Early Dews and Treacherous Bows
Ponder: The consistency of your devotion to God.
Scripture: “For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud. And like the early dew it goes away” (Hosea 6:4 NKJV).
Do you remember similes in English class? They’re “similar to” this or that. Generally, they use “like” or “as” to make the comparison. In an earlier devotional, we saw two similes from Hosea in regard to Israel. God’s people were “like grapes in the wilderness” (Hosea 9:10) and “like a stubborn calf” (4:16).
Hosea also portrayed God’s unfaithful people as being “‘like’ a morning cloud . . . ‘like’ the early dew” (6:4). As an eastern Colorado farm boy, I know the trouble with morning clouds and early dew – they don’t stay! Just when you need them most, they disappear. Likewise, Israel appeared to love God for a little while; but then their faithfulness faded away into idolatry and immorality.
Is your devotion to God “on again, off again,” like Israel’s? You don’t have to bow to an image or cheat on your spouse to have this problem. Evaluate your prayer life; your hunger for God’s word; your zeal for worship; your love for fellow-Christians. Are these things constant? Or do they evaporate in the heat of the day?
Next, God said of Israel, “They return, but not to the Most High. They are ‘like’ a treacherous bow” (7:16). An archer wants his arrow to go where he aims it. God was the archer, and Israel was His bow. But Israel kept sending arrows in the wrong direction! That is, her conduct missed the target (God’s will). Even when she claimed to be returning to God, she really was headed down a different path.
What direction do your arrows travel? Sin literally means “missing the mark.” If your behavior is wide of the target, then the bow (your attitude) needs adjusted!
Aren’t similes fun? Find these others in Hosea: a silly dove; a trained heifer; an oven heated by a baker; a vessel in which there is no pleasure; and a wild donkey alone by itself. How did these apply to Israel? How do they apply to you?
Song: “True Hearted, Whole Hearted”
Prayer: Father, help us to be the kind of bows what will send our arrows (our thoughts, words, and deeds) straight into the center of Your holy will. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Joe Slater (Justin, TX)