There is no faithfulness, no kindness, no knowledge of God in your land. You make vows and break them, you kill and steal and commit adultery. There is violence everywhere – on murder after another. Hosea 4:1b-2 NLT
The Prophet Hosea says there are three things wrong with Israel: they do not exhibit self-giving love, they are not true to their word, they do not know Yahweh. I want to suggest that the absence of the first two is the result of the absence of the third one.
What is it to “know Yahweh”? It is to have an intimate, personal relationship with him growing out of a sustained experience with him that is rooted in mutual trust. It is no accident that this theme is so important in this book (forms of the word appear 18 times in the book [as opposed to only 4 occurrences in Amos]). The reason it is important is because of the interplay between marital love and harlotry that runs through the book. The last thing the harlot and her “john” want is to “know” one another. What they want is to use one another. This is too often true of religionists. We really don’t want to know God, we just want to use him. We want to use him to avoid hell; we want to use him to make our lives more pleasant and comfortable and pain-free.
This fact shows up in the way we treat others. Why would I give myself away for you? It is the meeting of my needs that is primary. Why would I tell the truth? The truth is so often contrary to what my needs are. And why would I tell the truth about you, when I can so easily lie about you and move myself ahead of you in the scramble for limited resources?
Do you see what I am saying? Do you want God for himself, or do you want him for what he can do for you? If it is the former, then learning about his character, what he likes and what he dislikes, how he relates to people, how he feels about the world, all these things and more will be fascinating, as they are to anyone in love with someone else. And something else will happen. You will begin to act like and think like the one you love.
Called To Be Transformed 