Join us as we delve into the recurring themes of judgment, shame, and redemption portrayed in Hosea 10. Relate Israel’s historical struggles with our own potential downfalls when prosperity clouds faith. Through personal reflections and scripture, we emphasize the importance of gratitude and continued faithfulness, urging listeners to seek the Lord and embrace a life rooted in spiritual truths.
Israel is a luxuriant vine that yields its fruit. The more his fruit increased, the more altars he built. As his country improved, he improved his pillars. Their heart is false. Now they must bear their guilt. The Lord will break down their altars and destroy their pillars.
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For now they will say, We have no king, for we do not fear the Lord. And a king? What could he do for us?
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They utter mere words. With empty oaths they make covenants. So judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field. The inhabitants of Samaria tremble for the calf of Beth-Aban. Its people mourn for it. and so do its idolatrous priests, those who rejoiced over it and over its glory, for it has departed from them. The thing itself shall be carried to Assyria as tribute to the great king. Ephraim shall be put to shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his idol. Samaria’s king shall perish like a twig on the face of the waters. The high places of Avon, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed. Thorn and thistle shall grow upon their altars, and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us! And to the hills, Fall on us! From the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel. There they have continued. Shall not the war against the unjust overtake them in Gibeah?
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When I please, I will discipline them, and nations shall be gathered against them when they are bound up for their double iniquity.
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Ephraim was a trained calf that loved to thresh, and I spared her fair neck. But I will put Ephraim to the yoke. Judah must plow. Jacob must harrow for himself. So for yourselves righteousness, reap steadfast love, break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you. You have plowed iniquity, you have reaped injustice, you have eaten the fruit of lies, because you have trusted in your own way and in the multitude of your warriors. Therefore the tumult of war shall arise among your people, and all your fortresses shall be destroyed, as Shellman destroyed Beth Arbel on the day of battle. Mothers were dashed in pieces with their children. Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel, because of your great evil. At dawn the king of Israel shall be utterly cut off.
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After hearing these chapters day after day, you can see why in 1991 I read four chapters at a time, partly because Hosea seems to be a bit repetitive, but also because the message day after day gets pretty tough to take. So back in 1991, when I read Hosea 9-11, I had a one-line summary of chapter 10. It’s basically quoting verse 12, Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord. In 2007, I wrote, Israel walks away from God because self-sufficiency, like many today. Verse 2, I quoted, Their heart is faithless. Now they must bear the guilt. God continually begs us to come back. Verse 12, Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord until He comes to rain righteousness on you. And in my prayer that year, I wrote, Thanks for continually calling me back to you. In 2012, I wrote, Prosperity led to Israel’s fall and idol worship. When God has enough, he steps in. He instructs us to sow for yourselves righteousness, reap steadfast love, break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you. But instead, we plow iniquity. We eat the fruit of lies, trust in our own ways and in alliances with others. Therefore, we are destroyed. I think the focus from chapter 10 could be on prosperity. Let’s look at verse 1. Israel is a luxuriant vine that yields its fruit. The more his fruit increased, the more altars he built. As his country improved, he improved his pillars. Israel started out well. It was dependent upon the Lord. Remember God moved them from slavery out of Egypt into the land flowing with milk and honey. He provided prosperity. He provided abundance. And yet, the more their fruit increased, the more altars they built. And surely they were not to the Lord. They were to idols. As the country improved, they built more pillars or more idol-worshipping places. And we have to relate that to our own nation’s history. We started out too, many think, as a Christian nation built on godly principles, Judeo-Christian principles. And as we grew and prospered, we have moved farther and farther away from the Lord. Countries begin to take credit for their own prosperity, forgetting that God is the one who even gives us the rain that crops can grow. He is the one that provides our prosperity and our wealth. And it’s true for nations, but it’s also true for individuals. We too, many of us, started out our careers with not very much. And as we grow, as we prosper, as we become successful, we seem to walk away from the Lord too and begin to take credit for our own creation of wealth, our own prosperity, our own abundance, our own blessings. I have been very cautious in my life to take credit for any gain that I get, for any wealth creation. for any prosperity, for any blessings. I am a very grateful person. I am grateful to God for all the blessings that I have experienced in my life. I look to the Lord for where my hope comes from. I thank Him for my talents and abilities that He has gifted me with so that I can be somewhat successful in life. But I am forever grateful for God who blesses me and gives me good gifts from above. I believe the life application from this portion of this chapter is to thank God for our wealth, to thank God for our prosperity, to thank God for the blessings we have in our lives, and to not take them for granted nor take the credit for them. So let’s be thankful today for the gifts that God has given us. And let’s do what he instructed us to do in verse 12, as Hosea declared, Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap steadfast love, break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you. Father, we do give you thanks. We thank you for every blessing that we have enjoyed and received in our lives. We do thank you for the gifts, talents, and abilities that you bestow upon us so that we can enjoy a measure of success in this life. but we’re also careful to give you all the praise and the glory for the gifting that you’ve given to us and the blessings we’ve enjoyed. And we heed your call in this chapter to seek the Lord, that you may come and reign righteousness upon us. We do seek you and we thank you for the blessings that we have enjoyed in our lives. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen. Thanks for listening to ADDBIBLE today. You know, sometimes we need a plumb line, a true north, a solid basis of truth to live life. We’re not going to find it in the media or in social media or Google or your friends, but it is available right at your fingertips. Pilate asked Jesus in John 18, 38, what is truth? The chapter before, Jesus had answered the question in his prayer to God for his disciples. In the 17th verse, Jesus pleads with the Father, sanctify them in the truth, thy word is truth. So what would it be like if everyone, everywhere, read the Bible every day? Wow, it might be heaven on earth. What would it be like if every Christian read the Bible every day? Would we be better ambassadors for Christ? What would it be like if everyone in your community read the Bible every day? Would we have greater impact in our communities? And what would it be like if you personally read the Bible every day? Could you use a closer walk with Jesus? Could you use a light unto your path and a lamp unto your feet to walk through this life? Could you use a spiritual power surge in your life? Matthew 22, 29, Jesus speaking to the Sadducees said, You are mistaken not understanding the Scriptures or the power of God. Yes, the Scriptures can give us power to live this life. So I’m going to give you three easy action steps to make the Bible worth your time each and every day. Number one, commit to daily Bible readings. Commit to seek God and His Word daily, every day. And if you miss a day, start again the next day. Change your belief about God’s Word to behavior in God’s Word. Use any of our Ezra Project resources to help you. Visit EzraProject.net to get an Ezra Project Bible reading journal or one of our day-by-day through the Bible books. Commit today and visit EzraProject.net for easy-to-use resources for your daily time in God’s Word. Number two, be intentional. Decide what you want out of your Bible reading. I got to visit the headquarters of Back to the Bible once in Lincoln, Nebraska. And in one hallway down one side, they had scribbled all the reasons people say they don’t read the Bible. On the other side were all the reasons people do read the Bible. And I want to give you some of those to encourage you. On that wall, it said, God wants me to. Yes, God wants you to read the Bible. Do you want to meet with him daily? Because he’ll meet with you every day through his word. Number two, it changes me. Where could you be in one year with more Bible reading in your life? Number three, it improves my outlook on life. Yeah, turn out the bad news and saturate yourself with good news from the Word of God. Number four, it keeps me grounded. Yes, when the storms of life come, and they will, can you stand? Yes, you’ll stand better and more solid because you’re in the Word of God. Next, it keeps my heart soft. Yeah, Nehemiah 8, when people heard the word, they wept and they worshipped. You will do the same as the word softens your heart. Lastly, on the wall it said, it keeps my daily focus on God. Yeah, that’s a great reason to read the Bible. You’ll gain the spiritual power to live life in our secular world. And then thirdly and lastly, feed your soul. Let God minister to your soul. Hebrews 4.12 says the Word of God pierces between your soul and your spirit, between joints and marrow, and is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of your heart. Nothing else goes that deep. I don’t know where the place is between my soul and my spirit, but I want to put the Word of God there each and every day of my life. I hope you do too. God bless you as you spend time in God’s Word. If you’re worried about the moral decline, let not your heart be troubled. Remember when God unleashed ten plagues on Egypt? None of them affected the Israelites. No flies, no bloody water, no hail, no death angel. Though they lived in Egypt, they lived under God’s protection in Goshen. As you consume the news of our day to day, you may become hopeless. So visit EzraProject.net and read Living in Goshen. It will brighten your countenance and renew your trust in God. Even as plagues rain down all around us, you can live in Goshen and not be affected. Visit EzraProject.net and read Living in Goshen today. I know you’re going to enjoy it and want to share it with others.
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