She said, “I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my linen.” Hosea 2:5b 

Magical thinking.  Children have it.  Adults should have outgrown it and exchanged it for wisdom but each of us will fight magical thinking in areas specific to our story.  For instance, some of us really believe that once a person understands that what they are doing is causing us harm us, they’ll wake up, feel badly, and make a course correction.  If only this were true!   And this is just one example.

How many times have I justified something in my life by saying, “Maybe this is wrong but….” What followed was the list of personal benefits.  Sin paid off, or so I thought.  What I gained by giving into it far outweighed what I would have had to sacrifice to make a change. And oftentimes, change was too frightening but that was only because I didn’t know the power of the Word and the Spirit working together in my heart. 

God speaks to Hosea and tells Him that Israel justifies her harlotry because of what she receives from her lovers. She benefits by her flirtations. Other gods cause her to prosper. Other gods make her feel good about herself.  Other gods bring about an adrenaline rush. Let’s face it ~ consciences can be skewed when the soul is in a place of delight. 

God will have to make sure that Israel’s way is thwarted, that her pleasures are short- lived. If it means marking her pathway with sharp stones, so be it. His nature is not to punish but to restore. His nature is not to withhold, but to bless. His nature is not to ruin a good time, but to overwhelm His children with pleasures this world can not duplicate. 

These realities are not as easy to put our hands on as the temporal, that is true. They only come by way of pursuing God relentlessly.  But we are never sorry that we rejected the counterfeit and waited for the real thing.   We were meant to live in awe and wonder.

I will face decisions today that offer an instant payoff. Let me take the high road to the North, the one that leads to Your mountaintop. In Jesus’ name, Amen