By: Curtis Baker
As we continue on with our study of the Minor Prophets, I want to spend one more week with you in the book of Hosea. Last week we examined the strange command that God gave Hosea to marry a prostitute. We saw in this that Hosea’s personal experience fleshed out the experience of God with his people, as God tried to draw them back from the corrupt lovers that Israel had given herself to. Hosea’s own personal experience of marrying an unfaithful woman brought firsthand knowledge of what God experienced as his people were unfaithful to him time and time again. Just as Hosea lovingly endured the unfaithfulness and called his wife back to him, so also has God repeatedly endured the unfaithfulness of his people, only to patiently call them back. This drama takes up the first three chapters of Hosea and sets up the major themes of the book. But there is much more to Hosea than his own personal story of love and betrayal. All of this is merely a prelude to the remaining eleven chapters of the book.
Out of all the themes we could pick up on in the rest of Hosea’s writing, I would like to focus a moment on a popular verse from chapter four. As Hosea begins to level charge after charge at the ways Israel has been unfaithful to God, he gives us a statement that summarizes the whole problem with God’s people. “My people are destroyed by a lack of knowledge.” (Hosea 4:6)
Think carefully for a moment about this statement. Here is a simple but deep insight as to why people and their lives come to total ruin. They are destroyed by a lack of knowledge. This is true from the simplest level up to the most profound of life’s situations. For example, at the simplest level, a small toddler may not understand that the burner on the cook stove is hot. He may have touched it several times before when the burner was not turned on, and therefore developed confidence that there is nothing that will harm him. He may have heard his parents warning not to touch it, but decided his own experience proved better. But let him touch it one time when the burner is on, and that child can be greatly harmed by what he did not know.
What is true on that simple level, is also true in the complexities of life. We may think we know what is best; we may think we know what will bring us joy and satisfaction; but without a true knowledge of what is fundamentally good or bad, we can potentially do great harm to ourselves because of our lack of knowledge.
With that in mind, I have developed a little mantra that I like to use now and again. That mantra is “reality always wins.” What I mean by that is, you can believe what you want to believe, do what you want to do, but you can be sure one thing will always remain true…reality always prevails. For example, you may think that eating 5,000 calories a day will not hurt you, but eventually reality will assert itself. You may think that pornography will not damage your marriage, but reality will eventually assert itself. You may think that drugs will not harm you, but reality will eventually assert itself. Reality always wins…without exception.
So with this being true, what should we learn from this? We should learn that one of life’s primary purposes is to find out what is reality and conform our life to it. To do anything but that is to set yourself up for destruction. Reality cannot be thwarted. It always wins. Anyone who lacks knowledge of reality can and will be destroyed by it. What Hosea points out to his readers is that his people are being destroyed by their lack of knowledge. God, as the author of life, has provided a means of understanding what is truly real. He has made his revelation known through his prophets and apostles, recorded for us in his Word. That Word is given for our benefit, so that we might understand what is true and real. Wisdom is taking that revelation and using it as the source of our life. But Israel was being foolish. They were forsaking true knowledge for false beliefs. With that in mind, we must take a moment to examine our own life. Are we seeking after true knowledge? Are we basing our life on it? Make no mistake, our fate rests upon a knowledge of what is truly real.
(Don’t forget to join me for A Message From the Heart radio program Sunday evening at 8:00pm on KJAK 92.7FM, or streaming live at www.kjak.com) (curtisbaker@hotmail.com)
Write to: P.O. Box 157, Slaton, TX 79364
