What shall I do with you?

Hosea 6:4-6

“What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?  What shall I do with you, O Judah?
Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away.
Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light.  For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”

What shall I do with you?  Many parents have asked such a question of a child, many teachers have asked the same question of a student, and many employers have the same questions about an employee.  But when it is God asking the question of you or me it time to stop and listen, to examine and to repent.  What do those asking the question above have in common; is it not authority? 

Authority and how one defines and submits to it have much to do with how a family, a church, a business, or a nation will fare.  So do you see authority mentioned in the above paragraph as having the right to command; to hold power; a source of reliable information and a quality that is respected?  I pray that you do, but what happens when those placed in authority, have no regard or fear of the authority over them?   This was Ephraim or Israel’s problem and it also became Judah’s problem, and when leaders of families, churches, business, or nations, forget that the source of power or authority is a gift of God; the question will always be “What shall I do with you?”

Have you given thought to your love for God, is it like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes away early?  And to some degree, many of us allow the cares of this life to give us morning clouds or dew, instead of love for our LORD, and so God allows troubles and pain to enter into our lives so that we will return to our first love.  But love must have a driver, a desire for relationship, and a desire to love and be loved by spending time with the one you love.  And God has spoken often in Scripture about what He desires; as in Hosea 6:6, “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”

It is my understanding that Hosea’s time was not much different that ours; God has the same question for parents, teachers, priest, preachers, employers, and leaders of nations; “What shall I do with you?”  And it seems clear that when leadership is not fulfilling its appointed role this always happens; "My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray and caused them to roam on the mountains. They wandered over mountain and hill and forgot their own resting place.”  (Jeremiah 50:6)  Or as stated in Isaiah 53:6, “All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.”  Yes, Jesus is the answer, so today if your relationship is strained or if it has become clear you do not have one, then do as Isaiah 55:6-7 instructs one to do; “Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near.  Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the LORD, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice