God will get my attention.

I will return again to my place,

until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face,

and in their distress earnestly seek me.

Hosea 5:15

God takes it seriously when His people do not take Him seriously. The prophet Hosea has been repeatedly warning Israel and Judah that their idolatry is bringing the judgment of God. And this coming judgment was going to be swift and brutal, bringing desolation and pain to jar the Jews back to a knowledge of God again. In the previous context the LORD describes Himself as a rampaging young lion, attacking and striking fear in the hearts of the disobedient.

And now at the end of the fifth chapter of Hosea, God is still the lion, but now He has returned to His den, awaiting the response of His people to the judgment that has come upon them. There is a four-fold expectation from God for how His people will respond: 1) that they would confess their guilt to Him, knowing their sin. 2) that they would seek the LORD again for forgiveness and in worship. 3) that their souls would be in distress. 4) that their hearts would be genuinely repentant as they return to earnestly seek the LORD.

God will get our attention when we drift from Him. And my soul can be just as idolatrous as those of Israel. I may not pray to a carved image, but I can easily worship the stuff of my culture that is offered to me as a god-substitute. Money, position, privilege, leisure, health, or the admiration of others all clamor for my soul’s affection. And I must diligently guard my heart through soul-audits, confession, seeking forgiveness, and living in grace!