Scripture: Hosea 7: 13 NIV
13 Woe to them,
because they have strayed from me!
Destruction to them,
because they have rebelled against me!
I long to redeem them
but they speak lies against me.
Hosea 7:13 KJV
13Woe unto them! for they have fled from me: destruction unto them! because they have transgressed against me: though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me.
Observation: We face negative consequences when we make bad choices.
Application:
Every decision that we make has a consequence. Whether these decisions are good or bad, they shape us and make us into the people that we are. We can be influenced one way or the other by circumstances, people, or scripture but it is ultimately each decision we choose is a personal choice that we make. This commentary suggests that throughout Hosea chapter 7 that
"God is complaining that even though he had employed every means for reforming Isreal, they still persisted in their iniquity, without fearing the consequences".
Verse 13 stood out for me because even the threat (promise?) of punishment did not seem to persuade them to seek God's redemption. I thought it was interesting that the NIV translation uses "they have strayed from me" and "I long to redeem them" and the KJV translation uses "they have fled from me" and "though I have redeemed them". The NIV seems to make it less harsh. The people "strayed" which makes me think of a lost pet that accidently got lost where as when I read "fled" I think of a more purposeful defiance. Just like "I long to redeem them" makes me think of God hoping for us to return but "though I have redeemed them" makes it sound more angry because God has already proved himself to the nation and yet they still have turned their back on Him. (Any thoughts on this??)This commentary adds that this verse:
"teaches how intolerable is our ingratitude, when, after having been redeemed by the Lord,
we keep not the faith pledged to him, and which he requires from us; for God is our
deliverer on this condition, that we be wholly devoted to him."
Prayer: Heavenly Father, You declared this promise of destruction so long ago to those who chose not to obey your commands and yet its words are true even today. When we watch the news, or read the papers, we see the wrath of bad decisions and the consequences that have resulted from them. Thank you for your gift and promise of forgiveness through Jesus and that you will forgive us for the mistakes that we make. Amen.
Tomorrow's Reading is HOSEA 9:1-14:9
4 comments:
I agree that "strayed" and "fled" do give different impressions of the verse. Strayed, to me, implies more so a distraction that led them away from God or a choice that was made without conscious thought, whereas fled is a conscious decision to turn and go another direction. That is a fairly significant difference, although of course both of those things happen to many or even most of us at one time or another. Sometimes we establish incorrect priorities thinking we are doing the right thing when we're actually not (stray), and sometimes we make a decision knowing that it is not what we are supposed to be doing (flee). It's a good reminder either way to be more purposeful and conscious of God's will in our decision-making processes. It's amazing how often we go about our daily routines as though He has no part of them and reserve seeking His will for "big" decisions, such as whether or not to move, or take a new job, or change churches.
You're right on the difference between stray and flee. I don't know which one is more accurate to the original text, but in the end the results are the same. Both actions turn you away from God.
I think it is probably far more common, and more dangerous, to stray. Like the slow fade that we talked about earlier. And though we can try to justify straying to ourselves as not willful disobedience, that's just fooling ourselves. Each small decision is still a deliberate decision - and when you add up several of those small decisions you end up very far from God indeed. Nobody really "loses their way" - we choose to get lost, with both small and big decisions.
Agreed.
It's true, Miriam, that we seem to reserve His will for the "big" things.
Tammy, I didn't even think about the slow fade comparison and it's true that straying may be more dangerous than fleeing. I instantly thought about how a Christian's choices are more carefully scrutinized as they walk the line between black and white (straying)and that leads people away from God and that sets up people to not want to follow God. However, a Non-Christian's actions are not as judged because people already know they have made the choice to flee from God. Does that make any sense??
Makes perfect sense to me.
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