The Lord’s Case against Israel (Hosea 4:1-3 NLT)
Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel!
The Lord has brought charges against you, saying:
“There is no faithfulness, no kindness,
no knowledge of God in your land.
You make vows and break them;
you kill and steal and commit adultery.
There is violence everywhere—
one murder after another.
That is why your land is in mourning,
and everyone is wasting away.
Even the wild animals, the birds of the sky,
and the fish of the sea are disappearing.
We all should strive to leave behind something greater than ourselves. Fighting injustice. Battling for the dispossessed and powerless. Comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable. (The Rejected Stone by Al Sharpton, page 258).
Once in a documentary [I think on the health care system] Michael Moore remarked that he could not understand why Americans [especially public policy] is so mean. It is to be remembered that Biblical Israel began to implode when a widespread state of meanness (of “no kindness”) cursed the landscape. There are indeed those who are very comfortable and content in America, but with them can come a streak of meanness. Al Sharpton reminds us that legacies do not arise from expensive homes or extensive travel, but from humble avenues of service. Those who worship at the altar of “cool toys” will die and be forgotten with the swift transience of the “cool toys” themselves—with a crushing vengeance like that seen in an Indiana Jones dénouement in which transience was unwisely chosen and verily subsumed the lustful chooser forthwith. May we all learn to trust God and choose wisely.
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