Hosea 13
Today's Passage: Hosea 13
Have you ever really wanted something but then after you got it, it really wasn’t as great as the way you had imagined it? I felt that way about getting toys that had been advertised on TV when I was a kid. The commercials always made it seem like that particular toy would be the absolute best, and that even your parents would want to be with you and play with it. They always turned out to be the same as so many other things advertised to kids: expensive and then forgotten about within a few days of it being received.
In this chapter of Hosea, the Lord is speaking of His judgment of Israel and why it is occurring. Verses 10 and 11 really stood out to me. Hosea 13:10-11 says, “Where now is your king, to save you in all your cities? Where are all your rulers— those of whom you said, ‘Give me a king and princes’? I gave you a king in my anger, and I took him away in my wrath.”
This reminded me of when the Israelites demanded that Samuel appoint a king for them because the nations around them had kings, just like we saw advertisements . 1 Samuel 8:7-9 says, “And the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.’”
Having kings like the other nations turned out exactly the way God said it would. The Israelites turned from God, were abused by their kings, and ultimately were exiled. We sometimes make demands of God, but God knows what is best for us: that He is our ultimate King.
Is there anything in your life that is king over the Lord, or anything God has warned against that you are doing anyway? Pray and ask the Lord to reveal these things to you!
Written By: Kaitlin White
Have you ever really wanted something but then after you got it, it really wasn’t as great as the way you had imagined it? I felt that way about getting toys that had been advertised on TV when I was a kid. The commercials always made it seem like that particular toy would be the absolute best, and that even your parents would want to be with you and play with it. They always turned out to be the same as so many other things advertised to kids: expensive and then forgotten about within a few days of it being received.
In this chapter of Hosea, the Lord is speaking of His judgment of Israel and why it is occurring. Verses 10 and 11 really stood out to me. Hosea 13:10-11 says, “Where now is your king, to save you in all your cities? Where are all your rulers— those of whom you said, ‘Give me a king and princes’? I gave you a king in my anger, and I took him away in my wrath.”
This reminded me of when the Israelites demanded that Samuel appoint a king for them because the nations around them had kings, just like we saw advertisements . 1 Samuel 8:7-9 says, “And the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.’”
Having kings like the other nations turned out exactly the way God said it would. The Israelites turned from God, were abused by their kings, and ultimately were exiled. We sometimes make demands of God, but God knows what is best for us: that He is our ultimate King.
Is there anything in your life that is king over the Lord, or anything God has warned against that you are doing anyway? Pray and ask the Lord to reveal these things to you!
Written By: Kaitlin White
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