Hosea 8:7

Hosea 8:7 says, For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.  Israel turning away from God and turning to idols was compared to sowing the wind.  Israel could not expect to reap good crops by simply throwing seeds into the wind.  The worship of idols was as useful as throwing empty hope into the wind. There could never be any satisfaction in it.  Everything that the people of Israel thought they had gained would never bring satisfaction, and they stood in danger of reaping the whirlwind of God's destruction. We need not be fooled, because sin will always lead to destruction.  Verse eight adds, Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure.  Hosea was warning the people of Israel that they were to be defeated and no longer a distinct nation of God.  They were to be under the rule of the Gentiles, because they had become a vessel that brought no pleasure to God.  We today, if we individually or as a nation, cease to follow God's direction, we will bring no pleasure to Him, and though if we are truly His through faith in Christ, we will ultimately be victorious over the evil of this world, we may find ourselves temporarily defeated.  God assures us that when we put our faith in Him that He will never let us be permanently taken away from Him.  Verse nine continues, For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.  God's people were compared to a wild ass.  They would not accept the guidance of God but went on headstrong in their own way.  They were attempting to buy friendship and protection from the Assyrians instead of remaining faithful to God.  We today can never find eternal security anywhere but through faith in God. Verse ten states, Yea, though they have hired among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes.  The people of Israel were to experience sorrow because of their alliance with Assyria.  I believe that Hosea was giving them some hope with the statement that God would gather them again.  If we are God's through faith in Christ, if we stray, we may suffer a little while, but He will gather us again.  Verse eleven adds, Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin, altars shall be unto him to sin.  God had instructed His people to build altars and make sacrifices to Him, but even though they had made many altars, they were not for God, but for the idols that they worshipped.  As God's people, we need to make sure that we are not sacrificing to false gods in our lives today.  Again, any time we put our faith in anyone or anything but God, we are guilty of worshipping at a false altar.  Verse twelve continues the basic problem, saying, I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing.  God's people had His law, but they counted it not as a great truth, but as a strange concept.  We can never decide that what God teaches us through His word is something that we find strange and not worth following.  Verse thirteen says, They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat it; but the LORD accepteth them not; now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins: they shall return to Egypt.  Empty worship will never be acceptable to God.  The people of Israel were still going through the motions of sacrificing to God, but they were doing it without any faith in God.  God had delivered them from Egypt, but they had turned their backs on Him and now He was going to allow them to be overthrow again.  God through Christ has delivered us from the power of sin, but if we allow our faith in Him to waver, we will be allowed to suffer for it.  God wants more than empty worship from His people.  Verse fourteen adds, For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples; and Judah hath multiplied fenced cities: but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.  God's people had forgotten God, the Maker of all. They were putting their faith in the powers of the world, and God warned them that He was still the only source of strength and security.  We must put our faith in God alone, because everything else will ultimately fail.