What Happens When We Don’t Know

As we turn the page from Hosea 3 to 4 in our community groups, we head into an explanation of how Israel has acted like Gomer. Gomer left her loving husband to pursue other lovers who abused her and left her helpless. How has Israel acted same toward God? Hosea 4:1 says, “Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land.” There is no faithfulness, no love, and no knowledge of God in the land of Israel. Really, the thing that comes up over and over again in this book is that the people didn’t know (or acknowledge) God in their lives (2:8, 4:6, 5:4, 11:3). And since they didn’t know or acknowledge God, there were consequences in the land.

Rampant Depravity 
Hosea 4:2, “There is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.” When a person, or group of people, don’t acknowledge God, these things will naturally increase. They “naturally” increase because we are broken people with all of these things inside of us. We’re broken by nature. So when we stop pursuing God, these will just be magnified more and more. However, when people are pursuing God, these things will be mitigated more and more.

Creation Is Harmed
Hosea 4:3, “Therefor the land mourns, and all who dwell in it languish, and also the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, and even the fish of the sea are taken away.” When a person or group of people don’t acknowledge God, the environment is harmed. People who know God know that He is the Creator and He cares deeply for His creation. Therefore, anyone who is acknowledging God should care for His creation in a way where it isn’t mourning, but it’s thriving.

Wicked Leaders
Hosea 4:8, “They feed on the sin of my people; they are greedy for their iniquity.” The religious leaders of this day were incredibly wicked. Instead of point the people toward God, they were exploiting the people. They recognized that the people were broken in sin and were looking for purpose and joy in life. But instead of leading them toward the joy of knowing God, they looked to personally profit off of the people’s condition.

Empty Lives
Hosea 4:10, “They shall eat, but not be satisfied; they shall play the whore, but not multiply.” The people are looking for satisfaction in anything they can get their hands on: food, sex, money, religion. But none of it is going to satisfy in a land where people don’t acknowledge God. These people don’t see these things as gifts from God, so they don’t treat them that way. Instead, they’re abusing these good things and trying to find meaning and fulfillment in them. They keep coming up empty.

A Ruined People
Hosea 4:14, “…a people without understanding shall come to ruin.” Their end isn’t just a lack of satisfaction and fulfillment, it’s complete ruin. This is personal ruin, but also ruin on a national scale for a people who don’t have understanding and knowledge of God. It’s so incredibly ironic that so many people cast off God in the pursuit of true freedom without the “bonds” of religion, and yet it’s exactly the rejection of God that inevitably brings people to ruin.

There is hope in Hosea 4. He writes in verse 15, “…let not Judah become guilty. Enter not into Gilgal, nor go up to Beth-aven…” Judah, the Southern nation, hasn’t followed the same route as Israel. There is hope for Judah. Gilgal and Beth-aven were set up as locations of worship, but instead of worshiping God at those places, the people turned from God to worship idols. Judah is being warned not to go to a place where the true God isn’t worshiped. Hosea wanted them to pursue the knowledge of God, not place themselves in a situation where a true knowledge of God could slip from their understanding.

We are all idol factories, constantly looking for fulfillment and meaning in things other than God. We want possessions or accomplishments, power or relationship, or even religion to give us what only God can give us. Hosea 4 should serve as a warning that when we distance ourselves from deeply knowing God, it’s a depressing path toward ruin. Instead, pursue God. Deepen your understanding of His character and ways. Go to church. Go to community group. Read your Bible. Talk about God with your friends. Take a theology class. Ask someone to mentor you. Pursue God with your whole life, and let Him fulfill you in every way.