Prostitutes and Idols

Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring.” [Hosea 6.3]

Much of what I read today from Hosea involves God desiring that His people know Him.

As I thought about the prostitution mentioned as well as the idols referred to in Hosea, I realized that time spent with prostitutes and idols is time that belongs to God. Any and all time spent with prostitutes and idols helps us to know them, but at the sacrifice of knowing God better.

In many cases, the idols and prostitutes we turn to are not even the same ones from time to time. Perhaps this is indicative of the futility of so doing. God presents Himself as one God. We need to have a growing relationship with Him - building knowledge upon knowledge of Him as time goes by. The futility of spending time with multiple prostitutes and idols is that we do not get enough time with the multiple relationships to even know that those relationships are worthless and meaningless! Before we have the chance in a relationship with a prostitute or idol to realize that that prostitute or idol is without substance, we move on to another. This, in turn prevents us from ever realizing the foolishness in having affairs of unfaithfulness to God.

The remedy is to stay with one lover - Yahweh, God Almighty. He teaches us faithfulness by example and we should therefore take every opportunity we can find to build relationship with Him!

Father, thank You for the insight into Hosea today about the value of focusing on building relationship with You the One True God, and not being distracted and diluted in multiple worthless relationships with "prostitutes" and "idols" in our lives!