Sow The Wind Reap The Whirlwind Series

But it gets worse. Look over at ch 7 "3By their wickedness they make the king glad, and the officials by their treachery. … 5On the day of our king the officials became sick with the heat of wine; he stretched out his hand with mockers. 6For they are kindled like an oven, their heart burns within them; all night their anger smolders; in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire. … 8Ephraim mixes himself with the peoples; Ephraim is a cake not turned. 9Foreigners devour his strength, but he does not know it; gray hairs are sprinkled upon him, but he does not know it … 11Ephraim has become like a dove, silly and without sense; they call upon Egypt, they go to Assyria." Far from being the leaders that God desires, leading with wisdom and prudence, they drink themselves silly at night and then in the morning look for the quick fix to get themselves out of the hole they’ve dug for themselves.

False religion

And the result is that the people, left without a guide, without the knowledge to show them how to live godly lives, how to worship God in truth, find their own ways of worshipping. But unfortunately that only leads them into false religion.

Look at 8:2. "2Israel cries to me, ’My God, we -- Israel -- know you!’ 3Israel has spurned the good; the enemy shall pursue him. 4They made kings, but not through me; they set up princes, but without my knowledge. With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction. 5Your calf is rejected, O Samaria. [My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence?] 6For it is from Israel, an artisan made it; it is not God. The calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces." You see, if you’ve lost the knowledge of God, if you’ve forgotten how God has said he wants to be worshipped, what do you do? Well, you do what all other religions do. You come up with something that feels spiritual. You create a god or gods to worship.

In the spiritual vacuum of the 70s, 80s and 90s what happened in western culture? People still had that God shaped hole inside them, but they’d rejected Christianity, so what did they do? They came up with an alternative. They rediscovered meditation. They sought out eastern gurus. They turned to new age religions. They bought crystals and Ouija boards. They explored Buddhism or Islam or Zoroastrianism or anything that promised to give them the religious experience they were longing for. But they never asked whether these were the way God wants his people to approach him. They never questioned whether perhaps these were simply human creations, akin to the golden calf that sat in the temple at Samaria. But this sort of counterfeit religion is something that God won’t tolerate. Just as Hosea wasn’t expected to tolerate his unfaithful wife’s behaviour, even though he loved her and did all he could to win her back, so too, God isn’t going to tolerate the unfaithfulness of this false religion. So he says "7they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind."

False Hope

The people thought they’d be all right if they kept up the outward appearance of worshipping God. But they were mistaken. This was a false hope. Look at 6:1. With these ironically prophetic words the people call one another to worship God again: "Come, let us return to the LORD; for it is he who has torn, and he will heal us; he has struck down, and he will bind us up. 2After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. 3Let us know, let us press on to know the LORD; his appearing is as sure as the dawn; he will come to us like the showers, like the spring rains that water the earth." If only they’d understood the reality of what they foretold, of Jesus Christ who would die and in three days rise again. But they were far from understanding the things of God and these cheery words were mere wind. It was a case of ’too little too late’.