Today’s reading: Hosea 6:1-11:12
My selection: Hosea 9:10b
But they came to Baal-peor and consecrated themselves to the thing of shame, and became detestable like the thing they loved.
My reflections: When you love something, you become like the thing you love. God indicted Israel for their idolatry laying out in vivid form, through the marriage of Hosea to the prostitute, Gomer, how repugnant they had become. Here He tells them that they had become like what they loved and worshiped. They had become detestable.
Romans 1:28, 29 fills this out even more. Men see themselves as wise, but have become fools. They lose the ability to enjoy the blessings of normal sexuality. They become so degenerate that all relationships are broken down into evil and selfishness.
My challenge: It is a good thing to see ourselves as God sees us: sinful, rebellious, despicable, but also, if you are a believer, chosen, loved, and forgiven by Him. Never let one of those contrasting realities about your identity overshadow the other. Do not become presumptuous of your acceptance before Him, as if He were obligated by any merit in yourself to extend forgiveness. Do not become so overwhelmed by your propensity to lapse into sin that you doubt the sufficiency of His power, mercy, and grace through Christ to redeem and preserve you for Himself for ever.
Tomorrow’s reading: Hosea 12:1-Joel 2:27
Comments