17/05/2026
THE NEVER-ENDING LOVE OF HOSEA (6) MAN’S IDOLATRY PAINS GOD
“For she did not know That I gave her grain, new wine, and oil, And multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal” (Hos 2:8)
God commanded Isreal that they must obey His Laws in the Promised Land. Blessings will follow their obedience. God will bless and multiply them. They will become leaders. God will bless the work of their hands, and the fruit of the land. They will not be baren or sick. They will have victory against all their enemies. They should not serve the Canaanites’ gods, because that will be a snare to them and God will take away His blessings. Obedience leads to blessings and disobedience leads to curses (Deut 7:12-26)
Gomer is a symbol of rebellious Isreal who failed to recognize that it was Jehovah God who blessed them in the Land. The grain, new wine and oil are symbols of good and happy life. Silver and gold represent wealth and prosperity, which God bestowed upon Israel. These metals were often used as currency, indicating economic stability and success. The abundance of silver and gold is seen as God’s prosperity during the reigns of David and Solomon (1Kg 10:14-23). This prosperity was intended to be a blessing, but Israel misused it, forgetting God. This lack of acknowledgement of God as the source of their provision is not just ignorance; it is a willing forgetfulness, the result of spiritual blindness, pride and hardened hearts. Not only that they refused to be grateful to God, but they used God’s provision to make idols, like when Isreal made a golden calf and worshipped it in the wilderness. Isreal used God’s silver and gold to worship Baal, a Canaanite idol they thought to be responsible for good weather and fertility. This is Israel’s sin of spiritual adultery against God who loved and blessed them.
These are the consequences of spiritual adultery:
1-God will take away his blessings leaveing Gomer hungry and naked. “Therefore, I will return and take away My grain in its time And My new wine in its season, And will take back My wool and My linen, Given to cover her nakedness” (Hos 2:9)
2-God will expose Gomer before all people as an adulterous wife. She will lose her testimony and respect. “Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, And no one shall deliver her from My hand” (Hos 2:10)
3-God will discipline her and bring her back to Him. “I will cause her mirth to cease... destroy her vines and fig trees... punish her... allure her in the wilderness... take from her mouth the names of the Baals, And they shall be remembered by their name no more” (Hos 2:11-17)
Gomer took for granted Hosea’s love. Israel overlooked the Lord’s daily, undeserved gifts. To take for granted means to underestimate, to fail to appreciate someone assuming that the person will always be available to bless you. This attitude is often rooted in overfamiliarity.
Lessons for us: Spiritual adultery curses your blessings! If you backslide, repent and come back to God with a sincere heart! God loves us first. God’s faithfulness in blessing us precedes our faithfulness. Blessings can become snares when the Giver is ignored. Material prosperity tests our faithfulness to God more than hardship! God is the source of Life and Blessings. All the good things we owe, are not the result of our labour or gifts given by idols. These are God’s gifts to us. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (Jam 1:17). Wealth and fame can become idols! Search your hearts! As God blesses you with material wealth, use your resources as a steward under God giving Him your time, talent, and treasure! Honour the Giver, not rival Him. Being ungrateful to God is a sign of unbelief! Being grateful to God is an act of worship! Selah!
BAAL WORSHIP
The word “Baal” means Lord. It was the major “god” worshipped by the Canaanites in the Promised Land. Baal was dangerous because it tried to directly compete with Jehovah God. He is “the god that provides food”, a fake Jehovah Jireh. In Isreal, agriculture depends on rain, which was generally scarce. In Isreal, no rain, no food. It was not like in Egypt, where men irrigated their lands from Nile to plant crops. God promised to His people to send rains in season. “I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil” (Deut 11:14). But the people forgot God’s promise and trusted Baal for rain.
Baal claimed to bless people with children. In the shrines, there were prostitutes dedicated to Baal. Any man who wanted children with his wife, had s*x with these prostitutes. In times of war, people offered their children to Baal as a sacrifice. All these sins were an abomination to God. “You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way; for every abomination to the LORD which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods” (Deut 12:31). “They have also built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or speak, nor did it come into My mind” (Jer 19:5). Selah!
Baal stole the hearts of God’s people. Like Satan told Jesus (Matt 4:9), Baal wanted that God’s people worship him instead of Jehovah God.
God commanded Isreal to worship Him by burning incense on His altar in the Holy Place. The smoke of incense represented the worship and prayers of God’s people. The smoke was sweet to God and went up to heaven, signifying that God has accepted their worship. God said: “But as for the incense which you shall make, you shall not make any for yourselves, according to its composition. It shall be to you holy for the Lord. Whoever makes any like it, to smell it, he shall be cut off from his people” (Exo30:37, 38). God is jealous for His glory and His worship. God was angry when they used incense to worship Baal. Isreal never worshipped Baal alone. They combined the worship of Jehovah with the worship of Baal. They served Baal at his shrines and still came to worship God at His temple. This is spiritual adultery. God was very angry. God said: “Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, 10 and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’? 11 Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” says the Lord” (Jer 7:9-11). Men can deceive men, but no one can deceive God! When tempted by the devil to worship him Jesus rebuked him saying: “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve” (Matt 4:10)! Selah!
In Nigeria, especially in the riverine areas, the main idol pagan people worship is an evil spirit called Mami-Watter. She is described as a fair skinned woman, very beautiful and dangerous at the same time. She has long hair or a big snake around her. Like Baal, she blesses people with wealth and fertility. If angered, she punishes people with fear and untimely death. Her followers say that she likes “sweet things”. They place sweets, fruits, jewellery, perfumes, or Fanta drinks at her shrines, by the rivers.
GOD HATES IDOLATRY
God created human beings to worship Him. The question is not “will we worship?” but “who or what will we worship?” If we don’t want to worship God, we must still worship something. That is how men decide to worship idols. The first three of the 10 Commandments deal with the proper worship of God (Exo 20:1-6). God says it categorically that He hates idolatry and that He punishes the idolaters. God commands His people that in the Promised Land, they should destroy all pagan idols; they should not admire them or bring them into their houses. The silver and the gold used to make the idols, must be burnt with fire (Deut 7:25,26). God particularly hates all pagan practices, especially human sacrifice and witchcraft (Deut 18:10-14). God also hates astrology, the worship of the sun, moon, and stars. Astrology is the study of the correlation between stars in the sky and events, personalities, or behaviours on Earth. It interprets horoscopes to provide insight into career, relationships, and health. God expects that we too hate idolatry with the same degree of righteous wrath! Selah!
God hates idolatry because it deceives people about His nature and character. The idol recreates God in the image of man, diminishing Him, emptying Him of His holiness, of His transcendence. An idol is one we can see and touch, a piece of stone or a stump of wood. An idol may also be something immaterial but pleasurable like s*x, money or romantic relationships. Anything that is more important to you than God, that wastes your time, emotions and imagination, is an idol. If you desire something so much that you say: “if I have that thing, I will feel totally happy, safe and secure...If I lose it, my life has no meaning and I will better die...” That is an idol to you!
God hates idols not only because they misrepresent Him, but the idols damage us who are created in His image. When we worship idols, we can never be satisfied. It is only by knowing and worshipping God that we can find peace, joy, identity and satisfaction as human beings. The most shameful thing we can do as human beings is to live our lives worshipping useless gods. Like God, we must despise idolatry for what it says about Him and what it does to us. Spiritual adultery destroys fellowship with God and harms our soul. Joshua said: “Now therefore, throw away the foreign gods among you and yield your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel” (Josh 24:23). What are “the foreign gods” today? Anything, visible or invisible, that competes with the Lord for first place in your heart. Search your hearts!
If God hates idols and idolatry, we should not be surprised that He deals with idolaters in the harshest manner. Under the Old Testament law those who worshipped foreign gods were to be stoned to death (Deut 13:10,11). In the New Testament, we read that idolaters go to hell. But there is mercy in repentance and surrender to Jesus. “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homos*xuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1Cor 6:9-11). We learn that it is not enough to repent of worshipping an idol. We must replace our worship of false gods with the worship of the only true God. This is what those Corinthian Christians had done. “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry” (1 Cor 10:14). Flee from idolatry and run to Christ Jesus!
Why God Demands Exclusive Worship? He alone is Creator and Redeemer. “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, And his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: I am the First and I am the Last. Besides Me there is no God” (Isa 44:6). God is jealous for His glory! Worship the Lord!
THE LORD HE IS GOD!!! (1Kings 18:17-46)
King Ahab and Jezebel sponsored many Baal priests in Isreal. God used Prophet Elijah to confront the false worship of Baal. He challenged the Baal priests to call upon their god. Baal priests were very zealous. They cried out and danced wildly around the altar to stir Baal to answer. Wild dancing was a form of Baal worship. They also cut themselves until, blood flowed out. Wounding is a form of Baal worship. Pagans believe that gods could be forced to answer if they flog themselves until blood is seen. But Baal refused to respond. When Elijah called on Jehovah, He immediately answered with fire from heaven. He proved to be the only Living and Prayer answering God! His name is ‘EL ANAH ESH’ (‘The God that answers by fire’)! Praise His Holy Name!
There are many lessons for us in this story.
*The power of Prayer. The priests of Baal prayed and he did not answer. Elijah prayed and God answered by Fire from heaven. Prayer is not just a religious ritual but intimate connection with God, thru Christ. “the prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail" (Jam 5:16).
*The power of Faith in miracles! “For nothing will be impossible with God” (Lk 1:37)
*The power of Courage! Elijah trusted God and stood alone against 450 priests of Baal. He won the battle! "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control" (2 Tim 1:7).
*Idolatry is useless. “But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases. 4 Their idols are silver and gold, The work of men’s hands. 5 They have mouths, but they do not speak; Eyes they have, but they do not see; 6 They have ears, but they do not hear; Noses they have, but they do not smell; 7 They have hands, but they do not handle; Feet they have, but they do not walk; Nor do they mutter through their throat. 8 Those who make them are like them; So is everyone who trusts in them” (Ps 115:3-8).
*God is sovereign over the universe, over the visible and invisible realms. Nothing happens without God’s permission.
*God desires that sinners should repent and come back to Him! “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Ac 3:19). Repent from any sin or idol! Come back to Jesus!
*Obedience to God is a sign of Love, not just an act but a lifestyle. "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments" (Jn 14:15).
*God provides for our needs. After the victory on Mount Carmel, God sent the rain and the famine ended. “For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matt 6:8). Amen! Worship the Lord!!!
