Hosea 4:6
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…”
The days of Hosea were very dark; the nation had wandered from the ways of God and idolatry was as common in Israel as it was in the pagan nations that surrounded it. Just about every hilltop was the site of an altar to one false god or another, and immorality was rampant throughout the land. While many factors led to their diseased spiritual condition, Hosea addresses the primary one. He says the people were so easily led astray because of their lack of knowledge of God and His Word. This was both the fault of the individual and of the leaders.
Way back in the wilderness, God set aside the tribe of Levi to assist the priests in ministering to the people. Along with helping in the sacrifices, and other worship ordinances around the Temple, they were spread throughout the land and given the responsibility to instruct the people in the ways of God. Sadly, in many cases, those who had been commissioned to teach the people, did very little to expound upon the Scriptures and instruct the people. Though thousands of years have passed, things are not so different today. Many Christian leaders have lost sight of the importance of teaching the Word of God to the people of God. Some have left the Bible for ritual, others have turned the sanctuary into a political platform, and still others seem to think the purpose of the pulpit is to entertain the people or to stir them to a frenzy. You might not be able to control what happens in the pulpit, but you can control what pulpit you place yourself under. Be sure you are attending a church where the Word of God is being taught.
The leaders were not the only ones who had failed to teach the Word. God designed the home as the primary place where children are instructed in the ways of God. Sadly, many families gave up that responsibility expecting others to care for the spiritual needs of their kids. We do not have to be a scholar to instruct our children from the Bible. All we need to do is spend time in the Word with our children, and search the scriptures for direction when we face a situation we do not know how to handle.
Much of what is wrong in life can be resolved by simply becoming familiar with what the Bible says, and putting it into practice in our daily lives.
Pastor Jim
The children of Israel were facing the darkest time in their history. They had endured great hardships in the past when enslaved in Egypt or wandering in the wilderness, but nothing compared to the darkness of being taken captive by Babylon, and knowing the city and Temple would soon be burned to the ground. If anything ever seemed to point to the end of relationship with God, that did. I am once again amazed at the mercy and grace of God, as He promises through Ezekiel, that in their darkest hour, He will be a little sanctuary to them.
I don’t know if it is “a guy thing”, but whenever my wife arrives home from grocery shopping and asks for help bringing the bags in from the car, I attempt to carry everything in at once. It may be the challenge or it may be out of laziness, but whatever motivates me, it is down right comical to see me laden down with groceries, attempting to open the front door. The fact is, there is a much better way to accomplish a big task, that is, one step at at time.
Isaiah is warning of coming judgment. The people had left the ways of God; perhaps thinking the Word of God was antiquated. Instead of being a nation that shone as a light to the world around them, Judah had become like all the other nations. Morally, spiritually and ethically, the people who were called by God to be a light, looked all too similar to the world around them. Isaiah points out one of the main contributors to their downfall,
God established a worship schedule for Israel that included annual feasts, weekly Sabbaths, and daily sacrifices. It was important for the people to gather on Passover to celebrate, but it was not enough. It was necessary to meet on the Sabbath, but it was not enough. For them to carry on a healthy relationship with God, they needed to start the morning with offering and end the day with sacrifice.
On a regular basis, how would you describe your mornings? Do you wake up grumpy, dreading another day? Or late, rushing to get your responsibilities done? Or perhaps you arise and rush to get the morning paper, check the news, or peruse Facebook, or the web.
After Joshua led the armies of Israel in victory against the Canaanite kings, he distributed the land to each of the tribes. The lands were determined by lot and the size of each tribe. The lot was like a divinely inspired roll of the dice. They may have prayed, rolled the dice, and trusted the Lord for the outcome. Once the lands were distributed, each tribe was responsible to occupy their portion. In order to occupy the land, they had to settle into what they had previously conquered, then daily, deal with those inhabitants who stubbornly remained.
I can remember times when my children would slip on a pair of my shoes and attempt to walk around the house. Their little feet were so small, and the shoes so large, that not only did they look ridiculous, but it made the simple task of walking from one side of the room to the next, almost impossible. Suffice it to say, attempting to fill someone else’s shoes is often a very difficult task. That concept would be greatly compounded as it relates to Joshua and Moses, of whom we are told, 
I love a good mystery; as a child I had a book titled “2 Minute Mysteries.” It was a book of short stories, in which a crime would be described and the reader was left to guess who the guilty party was. The trick was, the answer was hidden. There was always something tucked away that was hard to find, almost like a secret, that revealed the answer. I would try so hard to guess correctly, but most often, when I flipped to the back of the book for the answer I found my guess was wrong. When Jesus speaks of the “Mysteries of the Kingdom,” He is not speaking of a secret truth that only a few can understand by reading their Bibles with a special code. Jesus is telling His disciples that everything we need to know about the Kingdom of God can be found by those who are part of it.
Jim Gallagher 