When they go with their flocks and herds to seek the LORD, they will not find him; he has withdrawn himself from them. – Hosea 5:6

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 8, 2016): Hosea 5

J. K. Rowling in “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” writes that “Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike.” I think that Hosea would likely agree. After all, it was not that Israel hated God. The message from the prophet was that they simply did not think about him often. They chased after other deities; they worshiped in their high places. They went to the mountains and lit candles to nameless gods, or maybe even to gods that deep down they believed was the God of Israel. They worshiped at the feet of the golden calves that had been set up as substitutes for the Temple in Jerusalem. There was no animosity toward the God of the Temple – just neglect.

I wish that the situation was different today, but I am not sure that it is. I hear a few voices of hate directed against God, but most of our culture just reacts with indifference, as if God no longer has a point of intersection with our lives. Or we believe in a God that we have created in our image rather than the one that challenges us to move in a different direction. It is a lesson that I have learned all too painfully. Don’t challenge me to love my Muslim neighbor (don’t you know that they are all extremists plotting us harm) or to have a relationship with my LGTBQ co-worker (haven’t you read the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, don’t you know how God feels about them gays.) My god (small g intended) would never ask me to do that.

And maybe that is the problem. We are no longer in contact with the God of the heavens. I am convinced that God is asking us to go to the outcast and love them. It breaks my heart when a Muslim writes that he is scared to live out his faith because of the threat of violence against him. Or when My LGTBQ friends believe that the Christian Church wants nothing to do with them. I have been called to love. And my God is busy drawing all people to himself.

There is a scene in the movie Star Trek: The Voyage Home where Mr. Scott is trying to use a 20^th-century computer. He starts off by issuing voice commands to the computer. But the computer does nothing. One of the other characters points at the mouse sitting beside the keyboard. Embarrassed at his gaff, Scotty picks up the mouse and then tries to use it as a microphone, once again issuing the voice command into the mouse. Not surprisingly nothing happens.

Hosea’s message to Israel is this – you have neglected God so long that you no longer know what he desires of you. You no longer know how to get in contact with the God of your souls. And when the big trouble begins, you will walk out into your fields desperate for God, but doing all of the things that drive him away from you – not because you hate him, but because you no longer know him. You have remade the God of Israel into your own image, and you have no idea how to uncover the God that he truly is.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Hosea 6