Hosea Chapter 5 Verse 1

 This is an interesting verse more so for me in the structure than in the

message. The message is entirely straightforward and completely

repetitive so understanding and interpreting God’s dissatisfaction with

the decisions of the people is no complex matter.

 However, the structure is intriguing. The first people group mentioned

is the priests. The spiritual leadership of the people. How easy is it for

the leaders to blame the people for their actions but don’t the leaders

set the rules? Of course they do. What you allow, you affirm…,

simple as that…

 It’s easy to not like a leader that doesn’t allow you to do something.

Express something. Emote something. But that’s just a part of

leadership. People aren’t going to like when you stand firm and

disallow something. And it really doesn’t even matter what that

something is… However, folks especially don’t like it when it goes

against their emotions.

 It’s not always about how you feel. It’s about the glory of God and the

hard and narrow path being the one we collectively select. Because

that is the pathway that leads to life. Proverbs 29:11 says, “A fool

vents all his feelings, but a wise man holds them back.” Couple that

with Psalm 14:1, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God,’”

If it becomes about how we feel then how can it be about the will of

God? It’s easy to despise a leader when you don’t feel seen or heard

which is typically the result in today’s world of not being allowed to

do or continue to do something.

 Ultimately, the downfall of Israel can be squarely blamed not on all

the people doing what was right in their own eyes but on the leaders

that allowed it… Please don’t get me wrong or think me harsh.

Feelings are very important, but never as important as the will of God.

If so then feelings become an idol…

 There’s more to this pattern. Hear this, take heed, give ear! In the

Hebrew, obey, incline, hear. Faith is much like this. We trust the lord

not fully understanding and most the time definitely not in alignment

of feelings, but we obey… And in that obedience, we incline our

hearts towards God’s way. Our life and next reaction and next

emotion bend towards God’s results. And then we see…, we see that

His way is better. That opens our ears to understand. That’s the pattern

of faith.

 AND…, priests, house of Israel, KING! I love this pattern that

matches perfectly with the pattern we’ve already seen. The priest

simply seeks the Lord. God comes first. Then, my house, my life, my

heart, my mind, my results, my circumstance, my situation, my

relationship, my career, my ministry…, Israel – governed by God.

Once those things are under His authority, king! It’s THE pattern to

pursue in all things!

Hosea Chapter 5 Verse 2

 It’s so important to heed the rebuke of the Lord. That sense that you

are in the wrong. The gentle calling of the Holy Spirit on your heart.

And so, you apologize, you go and do what is right. That is repentance

and repentance leads to KING. If not, your heart can grow hard and

that thing you were into becomes the gateway to greater distance from

the Lord. The revolters are DEEPLY involved…

Hosea Chapter 5 Verses 3 – 4

 There have been so many times in my life where I have knowingly

done what I know is not right in the eyes of God and yet there’s this

inner conversation that I give myself about God somehow being ok

with it… That is an application of grace but it’s a misappropriation

of grace. The grace of God is to build me up, bring me closer to Him,

make me more like Him, bring me to a place of greater freedom in my

life…

 An application of the grace of God to my transgression is

inappropriate. This is where I ought to apply God’s mercy. Grace is

getting what I do not deserve. Mercy is not getting what I do deserve.

Is God a God of grace and mercy, yes. However, grace brings me close

to the Lord, while many times, mercy brings me to a place of

consequence and regret in my walk with Him.

 Not judgment, that’s the mercy part… But most certainly

consequence. In the end, God is not ok with that which I do that is not

right. It’s not ok with Him. And to the extreme, if this is your walk

with the Lord, “I can live however which way I want completely out of

line with God’s word and will and God is ok with that,” then to the

extreme statement made here at the end of verse 4, you cannot know

the Lord.

 There’s just no way. Because the grieving of the Holy Spirit, if the

Spirit of God is within you, is YOUR grieving as well. And you must

make it right with the Lord. There’s a spirit of MUST make it right in

you if you love someone. If you love them, then you can’t let the night

end with you being a jerk, or in the wrong, there’s something in you

that MUST make it right. So how can you say you know the Lord if

you do not love Him? You can’t…

Hosea Chapter 5 Verse 5

 Most “stumbling” is rooted in pride or comes from an issue with

pride. Stumbling is essentially new problems or new wounds popping

up in the course of the “thing,” whatever the thing is… So, you gotta

take a pause and check yourself when you begin to stumble. If you

take the time, it will testify to your face and then you can actually do

something about it!

Hosea Chapter 5 Verses 6 – 9

 If you do not find the Lord then whether you think so or not, you’re

not seeking Him. That’s the objective case because of Jeremiah 29:13

which says, “You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me

with all your heart.” So, here’s the deal, we seek the Lord in our

circumstance, situation, need and season but that’s not always going to

work. We need to seek the Lord in HIS circumstance…

 He is the one that doesn’t change. No variation or turning at all… So,

they bring their flocks and herds which speaks of a multitude of

sacrifice and offering but then it says in verse 7 that they deal

treacherously… So, no matter what they bring to God, they’re not

changing… So, they really aren’t seeking Him…

Hosea Chapter 5 Verses 10 – 12

 This sounds harsh but these statements of God come after the

treacherous dealings of the people and the fact that they had removed

landmarks. A landmark is a symbol of factual location. If you

remove it, the factual location doesn’t change, just the symbol! So, it

is as God has said it will be… If you sow to the wind, you reap the

whirlwind!

Hosea Chapter 5 Verse 13

 When the issue is recognized, where do you go? To a counselor that

can help you deal with the shortcoming of the circumstance or to the

Lord to discover what about you is causing or contributing to the

stumbling? This is a tough one because by nature, we naturally justify

our actions and emotions rather than prosecute them (and definitely

not as a first move).

 But David’s approach in Psalm 139:23-24 was, “Search me, O God,

and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is

any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” When

Israel realized their sickness, they didn’t turn to God but rather to

Assyria, their fellow man…

Hosea Chapter 5 Verses 14 – 15

 If the issue is with God, then you’re in the wrong, I’m in the wrong.

It’s that simple. God is good, God is love, God is perfect and God

never changes… So, we acknowledge our offense typically after I’ve

exhausted every other option, HA! And when I am sufficiently

afflicted, then I earnestly seek the Lord.

 The trick and the mark of maturity is not noticing your own affliction.

That’s quite natural. It’s how much you have an appetite to endure.

The grown realizes that the affliction, no matter the earthly cause, is

truly rooted in pride… So, rather than seek the soothing, you seek the

solution. Priest. You have learned enough, received enough, to know

at all and to know how to take it to the Lord in maturity. Allow Him to

minister truth to you, Israel… And then the king emerges.