Mean What You Say

Have you ever had somone try to pull one over on you—to use fine sounding words to flatter, to confuse, or to redirect your focus onto something else?  Maybe you’ve seen this in business, politics, or perhaps you parent very clever teenagers.  If we’re honest, we may have to admit that we’ve attempted this kind of thing ourselves to gain an advantage.  The ironic thing is that we can even try to pull one over on God, though He knows everything and judges the heart.  Hosea 6 captures just such an attempt at a time when being honest and truthful was particularly important.  With a Minor Prophet around, blowing smoke to try and derail hard truth didn’t get very far.

God was very clear in Hosea as He called out the spiritual and moral decline of His people and their leadership.  The judgment of the people had been oppressed and crushed because of their determination to go after filth and brokenness (Hosea 5:11). God’s own people were making God look bad in how they were treating each other and ignoring the good ways of God.  So He turned up the volume and sent Hosea to shake things up.  The response was less than stellar.

In chapter 6 Hosea records a wonderful praise song to God likely written by the priests saying just what they thought God wanted to hear.  It would have been a very powerful call to repentance if only it had been honestly meant.  God wasn’t fooled for a minute by this display of empty religious action and declared words that I’m sure many frustrated parents may have uttered before: “What am I supposed to do with you?” (Hosea 6:4)  The love expressed in that moment to God lasted no longer than a morning mist.  The people were in a pinch with God and decided to try and pull one over on Him to get Him off their backs so they could go right back to what they were doing before.  News flash: that still doesn’t work with God today.

What God desired was not empty religious expression but steadfast love and knowledge of Him that guided and shaped relationships in good ways, both with Him and with other people (Hosea 6:6).  These days we are living in now can be very stressful and uncertain, and being honest with God about such feelings and how we may have acted poorly upon them can be unappealing.  We may just want to push through no matter what and clear things up after it’s all over, but that only makes things worse.  We need steadfast love and knowledge of God today as much as ever.  Through Christ in honest prayer, mean what you say to God in confession, petition, and praise.  He will give us all that we need in these tumultuous times, and what He gives through Jesus brings redemption, healing, and peace.  Just what we need today!