Seeking Freedom

Hosea 12:9-14

If you studied the history of how our nation began, it seems impossible to have won such a victory over the mighty navy an army of the British Empire.   In the heart of a few men God put the desire to live in freedom, and the ability to share a vision with their neighbors of being able to worship as they pleased, and to be,  “ We the People.”  The founders were men with a great deal to lose, and most of them paid a high price for freedom, but they were looking to God to do what they could not do, to give victory over an oppressive government that saw them as servants of the state.  As we look at Hosea chapter 12, we need to return to verse four where Jacob struggled with the Angel and prevailed.  What was going on in verse 12?   We have Hosea comparing Israel’s time in Egypt to Jacob’s in Aram.  Both went seeking the favor of the area, Israel was in need of food and Egypt had it in its storehouses.   

Jacob was looking for a wife and a new life and was fleeing from a brother who wanted to kill him for stealing his birthright.  Both had this in common they ended up as slaves.

In both cases, it was the desire to be a free people that God had placed in their heart, and first, let's look at how that played out with Jacob.  Do you recall that Jacob was a guy you would not want to do any horse trading with, for he was good at deception and God allowed him to come under a man named Laban who was a master at deceit?  You recall it was Rachel that Jacob loved but it was Leah the older sister who ended up in his wedding bed.  And to have Rachel as his wife he had to work for 7 more years.  Do you recall that God placed in Jacob's heart to return to the land of his fathers and freedom?

Picking up the story in Genesis 31:2-9, “Then the Lord said to him, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you.”

Jacob had Rachel and Leah called to the field where his flocks were. He said to them, “I can see from your father’s face that his attitude toward me is not the same, but the God of my father has been with me. You know that I’ve worked hard for your father and that he has cheated me and changed my wages 10 times. But God has not let him harm me. If he said, ‘The spotted sheep will be your wages,’ then all the sheep were born spotted. If he said, ‘The streaked sheep will be your wages,’ then all the sheep were born streaked. God has taken away your father’s herds and given them to me.”

We also know that after 400 years in Egypt, the people who came there for food were now slaves and had been slaves for many years and God told a man named Moses to go back to Egypt and set His people free.  You recall the story of the exodus of 2 million people going to a land of promise and after getting there they began to believe it was with their might and engineering that all this prosperity had come to them, and they threw it away through their contempt of God’s law.  They began to worship gods like Baal and were coming under the judgment of God.

As I look at the landscape of our nation, I wonder how long will a Holy God put up with the contempt shown to Him?  You have heard the statement “You have come a long way baby” and yes, we have come from a group of men who were willing to give up all for freedom so that they and others could live as free men not oppressed by government, to a nation of foolish people who want a government to control all aspects of life in order to keep them safe and give them crumbs no matter what it cost.

From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice