(REFLECTIONS ON Hosea 13:1-16)

6 As they had their pasture, they became satisfied,
And being satisfied, their heart became proud;
Therefore they forgot Me.

9 It is your destruction, O Israel,
That you are against Me, against your help.

Are we for the Lord or against Him? Have we forgotten our God? Perhaps our initial reaction is “of course not!” Yes, we are adamant about it, because we are Christians, we serve at church, and we come to worship service on Sundays.

What about the other times? What about the times that we don’t set apart for the Lord? What about the times we are not at church, are not serving, and not worshiping? Is it possible to live double lives?

The fact that we have a term like “Sunday Christian” reveals that this is an age-old problem for Christians. We have our Sunday lives and then our Monday through Saturday lives. These lives often come in conflict with one another, and that is the danger we are warned against in today’s Scripture.

When we read about the idolatry in Israel, let’s not think that they had completely stopped worshiping God, or completely forgot Him and were completely against Him. Rather, in addition to God, they were also for other gods, and there were times that God was the furthest thing from their minds.

Of course when we are in the very midst of worship, prayer, and God’s Spirit is filling us with deep spiritual insight we are with Him, for Him, and remember Him.

But the question isn’t if we have moments of remembrance, or moments of being for God, rather what we do about the moments that we forget Him, and are against Him?

That is why each day we have on this earth is so precious, because it is another opportunity to turn back to Him. That is to make sure that we remember Him each day, each hour, each moment, and that we move in a direction that is aligned with His heart for our lives not just once a week, but are constantly making adjustments throughout the day when we are faced with “turning moments.”

What are turning moments? They are moments where we can choose either to remember Him and act according to His heart, or to turn in a different direction, ignore Him, forget Him, and act against Him. Actually our day is full of these crossroad moments, or “turning moments,” and it should be our desire to remember Him in those times as we struggle against our natural inclinations, and work with our Lord instead of against Him.

Let us not be satisfied by our Sunday worship, our times of serving Him, and forget Him in our pride. Let us also remember to be for Him, and not against Him, because so many times we choose the heart of the world, other people, and our own hearts, rather than the heart of our Lord.

Let us be more aware of the turning moments that present themselves throughout the day so that we can be more and more aligned with His will, heart, and remember Him in those critical times.

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: Hosea 13