The love of God is seen in everything He does for us, despite the way we always fall short. An example of this includes, yet not limited to, the story of Hosea the prophet. In the book of Hosea we see that Hosea was a gentle prophet. This is significant because of what he went through as a man and a prophet of God.
God often spoke to him concerning Israel. During this time, Israel was sinful. The bible says there was no truth, nor mercy nor knowledge of God in land. In this instance, however, Hosea refers to Israel as Ephraim. God calling Israel Ephraim through the prophet Hosea, was a sign of endearment. This was done even though Israel was sinful. The same can be seen today for us as a church. His love prevails despite our short comings. Whilst referring to Israel as Ephraim, God identifies some of the sins of Ephraim ( Israel). Ephraim could be any of us. Ephraim can be a description of how we behave, the things that have become normal in our lives and decisions we make. All in all, this is seen as a warning for us: Do not be like Ephraim. Ephraim is joined to idols. Refer to Hosea 4:17.
The problems with Ephraim can be identified as follows:
- Incomplete separation. Israel was supposed to be separate from the pagans around them. They were people who carried the very message of God and instead of becoming what God had called them, they become like the nations around them. Psalms 106:35. Ephraim failed to separate himself from the pagan nations. The kind of separation that is referred to here is a spiritual separation. Jesus was found amongst the sinners but he was separate from them. What we hold dear is supposed to be different from the world. The world desires darkness, sin and things separate from God. Therefore we must separate ourselves and desire things that are separate from the world. The world needs to see Jesus in us and through us. Refer to 2 Cor 6:16-17.
- Their shallow surrender to God. (Hosea 6:4).The kind of love Ephraim had for God was temporary like the morning clouds. Ephraim was very shallow in their devotion. This can be seen in our lives and the way we devote ourselves to God. Our love for God sometimes evaporates very or can be infiltrated very easily. It is common for people to serve God and fall away later. It is important that we are rooted in Christ so that we don’t fall away. Col 2:6-7. [Rooted, build up and established]. That is the kind of Christian life we are to live.
- Ephraim mixes himself with pagans. He is a cake not turned. The other side remains like raw dough. This is a problem of partial sanctification. We are partially sanctified because we have not turned parts of our love. Some are strong in other areas and weak in some areas. A rough cake is not edible. Let us not be half baked Christian. If you know there is an area where you need to grow allow the Holy Spirit to bake you into the type of Christian you are meant to be.
- Gray hairs are sprinkled all over him and he knows it not. Gray hair is not only a sign of wisdom but it is also a sign of declining. When you grow older there are certain things you are unable to do. You could go for an all night prayer, you could pray for an hour but 5 minutes all of a sudden becomes too much. Sometimes we want to hide our gray hair and pretend we are still young and all is well. Let us not be a people who hide our gray hairs. Until I go to the mirror I am not aware of the gray hair. Let’s get into the mirror of the word. Backsliding is gradual. Maybe you start neglecting prayer, fasting, reading the word etc. Before you know it you are stuck and sinking in sin. Much of the backsliding starts in the heart. The Bible says guard your heart.
- Ephraim does not know where his help comes from. Ephraim is like a dove, going to Egypt and going to Assyria. He is relying on others. There is no direction and there is no focus. (Hosea 7:11). Not only did they look to others but they failed to rely on God. They were going to other people instead of going to God. Ephraim turned everywhere except God. Ephraim were greatly grieving God with their actions. We as people behave like Hosea’s harlot wife. we were unfaithful and consistently sinning. The Church of God prostitutes itself to other nations and sins
Moving away from sin and a sinful life is not easy and should be done the right way, in order to not fall back into sin. The way out of this is given to us in His word. The solution to not being like Ephraim can be summed up yet not limited to the following ways:
Read Hosea 14:1-2
• The first point required is repentance. We need to turn away from sin, with our whole heart. In most cases we are sorry for our sin but still turn back to it. Learning to turn away from sin completely and turn to God is important.
• We need to renounce the sin.
• We need to return to the Lord so that we can be healed
By Bishop Hadebe