Today, I am reading and commenting on  Hosea 8-14.

I have an idea about what I see in this passage, but I am not sure that I can compose it coherently.  The passage addresses Israel, the Northern Kingdom, but I believe the message applies to many nations and societies throughout history.  God planted them and raised them, asking that they worship and serve Him.  The people promised to do so and carried out the rituals which they thought would show that they did.  But they also committed many sins which they thought they could hide away, or which they thought fell into loopholes in God’s commands.  Going to Church every Sunday and having a fish symbol on your car does not make you a Christian.  In fact those things are useless if you cheat to make more money, if you take advantage of those with less power than yourself.  Our society has become one which views the prophet as a fool and thinks that those who truly believe in God to be crazy.  The wealthy think that the rules do not apply to themselves.  Now is the time to sow righteousness so that we can reap the fruit of unfailing love; it is time to seek the Lord.  If we depend on our own strength, as individuals and as a nation, the roar of battle will rise over us and our fortresses will be devastated.   The ways of God are right.  We can choose to walk in them by faithfully listening to God, or we will stumble about like a drunkard.

I failed to find a way to express the idea which was in my head when I started, but I am satisfied with what I wrote.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.