Called to Order

Hear this, O priests! Pay attention, O house of Israel! Give ear, O house of the king! For the judgment is for you; for you have been a snare at Mizpah and a net spread upon Tabor. And the revolters have gone deep into slaughter, but I will discipline all of them. I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me; for now, O Ephraim, you have played the whore; Israel is defiled. Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. For the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not the LORD. The pride of Israel testifies to his face; Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in his guilt; Judah also shall stumble with them. With their flocks and herds they shall go to seek the LORD, but they will not find him; he has withdrawn from them. They have dealt faithlessly with the LORD; for they have borne alien children. Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.
Hosea 5:1–7
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Called to Order
It is the job of the priests to give the gifts of God to his people. But the priests have abandoned their duties to go after other gods. The Lord is a jealous God, and he will not share his glory with anyone else. Therefore, the Lord takes his blessings from his people to remind them of where their blessings come from. He disciplines like a father disciplines his children. He does so that his children will learn the ways of the family. He disciplines you and me because he wants our faith strong. He tests us that we would depend on him alone and no one else. We also go off after other gods and do not worship the living God as we should. We forget his gifts and neglect his ways. Only by the Holy Spirit can we return to our God. He calls us by the Gospel of Jesus Christ—preaches his cross in our hearing, marks us with his cross, and enlightens us with his gifts. This Holy Spirit has made us holy by his intervention in our life. Jesus’ cross has made us well. It has saved us. God shows love to thousands of those who keep his Word. Thanks be to God that he has planted that Word in us, tended to it, and granted the growth.
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