bread baked on a griddle. Foreigners consume his strength, but he does not notice. Even his hair is streaked with gray, but he does not notice. Israel’s arrogance testifies against them, , yet they do not return to the Lord their God, and for all this, they do not seek him. So Ephraim has become like a silly, senseless dove; they call to Egypt, and they go to Assyria. As they are going, I will spread my net over them; I will bring them down like birds of the sky. I will discipline them in accordance with the news that reaches their assembly. Woe to them, for they fled from me; destruction to them, for they rebelled against me! Though I want to redeem them, they speak lies against me. They do not cry to me from their hearts; rather, they wail on their beds. They slash themselves , for grain and new wine; they turn away from me. I trained and strengthened their arms, but they plot evil against me. They turn, but not to what is above; they are like a faulty bow. Their leaders will fall by the sword because of their insolent tongue. They will be ridiculed for this in the land of Egypt.”
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