"My Complaint, You Priests, Is With You!"

Scripture Passage

Hosea 2:14-8:14

Scripture Focus

"Don’t point your finger at someone else
    and try to pass the blame!
My complaint, you priests,
    is with you."
                                  (Hosea 4:4 NLT)

Observation

It’s too personal—today’s post is—for "general consumption."  Hosea’s words are too biting…too direct…too targeted…at me! It’s the priests—the spiritual leaders—who take it on the chin today…and that means I’m the guy!

John Maxwell (a leadership guru) says, “Everything rises and falls on leadership.” I’m not as absolutely, 100%, hook-line-and-sinker convinced of that as I used to be. I’m more aware, these days, that good leadership must be matched by good “follower-ship.” Still, Hosea’s words remind (and indict) me again that spiritual leadership brings both great opportunity and grave responsibilities. And Hosea has no trouble blaming Israel’s spiritual leaders for the dearth of genuinely faithful Israelites.

The challenge is for me, today—and you can listen in if you want to. I receive it:

“Come, let us return to the LORD.

He has torn us to pieces;
    now he will heal us.
He has injured us;
    now he will bandage our wounds.
In just a short time he will restore us,
    so that we may live in his presence.
Oh, that we might know the LORD!
    Let us press on to know him.
He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn
    or the coming of rains in early spring.”
                                   (Hosea 6:1-3 NLT)

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