Hosea 4:6: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. / Because you have rejected knowledge, / I also will reject you from being priest for Me; / Because you have forgotten the law of your God, / I also will forget your children.

October 27th, 2021 by Pastor Ed in devotional

The King James Version of this verse reads, “My people perish for lack of knowledge,” and it means ignorance breeds more ignorance. We notice that Hosea was speaking to believers here. We can know God and still not have a deep and intimate relationship with Him. And without that, we are unprepared to understand the real meaning of life and its challenges. An ignorance of God, His word, and His ways will leave us unable to weather the storms in our lives or be able to come to the aid of others who are struggling on their path toward eternity. Paul the Apostle wrote of this danger in his letter to the Romans:

and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.” (1:32, NASB)

This is what happens to us as believers when we rely on our own resources and fail to call on the Lord to intervene in our lives.

Several have pointed to the Pilgrims in the New World as an example of failing to look beyond themselves. During the Pilgrims 1st year, they successfully established a town. By the end of the 2nd year, they had put a working town council in place. In the 3rd year, the leaders began to propose plans for moving beyond the town limits and into new territories. In the 4th year, the council shared a vision for building a new road that would go 5 miles into the wilderness. Then, in the 5th year, the citizens tried to impeach the council for suggesting they build a road that, in their estimation, was “not needed and too costly.” Within a very short span of 5 years, the people who had the vision to cross the Atlantic and begin a life in a new land couldn’t see 5 miles into the wilderness. That same sort of small thinking and diminishing vision happens to individuals, churches, denominations, and nations. How we need to keep looking beyond ourselves and call on the Lord regularly to disrupt our lives and increase our vision, giving us a holy dissatisfaction with the status quo.

“Disturb us again, LORD, and push beyond our own selfish interests to see clearly Your view of the people of this world, who are dying without an intimate relationship with You.”