A wind has wrapped them in its wings,
and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.
Hosea 4:19
Idolatry is a devastating destruction, and generally those who worship what isn’t God, will find the results to come whipping into their lives like a storm wind without shelter when they need it the most. God, through His prophet Hosea, is laying out the case for Israel’s spiritual adultery. They have forsaken the faithful covenant love of God and gone after the worship of idols with an outrageous lusting abandon. And the awfulness of that idolatry adultery has so caught up the culture, that the nation is carried along in a whirlwind of unfaithfulness. It will eventually end in destruction and shame as survivors are led away captive from their nation.
God makes it clear that this was a destructive spiritual force that was ruining His people, but it was fueled by their choice to abandon God and seek the idols of the nations around them. The Lord was going to let them continue in this painful direction with their willful spiritual adultery only because the crash at the end of the whirlwind would be what it would take for the nation to repent, trust, and again return in covenant with God.
God will let those who find no shame in their sin continue in their unfaithfulness. But that is in itself a strong judgment meant to bring them to their senses. Wrapped in the dizzyingly dangerous swirling tornado of sinful choices, they will be carried along until it all comes tumbling down. And when it does, His mercy, grace, and forgiveness will again be offered to the repentant, broken nation. It is better though to avoid the blowing wind, to fear and obey the Lord, and to find His blessing in obedience.
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