Have you ever overindulged in something good? Maybe you ate too much food at a pot-luck (I hope you are preparing for the pot-luck on Palm Sunday, just after our choir musical at 10am in the Sanctuary). Maybe you were out in the sun too long (a painful experience). You know what I mean. We can get too much of a good thing!
Hosea's message to the Northern Kingdom of Israel is, "don't be distracted by the façade of prosperity." The economy seems to be doing good. The political situation seems to be stable. But, Hosea tells the leaders, this is the calm before the storm! In Chapter 8:7, Hosea says, "They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind." What does he mean?
Here are a few thoughts! First, the wind. The Hebrew word here is Ruach. It is the word for wind but it also means "air for breathing, "the wind of God's Spirit," and "air placed in motion by divine breath." In English we think of the wind blowing through our hair, a breeze on a summer day or trees swaying as they are moved by the wind. Wind can be pleasing and beautiful, and it is literally a breath of fresh air on an August day in Alabama. But generally, wind in the Old Testament is predictive of something moved by God, put in motion by divine breath. Hosea's message is, "you are rolling along in prosperity and peace, blind to the bigger picture that you have ignored God, ignored what is happening outside Israel and ignored God's law."
Second, the façade. Last night the Oscars were awarded. Lavishly dressed people, placed on a pedestal by some of us, went to an annual party where they hype old and new movies as being a bit more than they actually are. One segment even honored the Godfather series as, "promoting family, loyalty, success and power," values the presenter seemed to believe we should all aspire to. If you remember the movies, they were about organized crime, greed, revenge and the pursuit of control. The dark underbelly of the lifestyles displayed reaped darkness, chaos and death. They are not virtues to be sought, but pitfalls to be avoided. Like Hosea's Israel, they sowed the wind, but reaped the whirlwind.
Finally, the whirlwind. In Hebrew and English, the meaning is the same. A whirlwind is a tornado. One of our members had family in New Orleans, where, a few weeks back, a tornado hit parts of several neighborhoods. We don't need a primer on the devastation and danger of a tornado. Whirlwinds are perilous, deadly, chaotic and indiscriminate in who/what they destroy. In Hosea, Chapter 8, God, through the prophet Hosea, lists the charges against the people of Israel. Broken covenant (v:1), rebellion (v:1), faithless praise (v:2), ignoring God's leading when installing leaders (v:3), selling out to foreign interests (v:9) and setting up idols (v:4-6). God also spells out the results of these behaviors. They include crops that look good but provide no sustenance (v:7), being swallowed up (v:8), the obscurity of being like the other nations (v:8) and oppression (v:10). It is not a pretty sight! And neither was the tornado of Assyria that wiped the Northern Kingdom off the map in 722BC.
Yet Hosea, like God the Father, expresses God's willingness to respond to repentance. "Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love and break up your unplowed ground ... for it is time to seek the Lord until the time he comes and showers His righteousness on you! (Hosea 10:12)." "I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them (Hosea 14:4)!"
At the Oscars, one of the people quoted Denzel Washington ... "When you are on top, that's when the devil will come for you!" I heard a soldier say, "The enemy doesn't ambush you in the stark desert. He waits for you in the oasis!" I think both of these statements are correct. Maybe some of the strife and chaos of our society is the result of exactly what Hosea was talking about. We have been told that bad things are really good. We have been given prosperity that is really a façade. We have all the stuff we can imagine, and yet we lack things of real value. We have sown the wind of complacency, apathy, haughtiness, superiority, self-righteousness, pride and idolatry. Maybe we are wondering why we are caught up in this whirlwind.
Maybe it is time to follow Hosea's advice ... "Seek the Lord." Jesus reminded us that if we seek the Lord we will find Him (Matthew 7:7). He also said, "Seek ye first, the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added unto you (Matthew 6:33)." Good advice I think! What about you? Randy
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