meditations

In Hosea 9:1-4 the prophet is warning of the coming judgement that God will pour out on Israel. It has always been interesting to me the things that God sees as curses that we do not. Here the focus is the production of and enjoyment of two basic foods, wine and bread, but the text goes beyond that. The people will not have an abundance of bread and wine, but also their offerings of bread and wine will not please God. Verse four says, "They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the LORD, and their sacrifices shall not please him. It shall be like mourners' bread to them; all who eat of it shall be defiled: For their bread shall be for their hunger only; it shall not come to the house of the LORD." It seems to me that the real curse being promised is not the lack of food, but the lack of fellowship. Their bread will satisfy their physical hunger, but it will be a defilement to them rather than a means to fellowship with God. They will not even pour out their drink offerings before God. Today, if God wills, I hope to partake of the LORD's supper with my church family. Interestingly, the elements of the LORD's supper are wine and bread, but unlike the wine and bread mentioned in the text, the LORD's supper represents a sufficient sacrifice. My drink offering, Christ's shed blood, has been poured out and accepted. The bread of his body has been offered once for all, and when I drink the cup and eat the bread, I can join with God in covenant and fellowship. The danger is that I will approach the table with the same disregard and wickedness as those Israelites that Hosea was writing to, that I will come to the table with a heart full of pride, self-sufficiency, and idolatry. May God deliver me from eating only to fill my physical hunger the thing that was meant to be the very life of my soul.