Hosea 4 Devotional

Ruined for Want of Knowing God

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you as My priests. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.”Hosea 4:6 (BSB)

The LORD brings a case against Israel, and the charge is grim. There is no faithfulness, no steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land (4:1), and in their place come cursing, lying, murder, theft, adultery, and bloodshed upon bloodshed (4:2). Then God turns to the priests, who were meant to teach his ways. They rejected knowledge and forgot his law, and so his people are being destroyed (4:6). They feed on the people's sin (4:8), and the people consult wooden idols for guidance (4:12).

Notice what Hosea pairs with knowledge: faithfulness and steadfast love (4:1). The knowledge God wants is not trivia about him. It is knowing him, and it shows up in how people treat one another. Israel traded their glorious God for something shameful (4:7). Jesus said eternal life is to know the only true God and the one he sent (John 17:3). God has not left us in the dark. He has made himself known, so you can seek to know him and not merely know about him.

To think about: Is your knowledge of God mostly facts about him, or is it shaping how you live with the people around you?