Why did Israel go astray? How did it get so bad?

Hosea 10 starts with a description of how they were rich and as things improved they just went and built more altars and more pillars, namely more places of false worship, more idols to seek after.

Doing the wrong thing doesn’t instantly cause pain and devastation, usually.

People chasing after money and fame may get it. It may seem like things are going well, but they will be empty inside and not have peace and love and joy that could be theirs in Christ.

We can deceive ourselves into thinking things are great because on the outside things appear to be going well.

But the heart is false. We can deceive ourselves.

Israel declares they don’t fear the Lord. There’s a problem. We need the fear of the Lord.

How can we get it? We realize we are reliant on God for everything. That’s the deception of idolatry. It makes us think we can rely on things other than God. Then we lose the fear of God because we think we don’t need Him.

Don’t lose sight of the fact that you need God or you don’t wake up in the morning, you don’t take your next breath.

Don’t lose sight of the fact that God sets the boundaries to your life and decides the hedge of protection. God led Jesus into the wilderness to face off with the devil. Job was God’s suggestion. God gives permission when the devil wants to sift Peter like wheat.

We are at the Lord’s mercy. God used all those things for good in the lives of those people and even used them for our sake. Things going all wrong, like with Job, doesn’t mean God’s abandoned and we should look elsewhere. Everything, good or bad, means look to God, thank Him, lean on Him, rely on Him. Ask His help. Let Him be your God. Obey Him as Lord. He will be your Savior.