Hosea 12: Check Yo self

What happens when we drift away from God's love? In this compelling exploration of Hosea 12, Pastor Brandon unpacks the powerful metaphor of "checking yourself before you wreck yourself" through the lens of ancient Israel's waywardness and God's persistent love.

The heart of this message centers on God's warning to Israel about their spiritual condition. They were "feeding on wind" and seeking alliances with foreign powers rather than trusting God. With surgical precision, Pastor Brandon connects this ancient struggle to our modern tendency to overcomplicate our relationship with God, forgetting the simple joy of salvation that once defined our faith.

Drawing from the story of Jacob wrestling with God, we discover a blueprint for authentic spiritual relationship. Jacob refused to let go until he received a blessing—and God calls us to that same tenacious engagement with Him. The contrast couldn't be clearer: Israel had become like "crafty merchants selling from dishonest scales," boasting of self-made success while forgetting who truly blessed them.

This episode offers practical wisdom for daily spiritual self-examination. Rather than continuing in struggle, Pastor Brandon encourages us to take time each morning to check ourselves: "Is there any area of my life where I've grown away from you, God? Help me stay close to the simple joy of my salvation." It's an invitation to return to the authentic wrestling with Scripture that characterized our early faith—moving forward with what we understand while working through what we don't yet grasp.

Whether you're feeling distant from God or simply seeking to deepen your relationship, this exploration of Hosea 12 provides both warning and invitation wrapped in God's reckless love. Listen now, and rediscover the path back to authentic spiritual connection.

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Chapters

• 0:48 Welcome to Bible Breakdown
• 1:25 Hosea's Theme: God's Reckless Love
• 4:01 Checking Yourself: Jacob's Wrestling Story
• 6:08 God's Warning to Israel
• 7:48 Application and Closing Prayer

Transcript

Speaker 0: 0:24

Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon. Today, hosea, chapter 12, and today's title is Check Yourself, check Yourself. We are going to talk about the reality that God is just challenging the nation. Hey, listen, you got to look out, because if you don't look out you're going to get hit right. And we're going to talk about that today, and maybe the Lord will speak to us as well about some areas of our life, some areas we're doing well and maybe some areas we need to kind of check the dipstick on and make sure there's plenty of oil there. You know all that good stuff and we're going to do all that in just a moment. So, if you have your Bibles, I want to open up with me to Hosea, chapter 12,. While you're doing that, make sure, as always, you're taking 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 and make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown Discussion on Facebook. There's an amazing group of people who do a wonderful job there every day and, as always, the more we dig, the more we find.

Speaker 0: 1:23

Now, once again, if you've been with us for a while. You know that the overall idea of the book of Hosea is God's reckless love and you can see throughout all these different chapters that theme is continuing. In the first little bit he was showing us through the narrative of God telling Hosea to go and marry a prostitute and save her out of that prostitution, only for her to then go back to it again. And God told him go get your wife back. Go get her back and continue to love her. And this is beautiful, like old testament soap opera slash. You know Cinderella story of God, just not. Or Hosea not giving up on Gomer that was the lady. And then he pivots to saying that's exactly how it is between myself, god and the nation of Israel, the northern kingdom. And for the past several chapters we've been listening as God is metaphorically positioning himself as this fateful husband while this wayward wife is going and doing all the things right. But all the way through it's constantly about God's reckless love, over and over again. And in chapter 12, god is showing his reckless love again, and this time by saying hey, you need to watch out, you need to check yourself right.

Speaker 0: 2:41

And the first time I heard this phrase check yourself was when my daughter was in TK, she had this wonderful teacher named Miss Scipio still one of my favorite teachers my girls ever had, and she taught them a bunch of little phrases and things just to help them catch on to like the rules of her class and all this kind of stuff. And one of those things was that she would say all the time, you better check yourself before you wreck yourself. In other words, she would just tell them hey, pay attention to what you're doing, because if you're making a bad decision it's going to lead to bad places. Right, and I love that phrase, and so it became something we talked about in our family. All the time we say, check yourself. And they would just say, I know, before you wreck yourself, it's like, absolutely well, god is saying that to the nation of israel be careful, watch out, notice where you're going, because it leads to bad places. And so let's see if we can see where it is they're going and where God is saying watch out. Okay, you ready, here we go.

Speaker 0: 3:37

Hosea, chapter 12, verse 1, says this the people of Israel feed on the wind, they chase after the east wind all day long, they pile up lies and violence and they are making an alliance with Assyria while sending olive oil to buy support from Egypt. Now the Lord is bringing charges against Judah. He is about to punish Jacob for all his deceitful ways and pay him back for all he has done. Even in the womb, jacob struggled with his brother. When he became a man, he even fought with God. Yes, he wrestled with the angel and won, and he wept and pleaded for a blessing from him. There at Bethel, he met God face to face and God spoke to him. The Lord, god of heaven's armies, the Lord is his name. So now come back to your God. Now pause.

Speaker 0: 4:30

Just in case you're unaware of this, this is talking about in the book of Genesis, when the literal Jacob because you had Abraham Isaac his grandson's name was Jacob. He actually wrestled with the angel of the Lord and when it was over with, he said hey, listen, I need you to bless me. And so he's talking about how there was this struggle, but yet he prevailed and he was saying, just like that it is time for you to take your relationship with God seriously. Verse six he says this so now come back to your God, act with love and justice. So he's saying, just like that check yourself from where you are and wrestle with these different things. Wrestle with where you have gone and come back to the Lord, act with love and justice and always depend on him.

Speaker 0: 5:17

But no, the people are like crafty merchants selling from dishonest scales. They love to cheat. Israel boasts I am rich, I have made a fortune all by myself. No one has caught me cheating, my record is spotless. But I am the Lord, your God, who rescued you from slavery in Egypt, and I will make you live in tents again, as you do each year at the festival of shelters. I sent my prophets to warn you with many visions and parables. But the people of Gilead are worthless because of their idol worship, and in Gilgal too, they sacrifice bulls. Their altars are lined up like the heaps of stone along the edges of a plowed field.

Speaker 0: 6:03

Jacob fled to the land of Aram, and there he earned a wife by tending sheep. Then, by a prophet, the Lord brought Jacob's descendants out of Egypt, speaking of Moses, and by that prophet they were protected. But the people of Israel have bitterly provoked the Lord, so their Lord will now sentence them to death in payment for their sins. Wow, so what God is saying is is he's saying remember the past, remember in the past generations where there was this wrestling with God, just trying to figure it out, trying to figure out what was going on, and, as you trusted God, god helped you overcome, as far as as a nation, all these terrible things. He was saying go do that again. Go check yourself where you are, go back to those first things so that you can be blessed. He said, however, you don't want to do that and because of that, bad things are going to happen.

Speaker 0: 6:59

And so the application for us is God's reckless love warns us. God's reckless love says hey, listen, remember how we used to love each other. Remember how you would wrestle back and forth with reading my word and trying to understand it, and you move forward with what you did know and you worked on what you didn't know and you got it wrong, but at the same time, you'd get it right sometimes, and it was just the simple joy of being saved. Remember that. Do that again. Don't overcomplicate this thing. Get joy of being saved. Remember that. Do that again. Don't overcomplicate this thing. Get back to the simple joy of knowing the Lord and watch how he can deliver you.

Speaker 0: 7:33

But then, in the nation of Israel, god is saying but you don't want to do that, you'd rather just struggle. And, honestly, sometimes that does feel like us, because God tells us what to do but we say, nah, I'd rather just struggle. But he always keeps his hand open. And so the application for both of us today me and you is let's not do that. Let's take time every morning and just say, god, I want to check myself. Is there any area of my life where I've grown away from you? Can I get closer to you? Help me always stay close to the simple joy of my salvation. Check yourself daily so that you can stay close to God faithfully. Let's pray together right now.

Speaker 0: 8:18

God, thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, that you are with us and you're for us in every way. I'm thankful, god, that you help us to know, to check ourself so that we can stay close to you. I pray, lord, that everyone who is listening or watching this today you'll remind us to take moments just to just to check and see. Are we as close to you as we could be? Are we experiencing your freedom? Are we are we thankful, lord, for the good things you're doing? If not, help us, lord, to be thankful every day. Help us to walk in freedom every day. We celebrate you now In Jesus' name. We pray Amen, amen. Well, god's word said. God 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 plan for us is for us to experience his reckless love every day.