Hosea 4:6
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Since you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the Law of your God”.
This is a sad declaration. God condemns the priests. They have rejected His knowledge. They weren’t performing their job. They were to be the guardians of God, His Word and the people. They abandoned that task.
This reminds me of many of the mainline denominations of today. They have sided with the cultural values rather than God and His Word. I’ve got friends in those churches. I fear for them.
I understand the pressure they feel, as those that fear God are hated by the world. Here’s what Jesus says in John 15:18,19, ‘“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.”‘ No one likes to be disliked. Also, God is invisible, while those of the world are quite visible. There is a strong temptation to side with them.
It really is crazy. While God is invisible, He is the almighty, the creator and sustainer of the world. It’s the pot screaming at the potter. The priests of Hosea’s day sided with the people and culture. Jesus had similar complaints about the pharisees of His day, “And they do all their deeds to be noticed by other people; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. And they love the place of honor at banquets, and the seats of honor in the synagogues, and personal greetings in the marketplaces, and being called Rabbi by the people”, (Matthew 23:5,6).
If we don’t head God and His Word, we will be destroyed. In Matthew 21:43,44, Jesus shares a prophecy about Himself as the chief cornerstone, “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruit. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and on whomever it falls, it will crush him.” If we bow our knee to Him, we will be broken. That’s a good thing. He changes us for the better. We surrender to His will. If we don’t do that, then the stone will fall on us and we will be crushed, lost.
He and His Word are good. They are the instructions for life. They keep us from sin. If we surrender to Him, He forgives us, He gives us His Holy Spirit. He fills us. He adopts us as sons and daughters. The knowledge of Him saves us.
Thank You, Lord, for saving us. You broke us down and built us up.