Where Are You Looking?

If you were going to get candy you wouldn’t go to an Auto parts store. If you were looking to get your hair cut you wouldn’t head to the clothing store. So if you want directions from God why would you go to man.

This is exactly what God is telling Israel, Judea and Ephraim. God is bring judgement into their lives in order that might seek His face but instead they are going to the world around them. He responds to them by telling them since they sought relief from man rather then God, He would like a moth (destroying them) and a lion (tearing the to pieces) and like rottenness (smelling and decaying).

What God brought into the lives of His people was so that they would seek His face. But beyond he destruction that He speak about He also says that He will leave them to themselves (alone without God) until they acknowledge their guilt and seek His face. The affliction is designed by God for a purpose, so that would EARNESTLY seek HIM!

Hosea 5:8-15
Blow the horn in Gibeah, The trumpet in Ramah. Sound an alarm at Beth-aven: " Behind you, Benjamin!" 9 Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke; Among the tribes of Israel I declare what is sure. 10 The princes of Judah have become like those who move a boundary;
On them I will pour out My wrath like water. 11 Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment,
Because he was determined to follow man's command. 12 Therefore I am like a moth to Ephraim And like rottenness to the house of Judah. 13 When Ephraim saw his sickness, And Judah his wound, Then Ephraim went to Assyria And sent to King Jareb. But he is unable to heal you, Or to cure you of your wound. 14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim And like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear to pieces and go away, I will carry away, and there will be none to deliver. 15 I will go away and return to My place Until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me. NASU

Have you been faced with afflictions? Could God be seeking you to acknowledge some guilt in your life and seek His face?

Why not confess that sin to God and seek Him through the reading of the Word of God.

Click on the "How to know Jesus link"

Explore for yourself.

What has God done? Why?
1. What is the warning that comes? What is going to come their way?
2. What significance is there to moving boundaries?
3. What is a "moth"? What is rottenness?
4. Where did Ephraim and Judah go when they were sick?
5. Now what action (animal) does God bring? What is the result?
6. How long will God stay away?
7. What will happen in their affliction?