"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight,
O LORD, my rock and my redeemer." Verse 14
Hosea 8:1-3
The enemy (characterized here as vultures) is circling over God's people because they have broken his covenant and defied his revelation. Yet they cry out "We know you!"
From the devotional book, these words: "Despite our lover God pursuing us tenderly, we continue to reject his love. We treat him not with tenderness but with contempt, discarding all he has done with us. And we continue to live like whores." Strong words, eh?
Israel says they know God, but then act differenly. The thing that drives this home for me (and has for many years, now) is the kind of actions that we see in our youngest daughter. She always says "I love you," but she won't do what we ask of her without quite a bit of argument. Granted, it's all part of the Autistic Spectrum Disorder, but that doesn't make it any easier to handle. But it's a constant reminder to me of how God must view me. (As well as others like me.) I constantly tell him I love him, yet I refuse to do things that he wants me to do, or insist on doing things that he has told me not to. It really breaks my heart when I realize how I've broken his. Do my actions fly in the face of everything I've told him?
Grace and peace, friends.