Have you read Hosea chapter 8 yet? If not, stop in your tracks, pick up your Bible, and take a good, substantial look. You’ll be flabbergasted at what you find. God’s people plainly have a screwloose or two. What they’re doing won’t hold any water with God.

Here’s a brief catalogue of their rebellion (v. 1) —they claim to know God, yet haven’t a clue what that involves (v. 2-3). They make decisions on their own with nary a nod His way (v. 4). After all, who needs the Almighty? We can handle whatever comes our way. Really?

All the while, they create false gods of things they can touch and trade (v. 6), sowing a gentle wind, and reaping a ferocious whirlwind (v. 7). They seek political alliances with pagan nations (v. 7-10). Even if God wrote His laws on their whiteboards ten thousand times, they’d still consider Him as alien, foreigner, and a weirdo (v. 12). The conclusion to this downer list you’ll find in verse 14–‘For Israel has forgotten his Maker…’

Did I read that right? They forgot the God who made them? The One who loves, cares for, and protects them? Who frees them from slavery in Egypt? And gives them a land flowing with a cornucopia of blessings? Blanked Him out of their minds despite all His generosity? How could that be?

I wonder as I look around at the world we live in. Have we learned anything at all about the biggest questions in life? Smartened up by seeking God and His ways? Giving Him but a passing nod? Not even that?

But am I much better? I realize that the tug of this world takes my gaze away from the Lord Jesus, focusing on money and what we can buy on some primed internet site, wringing my hands in nervous anxiety about things I have little control over. It’s about getting ahead, no matter what, being right at all costs, and having more toys than the next bloke. More…more…and then even more.

The irony is that when we get more, we often wind up with less. Less time to thank the Lord for all His goodness. Far less time in the Bible, hearing from God Himself. Less satisfaction with what we have. Less gratitude for all He gives us. Less time sharing some encouragement with someone who needs it. Giving less financial support for causes that we claim believe in. Less time to smell the roses that God created.

This week, let’s kick back and live life as it’s been given to us by the Lord. How? You know, don’t you? Put on the old thinking cap, asking your Lord for more of Him and less of you know what.

Relish more of less, so to speak!

Lord Jesus, I love you and want to be closer to you every day. Amen.