016 Hosea 7

Hosea piles on the metaphor in an unrelenting fashion in chapter 7. The first problem Hosea addresses: God sees all of Israel’s sin, despite the fact that Israel has become blind to it.

But they do not consider that I remember all their evil.
Now their deeds surround them; they are before my face.

This is despite the fact that God is ready and willing to forgive if Israel will repent.

When I would heal Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed, and the evil deeds of Samaria,

Is there sin in your life that you act like God can’t see? What are some sins, secret sins, that you’ve explained away and no longer wrestle with or find yourself justifying? Remember the promise extended to Israel in Jeremiah: 

For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.

This promise is extended to us through God’s amazing love through Christ’s sacrifice. The call to repentance is for us, now, too.

For with hearts like an oven, they approach their intrigue; all night their anger smolders; in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.
All of them are hot as an oven, and they devour their rulers.
All their kings have fallen, and none of them calls upon me.

Israel burns hot like an oven for the idols of other Gods. But they can’t burn hot for these others and truly call upon God. We know they continued in their temple sacrifices, but these were empty ceremonies, not true repentance. Where in your life are you trying to serve two Gods?

Ephraim is like a dove, silly and without sense, calling to Egypt, going to Assyria.

As Israel begins to realize its predicament, instead of returning to God in repentance and restoring the covenant, they go looking for help from other nations. It’s as if they’re willing to try anything before they return to Him. What’s your Egypt or Assyria? To what do you fly towards when life gets hard before you return to God?