Bad company corrupts good morals.

Hosea 7:8-16

As I read verses 8-10, they bring back warnings from my youth, from both mother and dad, from coaches and preachers, that bad company corrupts good morals.   And you may wonder where did they all come up with that saying, for it seemed consistent as if it was a rule of some kind?  It was an order from God to the Chosen People and if you would like to read the total account it is found in Joshua 23:1-16, but for the purpose of this paper look at verses 6-8 with me.  “Therefore, be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, turning aside from it neither to the right hand nor to the left, that you may not mix with these nations remaining among you or make mention of the names of their gods or swear by them or serve them or bow down to them, but you shall cling to the Lord your God just as you have done to this day.”  That is not what is happening with Israel and now the judgment is taking place, but their leaders are far from God and have no clue about what is taking place.

Now, my parents, coaches, and preachers may not have come up with it from Joshua, but I believe they had read it and I would also bet the farm their parents and grandparents have given this quote from 1 Corinthians 15:33, “Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”  Israel was reaping a harvest from the customs and values of their godless neighbors, and it seems like that in 2016.  They, like us have moved away from seeking God and had allowed little gods to control our minds and hearts, gods that cannot bring peace or rest into our lives when the bottom falls out.  Israel, like us was in real trouble, but they were prideful and would not return to the LORD, and would not seek him in this crisis.  As this is being written, Franklin Graham is going to each state capital to lead the people in prayer, but only a few thousand are willing to make prayer a priority, are we not like Israel in Hosea’s time?

Hosea compares Ephraim to a bird, silly without sense, the leaders were running to godless nations asking for help, nations like Egypt, and Assyria, and God is telling them as they go, I will spread over them my net.  Hosea 7:12-16, “As they go, I will spread over them my net; I will bring them down like birds of the heavens; I will discipline them according to the report made to their congregation.
Woe to them, for they have strayed from me!  Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me!  I would redeem them, but they speak lies against me.  They do not cry to me from the heart, but they wail upon their beds; for grain and wine they gash themselves; they rebel against me.  Although I trained and strengthened their arms, yet they devise evil against me.  They return, but not upward; they are like a treacherous bow; their princes shall fall by the sword because of the insolence of their tongue. This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice