The Liability of Not Knowing the Lord

A key phrase repeats in Hosea 4, cluing us into one of the most beneficial aspects of the Christian faith. We learn this, as usual, from Israel's failure. The people failed to know the Lord and the prophet makes clear that this failure leads to their downfall.

Hosea 4:1 (ESV) Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel, for the LORD has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land;

Hosea 4:6 (ESV) My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

Verse 1 stipulates the lack of knowledge of God, and verse 6 reveals the results: Destruction. The people failed to abide by the covenantal stipulations; they sought after the Baals and Ashtoreths. They forsook the knowledge of God for the worship of created things. As a result, their community was fragmented and divisive. People became untrustworthy. The land and the wildlife suffered as a result (see verse 3). It is incredible to see the desolation nature follows the corrosive sin of culture. We see that even in the modern world. The same Lord who made the natural world and ordered it to operate properly wrote the laws of human operation as well. To break one destroys the other. 

Hosea lets us know, the problem for Israel is that age-old problem of prosperity. 

Hosea 4:7 (ESV) The more they increased, the more they sinned against me; I will change their glory into shame.

There is no greater temptation than to increase. This is why Jesus will speak of the difficulty with which the rich enter the kingdom of heaven. It's hard not to trust the substance of God's blessings rather than the God who provides them. 

Hosea 4:9–11 (ESV) And it shall be like people, like priest; I will punish them for their ways and repay them for their deeds. 10 They shall eat, but not be satisfied; they shall play the whore, but not multiply, because they have forsaken the LORD to cherish 11 whoredom, wine, and new wine, which take away the understanding.

These verses reveal an interesting form of judgment the Lord administers. The spiritual leaders will become like the people. In other words, instead of forming faith in the people, the priest will resort to appeasing and entertaining them. 

The Lord warns Judah not to follow suit in verse 15 and further stipulates the Northern kingdom must be avoided.

Hosea 4:17–18 (ESV) Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone. 18 When their drink is gone, they give themselves to whoring; their rulers dearly love shame.

The point is powerful. The way to personal holiness is to avoid those who contaminate themselves to the brink of ruin. Why? Because the effects of their choices become like a wind blowing them away. 

Hosea 4:19 (NLT) So a mighty wind will sweep them away. Their sacrifices to idols will bring them shame.

To think, it begins with not knowing the Lord. Will people realize the greatest liability in life is ignorance of God? Yet He has made Himself clear in the skies and in the scriptures. When we know Him, we know everlasting peace, security in this world, and sweet fellowship with others. 

Apart from Him, we can do nothing.