Hosea 8:1-14

We’ve officially made it over halfway through the book of Hosea! This is the part where readers usually feel a bit worn out with the amount of repetition…and I get it. It’s a lot. If you’re exhausted reading through how many times these things must be said, then you’re on track to understanding the extent to which the Israelites were betraying God. Over and over and over again, they were worshipping idols and pursuing the things of this world, and over and over again, God was merciful to give them warning after warning. It’s repetitive because their sin was repetitive. It had become habitual to the point of exhaustion. Verse 12 gives us a glimpse into God’s heart: “Were I to write for [Ephraim] my laws by the by the ten thousand, they would be regarded as a strange thing.” (Hosea 8:12, ESV). Basically, it didn’t matter how many different ways God tried to tell them how to follow him; they simply refused to do it. They had become so familiar with their idolatry that God’s will was strange and foreign to them. They were stuck in the cycle of sin, and something needed to happen in order to break that cycle. Unlike the Israelites, you have been given the way out of destruction. The Israelites had been warned and would have to pay the price by going back into slavery. But Jesus paid the price for your sin and brought you out of slavery. This is why it’s so important to look at Scripture through the lens of Jesus. Everything points back to him. Everything points back to the cross. The Old Testament is one giant foreshadowing of the coming Savior; it helps us understand the enormity of sin and the depths to which Jesus went for us to pull us out of that sin. Jump back to verse three for just a moment. “Israel has spurned the good; the enemy shall pursue him” (Hosea 8:3, ESV). When I first read this verse, I immediately thought of Romans 8:28: “God works all things together for the good of those who love him.” What is the good? The good is to become more like Christ. Israel had been given the Law to become more like Christ, but they rejected it. The result was that the enemy had an open door to overtake them. We have the same opportunity to become more like Jesus. Don’t miss it. Don’t get stuck in cycles of sin, but get in the Word and be obedient to it. When you do, the enemy doesn’t have a foothold any longer, and the cycles and repetition of sin are broken. It changes the way we read Hosea now, doesn’t it? Every time you start to feel tired of reading the warnings and accusations, let it be a reminder to you of God’s grace when his people turn from him time and time again. Let it frustrate you that the Israelites could be so thoughtless and evil. Let the exhaustion of sin exasperate your mind so that you might see more clearly how patient our God is with his children. Then let it be a reminder that you are also one of these people. Romans 3:23 tells us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (emphasis mine). If you’re a believer, then you’ve heard the Gospel. You know God’s standards, and you know that you fall short. You know that you turn from him daily, even if you have heard his laws ten thousand times. Yet because of his grace, you don’t have to be caught in that cycle of sin. “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). Now with this, go out, and be bold in that freedom!