It is Time to Seek the Lord

There are two themes that I noticed as I looked through the book of Hosea today.  The first is that the people of Israel being addressed did not have the knowledge and understanding that as the people of God they should have had.  “Israel hath forgotten his Maker” the prophet described (Hosea 8:14).  Hosea said to them, “Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land” (Hosea 4:1).  The people, though they undoubtedly participated in the rituals of the Law of Moses, did not really know God or have a true understanding of Him.  The Lord explained, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children” (Hosea 4:6).  Without a real knowledge of what the religious forms they participated in meant, those religious acts were essentially meaningless.  Jehovah explained to them, “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6:6).  The Law of Moses and the sacrifices required were certainly important, but if they did not help the people to come to truly know God then of what value were they?  Christ used this verse from Hosea in the New Testament when He was accused by the Pharisees of eating with sinners.  He said to them, “But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matt. 9:13).  I think what Jesus was telling them was that He came to teach those who could recognize that they were sinners; He could not teach the Pharisees who did sacrifice but had no mercy and who gave burnt offerings but had no real knowledge of God.  As Hosea said, “The people that doth not understand shall fall,” and that’s exactly what happened to those Pharisees who rejected understanding of the religion that claimed to adhere to (Hosea 4:14). 

                The second theme that stood out to me is the invitation for us to seek the Lord.  The Lord said through Hosea, “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early” (Hosea 5:15).  We must seek the Lord if we want to gain that understanding that the people of Israel lacked.  Hosea invited, “Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up” (Hosea 6:1).  Using an analogy of the harvest, the prophet said, “Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you” (Hosea 10:12).  I love that language and it is perfectly applicable today: it is time to seek the Lord.  We must first sow and plant our efforts to seek His face, and if we do then ultimately the rain will come and we will reap mercy and no more have fallow ground.  The prophet implored us to come to Jehovah: “Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually” (Hosea 12:6).  In the last chapter He gave one final simple invitation: “O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God” (Hosea 14:1).  We all lack the knowledge that we should have of the Lord and His ways, and though it is important to keep the physical requirements of the law today, that’s only a stepping stone to the real work we have to do: seek to know the ways of the Lord with all our heart, “for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them” (Hosea 14:9).