When Spiritual Vitality is Sapped
Aliens devour his strength and he knows it not. (Hosea 7:9)
Hos. 7:8-9 and 6:1-4; Ps. 73:28 and 87:7; Isa. 55:1-2, 6-7; I Jn 2:15-17
What Is God Saying?
The purpose of Hosea's prophecy is to remind Israel of God's faithfulness and His boundless love despite their unfaithfulness to Him. God tells Hosea to marry a woman whom He knows will prove to be unfaithful to him. Then Hosea will know by experience the sorrow that comes through infidelity. God was the ‘husband’ and provider of Israel, but they spurned His love by turning to idols and the gods of Canaan. They continued to break the covenant of their ‘marriage’ to God. They were committing spiritual adultery.
In using the name of Ephraim, Hosea was referring to the whole of the Northern Kingdom and it was the endearing name for Israel used by the Lord to express His special closeness and love as a Father or a ‘husband.’ God continued to love His wayward bride. ‘What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away’ (6:4). Despite the deep pain of rejection, God continues to love His people. In the middle of their faithless turning away, the Lord spotlights the truth of what has been happening to Israel. Without knowing that it was going on, their strength was being drained away: ‘Aliens devour his strength and he knows it not.’
How Does This Apply To Us?
In many of our hearts today, there is a subtle thief. The simple fact is that when God is not our First Love, something else will be. The real danger is that we hardly know it. It is the unconscious sapping of spiritual vitality. It is the silent loss of spiritual well-being. It is the quiet surrender to materialistic gods. It is taking on the values of a world at enmity with God and before we know it, it doesn't seem to be all that bad. Alexander Pope in his An Essay on Man expressed this quiet surrender so well,
Vice is a monster of so frightful mien
As to be hated is but to be seen;
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.
Loving our God who loves us so much comes with it the responsibility of hating (not tolerating, not excusing, not rationalizing) all competitive affections.
Pray With Me
Gracious Lord, when my spirit continues in unbroken and unhindered fellowship with You, a strange but wonderful strength flows through me. Its substance cannot be analyzed but its reality is undeniable. With the Psalmist I can truly say, ‘The Lord is my strength and my song.’
Nevertheless, knowing the weakness of my flesh, I ask You to set up in my soul an invisible and unsleeping guard. Only then will Your strength within (the source of my health and joy) be kept intact. Today, from Your Word, I have been reminded that when I do not will it, and even when I do not realize it, there are alliances and associations that are alien to You. ‘The world is at enmity with God.’ It is inevitable that there should be moods and desires which hinder Your Spirit. There are forces that seem determined to cut the lifeline of spiritual supply. Since ‘All my springs are in thee,’ they cannot be diverted without cutting me off.
Deliver me, I pray, from all such unconscious loss of power. Let no alien affection cast its shadow on our love-based and love-blessed relationship. Let no rival allegiance blight my simple and open trust. Let the subtle plausibilities of what the world calls real and desirable never gain a foothold in my plans and dreams. Let no unconscious slackening of principle make my soul easy prey to forces that are alien to Your love and purpose. Let no lesser loyalty absorb the strength of body and soul which is both received from You and dedicated to You.
Through Jesus Christ whose strength is made perfect in weakness. Amen.
Moving On In The Life of Prayer
Prayer is recharging our battery. Just living in the world, encountering its problems, being drawn to its pleasures, wrestling with its evils, all these drain the spirit, usually without our knowing it. Prayer is knowingly plugging into the limitless power and the unwavering love of God.
