#DailyDevotion Does Our Worship Show We Know The LORD?
Hos. 8“Put the horn to your lips! An eagle is over the LORD’s house, because they have broken My covenant and rebelled against My law. 2Israel cries to Me, ‘My God, we know You.’ 3But Israel has spurned what is good; let the enemy pursue him. 4They made kings without Me; they made princes without My knowing about it. With their own silver and gold they made idols for themselves only to be cut down. 5Your calf-god is a stench, Samaria. My anger blazes against this people. How long can they go unpunished? 6Samaria’s calf was made in Israel. Workmen made it; it is a false god and it will be cut into chips. 7They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. What they sow doesn’t mature but is only a sprout that produces no grain. If it were to produce it, foreigners would devour it.
It is said you can always tell a true prophet because they always have bad news on their lips. It would seem this prophecy gives credence to that saying. The LORD summons the prophet to put a horn to his lips as a warning to Israel. An eagle is over the LORD’s house, that is a bird of prey that is swift to the kill from above is over Israel. No doubt this eagle is the Assyrians who were known for their blitzkrieg attacks. Why are they over the house of the LORD? Because Israel has broken covenant with the LORD and rebelled against His law. They have transgressed what the LORD spoke to them on the mountain and they agreed to do.
The LORD quotes them, “My God, we know You.” But do they? What did Jesus say the Jews would say to Him on the Last Day? Matt. 7, 21“Not everyone who calls Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ will get into the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does what My Father in heaven wants. 22Many will say to Me on that Day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name?’ 23Then I will tell them frankly, ‘I never knew you. Get away from Me, you who are so busy doing wrong.’” The LORD knows what is on our hearts but He doesn’t have to go that far. He can just see what we are doing. The Israelites were not doing what the LORD commanded. Are we following suit?
What did Israel do? What were the charges? They made kings and princes without the command of God. They made idols. Worse, they made an image of the LORD Himself in the form of a golden calf at Bethel and Dan. They established their own worship sites where the LORD did not promise to put His name. How could they have gone so wrong when they had the book of Exodus, though we know they edited some of the Torah as exemplified in the Samaritan Pentateuch. The LORD’s anger was pointed at them. He did not consider their worship of Him through the golden calves to be worship of Him but of an idol god. You just can’t worship the LORD in a manner He has forbidden and then claim you’re worshiping Him.
The sow the wind and reap a whirlwind, i.e. a tornado. What they sow doesn’t mature and produce fruit, but if it did, foreigners would devour it as the LORD promised in the curses at the end of Deuteronomy. If you sow sin, don’t expect good results but rather the judgment of God.
We now don’t have a set place for worship. We worship in Spirit and Truth, from the heart. Does that mean anything goes? Should we not preach and teach rightly from His Word? Should openly unrepentant sinners lead worship? Are we reverent? Do we give Jesus glory? Do we glorify Jesus by our lives doing what He has commanded us to do so our worship is not a sham?
Heavenly Father, give us Your Holy Spirit so we may worship You in Spirit and Truth, from the heart and not with hypocritical lives. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.