What Happens When God Is Forgotten?

It seems like in our current situation, there is a lot of thought about what we need to do and how we need to do things. This type of thinking has even pervaded the thoughts and minds of many Christians. Activity and action are not necessarily requirements of the Lord. Throughout the Bible, we are reminded of the need to pursue God, to be fervent in prayer, to be obedient to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Yes, actions and activity are important and show that we are people of faith. However, this is only true, if we are being directed by God. Interestingly, the Lord speaks to each one of us as individuals and knows each of our hearts personally. I cannot tell what God is asking of you or encouraging you to do. Neither can I assume I know what is going on in your heart as to your relationship with the Lord.

Sadly, I, along with many others, have a tendency to forget God in the equation of all that is or is not going on in the world or in our lives. However, in Israel’s life, it was much worse. Not only had they forgotten about God and what He truly desires of His people, they had willingly and intentionally crossed the line and were actively involved in that which is not only contradictory to a people belonging to God, but they were antagonistic towards God and His ways.

Listen to what Hosea shares about this. They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.

We see that there is such a natural, yet heart-breaking turn of events that takes place when God is forgotten by His people. In these next three chapters, we’ll be looking at what happens when God is forgotten. These chapters were not written for the purpose of building anybody up or encouraging them. Instead, we need to understand them as they were intended, as warnings to God’s people.

If a nation or an individual ignores God, God’s judgment is sure to happen.

We must be a people who desire to live holy, Christlike lives, empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Judgment Is Necessary - 8:1-14

God’s goodness is rejected - 1-3

Put the trumpet to your lips! This is a warning sign of upcoming judgment. The eagle mentioned is most likely, Assyria, which has been chosen by God to inflict judgment against Israel. The sad thing is that when the enemy begins to approach or when it is a sure thing that this will take place, Israel makes a last minute plea, stating that they do acknowledge God, as seen in verse 2: They cry out to me, “My God, we of Israel know you!”

However, our Lord recognizes that this is impossible since they had rejected God’s goodness, as He states in verse 3: Israel has rejected the good. This goodness is not only seen in God’s very character, but also in the many blessings He has showered upon Israel for centuries.

God’s sovereignty is rejected - 4

The rejection of God, seemingly began when Jeroboam I had chosen to take the nation out from under God’s control; or so he thought. Verse 4 makes this clear by reminding everyone that they had followed Jeroboam’s lead by setting up idolatry through the making of idols and providing places to worship those idols. We are told in the Bible that this worship was being done at Dan and Bethel.

God’s worship is rejected - 5-7

But it gets worse. Jeroboam went on to lie and tell the people that they were still worshipping Jehovah God, when they were actually bowing down to idols. The people were truly without any excuse, for they knew better. Israel was the only nation on the earth which had been given the knowledge of God. Unfortunately, they traded the truth for a lie. Hosea, in essence, is telling them to throw out the calf-idol, or that it will be broken into smithereens. This was a reminder that all of the false idolatry was completely powerless to save.

Verse 7, of which we already saw the first part earlier, clearly shows that God indeed is a God of justice.

Hosea 8:7 NASB95

For they sow the wind And they reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; It yields no grain. Should it yield, strangers would swallow it up.

Sin does have its natural consequences that must be paid. You and I also need to take warning to not dive into sin, for there are judgments unknown in store for those who choose to rebel. We must be careful to make sure that in our own lives, we are not holding onto any golden calves, which are replacing the position that God should have in our lives.

God’s omnipotence is rejected - 8-10

We continue to see that Israel was no longer looking to God for protection from her enemies. She actually seemed to be content to become exactly like the pagan nations that surrounded her. In essence, Israel was no longer a unique nation, following the Lord only. As verse 9 suggests, Israel was like a wild donkey. You can imagine a wild donkey left alone all by itself. The donkey is just sniffing all around trying to find something that would benefit itself. Israel was only concerned about what it considered to be pleasurable to itself. It no longer mattered to Israel that she be spiritually pure. Even though Israel may have thought she would benefit from Assyria, the reality was that the cost to Israel was going to be extremely high, even monetarily. As a result, the nation of Israel would begin to diminish or waste away. But this was just the beginning of Israel’s problems.

God’s commandments are rejected - 11-14

Rather than worshipping God at the appointed place, Israel chose to ignore this and worship at the places that she chose, regardless of what God had said. The guidelines in the law given to Israel covered practically every aspect of life. However, Israel looked at that as a strange thing, or something alien, according to verse 12.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the priests were performing the sacrifices purely for their own benefit, according to verse 13. Hosea specifically points out that the Lord has taken no delight (not pleased) with them. My friends, I would suggest that this principle applies in our day and age, as well. When individuals preach the gospel or use the church purely for the sake of accumulating a fortune, God is not pleased.

Why is judgment necessary?

Hosea 8:14 NASB95

For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; And Judah has multiplied fortified cities, But I will send a fire on its cities that it may consume its palatial dwellings.

In essence, Israel had forgotten her Maker. Deuteronomy spends a great deal of time spelling out preventative measures against forgetfulness. Yet the people chose to ignore this. But Israel is not alone; we see Judah following a similar example.

As a nation, it seems that we are also setting ourselves up for judgment.

Judgment Is Not Pleasant - 9:1 - 10:15

In these two chapters, we see that Israel is given a brief picture as to the whirlwind that will sweep her into judgment. We see that God’s judgments always fit exactly and are well-deserved. We are also reminded of the sowing principle as seen in the New Testament.

Galatians 6:8 NASB95

For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

When working with juvenile delinquents, early in our marriage, we were trained in administering natural consequences. Translated, let the punishment fit the crime. If one of the boys would walk the half mile to school on the wrong side of the street, we were not to give him 100 sentences to write explaining why he needed to walk on the correct side of the street. We instead were to have the young man walk back and forth to school (after school was out) five times on the correct side of the street, with checkpoints on the way. The discipline needed to fit the crime. This is what we see God doing with Israel.

Judgment brings sorrow - 1-2

Baal worship was supposed to guarantee the fruitfulness of the land. Thus, the Lord would leave them to their false worship. Look at the consequences in verse 2.

Hosea 9:2 NASB95

Threshing floor and wine press will not feed them, And the new wine will fail them.

The harvests were complete failures. This should have brought sorrow upon the people, since they had been so excited anticipating the times of rejoicing in the cultic ceremonies. All that energy and false worship practiced for that which could not genuinely produce any results, since it was all based upon idolatry and false promises.

Judgment brings exile - 3-9

Israel did notice that things weren’t too secure and stable on the home front. But rather than turn to God, they chose to turn to neighboring nations. As a result of Israel turning to the pagan nations, God was going to arrange it so they had a full-term relationship with them. However, it would be as prisoners in exile. Egypt has always represented bondage to the Israelites and that is exactly what would be taking place again. Talk about natural consequences! Now, Israel will be going to Assyria as captives and slaves, which was far worse than even Egypt.

One other ironic consequence is that Israel had seemingly enjoyed being like everyone else and ignoring God’s law, in particular, the dietary requirements. As a result, verse 3 of chapter 9 states that they will keep on doing that by eating unclean food in Assyria. In God’s view, all the food they had already been eating was unclean. The reason was in the fact that they had not brought to God the firstfruits of their crops.

Israel had been sacrificing in wrong places. So, they were going to continue offering up sacrifices, but in foreign places. Israel wrongly thought that everything was alright since it was in their own land. The problem is, when God says that there is a particular way to do things, we are not to change it to fit our standards. It must be according to what God requires.

Hosea also blasts those who have been prophesying peace and prosperity, as they were actually leading the people right into judgment. A true prophet is a watchman—guarding God’s people from all dangers, regardless of the opposition there might be.

Judgment brings death - 10-17

Going back to Deuteronomy 32, it is quite clear that when a people abuse God’s love and fall into idolatry and harlotry, the punishment is exile and death. Exile seems quite severe, but death was going to be part of the judgment as well.

Ephraim’s glory was that of being fruitful. Ephraim literally means doubly fruitful in the Hebrew. Yet, for falsely crediting her fertility to Baal, God was going to show them unfruitful, barren lives since they didn’t seek God’s blessings. The people were going to get a thorough lesson as to the uselessness of their fertility rites that they practiced for gods who were not gods at all. And even if there would be children, God will take all those born in Israel.

Verse 13 shows quite clearly the contrast from trusting in God, to turning to false gods. From a pleasant meadow or pleasant place (which symbolizes peace) to bring[ing] out his children for slaughter (which symbolizes destruction or war).

At this point, we see that Hosea is so upset that he breaks into prayer for the people in verse 14.

Hosea 9:14 NASB95

Give them, O Lord—what will You give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.

Even though this prayer may sound harsh, it is really a prayer seeking God’s mercy. Hosea is pleading that there won’t be new generations that would have to experience this horrible judgment that the fathers have brought upon the nation.

Hosea 9:15 NASB95

All their evil is at Gilgal; Indeed, I came to hate them there! Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of My house! I will love them no more; All their princes are rebels.

We see that God was going to drive the people out to wander about in their lostness. As is true in all generations, the one who fails to remember God, ends up walking alone, wandering about without the Lord, separated from God.

Judgment brings terror - 10:1-15

We have seen that Israel had refused to recognize that all her blessings came from God. They had produced fruit for themselves rather than for the Lord. Israel had chosen the bad, instead of choosing the good.

Hosea 10:5 NASB95

The inhabitants of Samaria will fear For the calf of Beth-aven. Indeed, its people will mourn for it, And its idolatrous priests will cry out over it, Over its glory, since it has departed from it.

We sadly observe that Israel still had no concern for the Lord. Instead, they feared that the calf-idol might be taken. Sadly, all the history of their sinfulness was about to catch up with them. The people of God were in name only and not in reality. As a result they were about to be swept away. This is the sad picture of the unfaithfulness of God’s people.

When God releases His judgment, the people of Israel would be terrified and would ask for the mountains to cover them. You might recall that this is quite similar to what the unbelievers will cry out when the judgments are poured out according to the book of Revelation.

Yet, Hosea offers hope in verse 12.

Hosea 10:12 NASB95

Sow with a view to righteousness, Reap in accordance with kindness; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the Lord Until He comes to rain righteousness on you.

Until the final minute when judgment comes crashing down, genuine repentance will always reverse the law of sowing and reaping. A truly repentant heart is symbolized by sowing with a view to righteousness, not sowing to unrighteous acts. A person then will reap God’s unfailing love. A truly repentant people must also break up your fallow (unplowed) ground, In other words, there must be a breaking up the unplowed ground where idols have cluttered up lives, where weeds have been allowed to grow and totally control.

Hosea 10:13 is a reminder that when a people practice lying and deceptiveness, they cut themselves off from the Lord.

Conclusion

Jonathan Edwards preached probably one of the most well-known sermons in 1734, entitled Sinners in the hands of an angry God. This message has been shown to have prepared the way for the Great Awakening that spread through the American colonies and began revival. This message has been ridiculed and condemned by many as being too harsh. Yet, I would challenge any of its readers to find anything within it that speaks contrary to the Word of God. I find that when people talk about the justice of God lightly, when they attempt to present God as only a loving, soft-hearted God, they are a sin-loving people.

Yes, God is a God of love. But Hosea has been pointing out, as he has spoken the words of God, that God is a holy, just God, as well.

As believers in Jesus Christ, let us learn from Israel’s sad example and be a people who strive to live Christ-like, holy lives, empowered by the Holy Spirit.