Hosea 5:7: “They have dealt treacherously with the LORD, / For they have begotten pagan children. / Now a New Moon shall devour them and their heritage.”
October 28th, 2021 by Pastor Ed in devotionalGod’s message to His people through Hosea was that He was upset with them for including their children in their pagan idol worship. These parents were raising a new generation that knew nothing about the true God or His desire to have an intimate, personal relationship with them. Sadly, this was not something that just happened back then, but is a growing problem today in the post-Christian western world, especially in our local area of California.
Twenty-five years ago it was unusual to meet someone who received the Lord, who had no previous knowledge of God. Most people grew up in some kind of church denomination, even if their parents were not committed believers. It is now becoming much more common to find new believers that had never even been in a church service before they got saved. It is of course wonderful that someone walks into church for the first time in their life and surrenders to Jesus Christ, repenting and confessing their sins, receiving salvation. However, it is a sad commentary on the spiritual wasteland that America has quickly becoming in the short time span of a single generation.
The people of Hosea’s day had become comfortable with the way the world did things, or as it says in verse 11, they “willingly walked by human precept.” This is exactly the same problem we have today, individually and as a nation we are ignoring God’s law and replacing the law of the land with our own preferences. We have begun applying secular solutions to our growing social problems, and we are leaving the next generation with no reliable eternal anchor for the gathering storms of life.
“LORD, we confess our sins and humble ourselves to pray for our nation, that we would seek Your face and turn from our wicked ways, and that You would hear from heaven and forgive our sins and heal our land. Revive us again we ask in Jesus’ name.”