Devotional on Hosea

2012 Lost Maples State Park, TX

Farther than you want to go
Hosea 4: That whirlwind has them in its clutches.
Hosea’s personal parable soon gives way to his prophecies concerning sinful Israel. The background of his own experience is especially evident in his constant references to the debauchery of Israel and descriptions of God’s disgust with their practices even as he loves them and calls them back. The experience of Hosea with his unfaithful wife is a reflection of all that. In this passage Hosea complains about their idol worshipping, sexually explicit religion. They think promiscuity and drunkenness is their ticket to happiness and satisfaction. Instead, as some wise people have said, “Sin will take you farther than you want to go.” They’re willingly giving themselves to something that won’t satisfy and will ultimately destroy them. What starts out as willful sin (“I can quit anytime I want”) becomes obsession and possession. What they thought they could control now controls them. People start down some foolish path thinking they’re in control. Before long, they’re where they never expected to be and bound by what they never thought could control them.
Take Away: Sin will take you farther than you want to go.

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