The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Hosea 4:7,
"The more priests there were, the more they sinned against me; they exchanged their glorious God for something disgraceful."
Although there were plenty of priests to represent Israel to God, plenty of opportunity to express themselves to the Lord, Israel turned from God. As the opportunities increased to meet with God, for Israel to taker her concerns to her Maker, to seek out his forgiveness for straying from him and seek his help, his blessing and to take comfort in him, they nevertheless turned from him. Opportunity was not in any way a limiting factor for Israel's faithfulness to the Lord. Having more than what might be needed with the priesthood, as custodians of God's word in the Scriptures, with the heritage of the faithful patriarchs, the temple and the temple worship, Israel "exchanged their glorious God for something disgraceful."
In his letter to the Romans, Paul speaks of the advantages Israel had, "Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen." Romans 9:4-5. Israel certainly had every opportunity to remain faithful to their Lord. Such is the sinful nature of man. In spite of every opportunity, mankind retains a rebellious and deceitful heart.
So too, today, we have every opportunity. With Bibles available, gathering dust on coffee tables, with the gospel message going to every corner of the world, with the perspective of a 20/20 hindsight of the things of God from today's historical perspective, with the legacy of God's apostles and prophets from the infancy of the church, with the presence of the Holy Spirit in the world to bring conviction, many today reflect the same sinful proclivity to turn from God when given every opportunity to turn to him.
And yet, it is within this miserable state of rebelliousness and sin that our loving heavenly Father sent his Son to die a horrible death on our behalf! How could it be that our Creator has such a love in his heart that in his great kindness and compassion he should do such a thing for us?! To think of the length he has gone to bring us into his family is mind-boggling!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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