MAY 22, 2024 – A HEATED OVEN

READ: Hos. 7:1-7: … They do not consider in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness; now their own deeds have surrounded them; they are before My face. … Like an oven heated by a baker— He ceases stirring the fire after kneading the dough, until it is leavened … He stretched out his hand with scoffers. They prepare their heart like an oven, while they lie in wait; their baker sleeps all night; In the morning it burns like a flaming fire. They are all hot, like an oven, and have devoured their judges; all their kings have fallen. None among them calls upon Me.

While the prophets point out the sins of the people, the people pay no attention. They do not consider that God will hold them accountable and harden themselves. As a result, their sins pile up: deceit, theft, murder, and other forms of adultery against the LORD.

If there is no repentance, it goes from bad to worse. The LORD then abandons His people to their sins, with terrible manifestations (see Rom. 1: 24v).

Sin knows no rest; it seeks to consume and destroy. Verse 4 gives the image of a baker’s oven, which is stoked by the baker. The dough he has kneaded must sour and rise for a long time before it can be baked. Meanwhile, the oven gets hotter and hotter as the baker sleeps in his bed. This is how it is with sinful plans of cunning deceivers, who strike when the time is ripe (v.6).

In Israel, several kings (Shallum, Menahem, Pekah) fell victim to murderers when they had drunk too much (2 Kin. 15; 17). Unwittingly, they are killed. What misery! But … none of them calls out to God (v.7)!

Let us also be on our guard. For Lord’s Day 52 says that our sworn enemies – the devil, the world, and our own flesh – do not cease to attack us. That is why as believers we also need the daily prayer: Our Father, who art in heaven, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil!

Do you know an example of such temptation?             

Singing: Ps. 5:6,8