That’s Quarterflash – “Harden My Heart” from 1981. What can I say… I’m a music product from the Eighties! When reading Chapters 3, 4, 5, and 6 in Hosea, I saw the theme to be the hardening of Israel’s heart. Persistent sin hardens a person’s heart, making it hard to hear from God, and even harder to repent. Deliberately choosing to disobey God sears the conscience; each sin makes the next ones easier and easier to commit.
This book shows us the parallel of spiritual and physical adultery. Both spiritual and physical adultery begin with either disappointment or dissatisfaction—disappointment and dissatisfaction that is either real or imagined—with an already existing relationship. If we dwell on the feeling that God somehow disappointed us or let us down, it’ll start a downward spiral—same thing with our physical relationships. PAY ATTENTION: Diverting our attention, or acting on one little tempting thing is how the downward spiral starts! This process is dangerous because we don’t realize how deep we are into whatever it is, until it’s too late! Both spiritual and physical adultery involve the creation of a fantasy about what a new object of love can do for you, and this fantasy creates nothing but unrealistic expectations that only leads to disappointment(s).
“Wine has robbed my people of their understanding. They ask a piece of wood for advice! They think a stick can tell them their future! (Remember the “Majic Eight Ball?” Again, I have the 70’s an 80’s going thru my mind. LOL!)
Longing after idols has made them foolish. They have played the prostitute, serving other gods and deserting their God.” Hosea 4: 11-12
God sees and knows everything. We, just like Israel, tend to forget this. “No one is watching,” some of us may think, and we may try to get away with something. One thing to help us when we face temptations is just to remind ourselves that God is watching. Let me end today with a song so relevant to everything in this post…