A great Nation looking to small gods

Hosea 10:9-15

Not many times have I hoped to be wrong but as I write what seems so clear in my mind in this present darkness, in this year of a dysfunctional nation picking a person to lead us into the future.  As we begin in verse 9, God is giving Israel a time line of when they began to rebel against His authority, and it was in Gibeah, when a Levite’s concubine was raped, murdered, and cut into pieces.  It was also the capital of king Saul’s kingship and later deserted.  It makes one wonder, when did the USA cross a line in rebellion, was it Roe V. Wade in 1973?

Verse 10, the LORD is speaking; “I will discipline them at My discretion; nations will be gathered against them to put them in bondage for their two crimes.”  Two very important truths; first, God is always righteous in His judgment, yet mercy and warning are always before judgment.  Our crimes or sins against a holy God will be dealt with at His discretion, so what were the two crimes?  It seems it was seeking both success and security, but not by following the precepts of God, but looking to other nations and their false gods, and by building a mighty military.  This is a paradigm of many nations who came after Israel, but none have the foundation like Israel and the founders of this great nation I write from.  Do you see a similar model of the USA going down the same road as Israel?

As you read the remaining verses God is telling them and us, now is the time to repent, now is the time to seek God, so that He can send blessing and not curses.  They did not listen, they continued seeking idolatry and military power, and they were into the good stuff and not seekers of good or of God.  So God makes it clear that dawn is coming and the king and his kingdom will be totally destroyed.

My prayer is that we will not get the leader we desire, but a leader who will lead us back to God, that America will have a spiritual awakening, and that the dawn will not bring disaster but blessing.  I’m also sure that if we keep on the road we are on our dawn is going to bring only sorrow and pain, and once more a great nation has looked to little gods, gods that have no eyes to see, or ears to hear, when disaster comes.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice