Hosea 08: God Sees It All

"These boots were made for walking, and one of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you." The familiar country lyrics echo God's frustration in Hosea 8, where He confronts Israel's insincere worship with a startling message: "I see what you're doing when you act as though you love me, but really sin behind my back."

In this revealing episode of Bible Breakdown, Pastor Brandon guides us through this Old Testament "soap opera" where God positions Himself as the faithful husband who's simply had enough. The parallels to our modern faith journeys are uncomfortable yet necessary. How often do we read our Bibles, pray, and serve in church primarily to get God's attention or blessing rather than from genuine devotion? God's message through Hosea is clear and convicting – He sees our hearts, not just our religious performances.

The most challenging question emerges: Would you worship God if He never blessed you again? Would you give faithfully without receiving financial freedom in return? Would your service continue if you never witnessed His faithfulness on this side of heaven? These questions cut to the core of authentic faith. As Pastor Brandon vulnerably admits, we all sometimes approach God with mixed motives, yet the beautiful truth remains – even when we falter, God's reckless love continues to pursue us. His desire isn't for our religious performances but for genuine relationship.

Join us for this powerful exploration of Hosea 8 that will transform how you approach worship and deepen your understanding of God's unwavering love. Text RLCBIBLE to 94000 for daily podcast updates, and remember – God doesn't want a bartering system; He wants your heart.

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The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Chapters

• 0:48 Welcome to Bible Breakdown Podcast
• 1:45 Reading Hosea 8: God Sees All
• 5:56 Understanding God's Frustration with Insincerity
• 7:46 Examining Our Motives in Worship
• 9:46 Closing Prayer and Final Thoughts

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today, hosea, chapter 8, and today's title is God Sees it All. God Sees it All. This song or, excuse me, not the song this chapter reminds me of a couple of old country songs that we're going to get into in just a moment, and you were going to see how limited my country song repertoire is, and I'd like to know down in the comments if you can think of a country song that would better go with today's soap opera. We'll get all that in just a moment, but if you want to open up your Bibles with me to Hosea, chapter eight, while you're doing that, make sure you take just a moment to like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast it really does help and make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown Discussion on Facebook. There's an amazing group of people doing a wonderful job over there and, as always, the more we dig, the more we find. Also, because we constantly have new listeners.

Speaker 1: 1:23

I want to remind you about two things that we have that, hopefully, is available to you as a resource. First of all, you can text the word RLCBIBLE, so RLC letters, then the word Bible RLCBIBLE to 94000, and you will get a text message every single morning about the podcast and the links for it. You can also go to thebiblebreakdowncom, where we are archiving all of the podcast episodes as well as some devotionals that go along with it, because our goal is to make it through the entire Bible and then just continue to dig deeper and deeper every time we read. So make sure you check those out, okay. Well, once again, if you've been with us for a while, then you know that the overall idea of Hosea is God's reckless love, and what we have seen here is it started off with this idea where God told Hosea I want you to go and I want you to marry this prostitute named Gomer, and I already had some people reach out to me and just be like this is just bizarre. And the answer is you're right, it is bizarre and that is the point is, god is helping us see in the most raw way possible what it looks like with the relationship between him and his people, because it's like they went. It's like, rather, hosea goes and gets Gomer, rescues her out of a terrible life and all these different things, only for her to go back to it again. And then he goes and rescues her all over again, and then after that we've been seeing over the past few chapters where God is saying this is what it's like between me and you. And God is positioning himself a little bit like kind of the fateful husband who's just had enough. And that's why we say that this is kind of like a soap opera of the, the fateful husband who's just had enough. And that's why we say that this is kind of like the, a soap opera of the old testament, as the days of our lives, uh, are the days of our lives soap opera of the old testament, because it's god is just saying I've had enough. I am this fateful husband, and the only time you come back to me is when you can't do no better. And in today's chapter he's going to be talking about this idea of God seeing it all, and he's going to talk about how you keep coming back to me, but you don't really mean it. You don't really mean it at all. And so it reminds me of that old song. You know, these boots were made for walking, and one of these days these boots are going to walk all over you and that's not what God wants. But he's saying you're playing me for a fool, and I know when you're being sincere, I know when you're not being sincere, so quit it. Because I see it all. And so there's something kind of convicting about this. And so we're going to read this together and I'm curious. I want to know, in the comments below, if you can think of a better country song than these boots were made for walking, to go along with this, but also to see the frustration, but yet the endless, reckless love of God in this. So if you're ready, hosea, chapter 8, verse 1 says this Sound the alarm.

Speaker 1: 4:23

The enemies descend like an eagle on the people of the Lord, for they have broken my covenant and revolted against my law. Now Israel pleads with me help us, for you are our God, but it's too late. The people of Israel have rejected what is good, and now their enemies will chase after them. The people have appointed kings without my consent and princes without my approval. By making idols for themselves from their silver and gold, they have brought their own destruction. O Samaria, I have rejected this calf, this idol that you have made. My fury burns against you. How long will you be incapable of innocence. This calf you worship, o Israel, was crafted by your own hands. It's not God. Therefore, it must be smashed to bits. They have planted the wind and will harvest the whirlwind. The stalks of grain wither and produce nothing to eat. And even if there is any grain, foreigners will eat it. The people of Israel have been swallowed up. They lie among the nations like an old, discarded pot, like a wild donkey looking for a mate. They have gone up to Assyria.

Speaker 1: 5:42

The people of Israel have sold themselves, sold themselves to many lovers, but though they have sold themselves, israel has built many altars to take away sin, but these very altars became places for sinning. Even though I gave them my laws, they act as if those laws don't apply to them. The people love to offer sacrifices to me, feasting on the meat, but I do not accept these sacrifices. I will hold my people accountable for their sins and I will punish them. They will return to Egypt. Israel has forgotten its maker and built great palaces, and Judah has fortified its cities. Therefore, I will send down fire on their cities and will burn up their fortresses.

Speaker 1: 6:41

Wow, so, as you can see, god is saying I see what you're doing, I see how you are acting as though you love me, but really you are sinning behind my back. But I'm God, so I can tell when you're really turning your heart toward me and really when you're just trying to get in my good graces. And can I tell you how convicting that is? It is so convicting because I know times in my life when I have read my Bible, I have prayed, I have given to the church, I have served all of that because I was trying to get God's attention, because I wanted him to do something for me All the while I wasn't serving him with my heart. You go ahead and polish your halo, but I'm going to be truthful. There's times when I do for God because I want him to do back for me, and the whole time God is saying I see your heart and your heart is actually what I'm after. So I would rather you love me with your heart than to give me all your stuff.

Speaker 1: 7:41

Now, to be true, god wants us to read his word and pray and talk to him, but it's all about fellowship, not a bartering system. We don't read our Bible so that God will owe us. We read God's word so we can encounter him, we can fellowship with him. We don't pray fast, give our tithe and our offering. We don't join in with the community of faith so that God owes us. We do that because God loves us, and if we don't, he notices.

Speaker 1: 8:11

So here's maybe the application point for us today, and that is this to take a moment and to think about our motives. When you worship God, are you doing it simply because he's good? Would you worship Him if he never blessed you again? Would you give faithfully if you never received any more type of freedom in your finances? Would you serve faithfully if God never opened your eyes to see His faithfulness anymore on this side of heaven? Would you do that? If not, ask yourself why Are you serving God only because of what he can give you, or are you serving God out of that pure heart? And here's the challenge. He knows either way, and the thing I love about God is, even when we don't always serve him so faithfully, the reckless love of God still searches after us. What an amazing Savior we have. Let's pray together right now.

Speaker 1: 9:09

God, thank you so much for today. Thank you, god that you're with us and you're for us and always, and God even in times when we get our motives messed up. Your motives are not messed up. You love us more than we can imagine. I'm thankful for that. Today, in Jesus' name, we pray amen and amen. Well, god's word says in Hosea 6, verse 6, I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings. God's hope and plan for us is that we'll experience his reckless love and know him more every day. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Hosea, chapter 9.