"Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel!" Date: 740 B.C. (Hosea 4:1)
What about today? To what are we listening? Perhaps we fail to think about what is getting our regular attention...and what we are missing.
So much vies for our ears and eyes in a world of sensory overload. Images, ads, chatter, and talk-shows without number. So to what are we listening? And why?
And, do we ever, intentionally, turn down to "0" the cacophony of everything else and instead, listen to the Lord? Intentionally. That's the key word.
Through the remarkable loving of a whore by his prophet Hosea, the Lord was trying to get his people's attention. It was an uphill sled. Israel was captivated by all the wooings of an adulterous world. She ran after lovers and sensual pleasures, leaving her husband at home with the kids.
Still, the Lord asked for a moment. "Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel!"
Granted, the message from the Lord was not pleasant. It was an anguished appraisal of a people who had allowed their culture to promote "no faithfulness or steadfast love, no knowledge of God in the land." Rather, (4:2) there is "swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery. They break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. Therefore the land mourns..."
Love tells us the truth, even when it is not pleasant. Love will tell us things about our condition that we have lost the ability to see about ourselves. Love will tell us that our regularly chosen sin is ruining the very place and gifts God has provided for our life. "Therefore, the land mourns and all who dwell in it languish, and also the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, and even the fish of the sea are taken away" (4:3).
Love tells us these things not merely to accuse, but to awaken. To not awaken and change is to invite generational disaster. "Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children" (4:6).
Time to listen to our Lover...
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