It's Just Wind

Daily Reading: Hosea 8

For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. (Hosea 8.7)

Devotional Thought: The people of God were nothing but hot air.  They blew but didn’t bless.  They made sound but didn't make sense.

But it goes deeper than that.  The word for wind is the same Hebrew word used to indicate the Spirit of God: ruwach.   Were they playing with fire?  Was God saying that they were trifling with the things of God?  The wind – the very breath of God – was theirs to take advantage of, to benefit from, to assist them in living lives of holiness.  Yet they were only reaping the whirlwind.  That word is interesting, too: cuwphah.  The root of that word is cuwph: which means to cease, to come to an end.  I wonder if God was saying to them, “You better stop ‘playing church’ and start being the genuine article.  Otherwise, you're not going to make it!"

In the New Testament, Jesus said that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit was unpardonable.  I don’t think that means that by saying certain words – either on purpose or accidentally – folks would find themselves in an irredeemable state.  I believe that it means exactly what God was telling the ancient Israelites through Hosea.  When folks try to manipulate the Spirit to their advantage – selfish interest – they are sowing the wind.  The end of that behavior is spiritual death.

Let’s be the faithful people of God in our day.  Let us bear fruit – fruit that will last.  And let us be filled with the Spirit so that we might have the power of God to be used of God!

Prayer: Forgive me, Lord, for being filled with hot air rather than being on fire spiritually!  Ignite a blaze of holy passion in my soul, I pray.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 83.1-8

"O God, do not keep silence; do not hold your peace or be still, O God! For behold, your enemies make an uproar; those who hate you have raised their heads. They lay crafty plans against your people; they consult together against your treasured ones. They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more! ” For they conspire with one accord; against you they make a. covenant— the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagrites, Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre; Asshur also has joined them; they are the strong arm of the children of Lot. Selah"