the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 5 of 5
Hosea 8:1-14
Heralded by a trumpet blast, judgments are about to be poured out on the guilty nation (cf. Matthew 24:28; Matthew 24:31; Revelation 8:6 . . .). Those who would protest loudly, "My God, we know thee" (v. 2) will evoke this implacable reply, "I tell you, I know you not . . ." (Luke 13:27). Matthew 7:21 cites those false Christians who cry "Lord, Lord!" without ever having paid heed to the divine will. In this way vv. 2-4 stress the contradiction between the expression "My God" and the spirit of total independence shown by the nation. Whereas once it was God who appointed the kings and laid down the procedures for the temple worship, now Israel had themselves chosen their kings and established the basis for an idolatrous religion (vv. 4, 5, 11; 1 Kings 12:20; 1 Kings 12:28-33). In Christendom today, everyone thinks he is able to choose his system of worship, and in the sects and churches there is that which will satisfy every point of view.
The children of Israel will be "a vessel wherein is no pleasure" (v. 8; Isaiah 30:14). "The LORD accepteth them not" (v. 13). May each one of us be "a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work." But let us not forget the obligation of "everyone that nameth the name of Christ" (2 Timothy 2:19-22).
