The chickens have come home to roost.

Hosea 7:1-7

“When I would heal Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed, and the evil deeds of Samaria; for they deal falsely; the thief breaks in, and the bandits raid outside.
But they do not consider that I remember all their evil.  Now their deeds surround them; they are before my face.  By their evil they make the king glad, and the princes by their treachery. They are all adulterers; they are like a heated oven
whose baker ceases to stir the fire, from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.  On the day of our king, the princes became sick with the heat of wine;
he stretched out his hand with mockers.  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.”

This writer is not about to say I understand all that is taking place in these seven verses, but it sure looks like the chickens have come home to roost.  I often wonder if people who go by the name Christian believe God is not paying attention?  When we deal falsely in business transactions or do not train our children in the ways of God, it brings shame on His name.   And like Ephraim and Samaria’s sins they have fallen into the pit they were hoping to trap others in.  So the question must be asked; are you playing the same game with God as they were?

The bad news is often your pastor or priest wants to share upbeat stories of love and prosperity not of, “But they do not consider that I remember all their evil.  Now their deeds surround them; they are before my face.”  So let us recall Micah 6:8, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”  Most of us understand a requirement, it’s not open for debate, it is set in stone, and yet we still try to negotiate or manipulate, and that practice started at a very early age for many of us.  But if you're one who has tried it with God, you experience what many of us have, “He changes not” but He does not force us to meet the requirement, but in not doing so we break fellowship with our Father.

Now the good news, once you grasp that God is not negotiating and that you are living a life of rebellion, you can come to the Father who loves you and agree that you have sinned against God, and desire to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God, that is referred to as repenting.  The king and leaders did not repent, they went the other way, and the mighty hand of God brought judgment on them.  It should be stated they chose judgment and had little fear of a Holy God, do you find yourself in the same boat?

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice