Hosea 7:9 Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not
My phone reminds me of how old I am pretty much every day. This morning it showed me pictures of two and five years ago this very day. I realized I had gotten a little older. My phone shows me photos of when I had fewer gray hairs and looked younger than I do right now. Age grows on us when we are not paying attention and all of a sudden, we think, “I’m older than I was.” Sin does the same thing. Sin grows in inattentive people.
In Hosea 7 the prophet is being used of God to talk to His people. He says in verse 9, “Strangers have devoured his [Israel’s] strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth it not.” Israel had gone to Egypt and Assyria for help and didn’t realize they were devouring their own strength, not adding to it. Israel was getting older, not younger.
Just like age, sin sneaks up on inattentive people. They don’t see change. If I were to ask you if you were closer to God now than you were one year ago, that may seem like an unfair question, but it is a question I ask myself. I happen to be at a church right now that I was at almost a year ago. When you do such things, it helps you think, “What was life like a year ago? How am I tracking?” It is easy to fall into a rut and be inattentive to the changes that are happening within us and around us. Israel had drifted from God and didn’t even know it. The gray hairs were growing and Israel had not even noticed.
Inattentive people don’t hear warnings. I saw a video clip of a SUV that had the front end blown off by a passenger train just a few days ago. I don’t know exactly what happened, but there would have been a series of warnings. The arm would have gone down, lights would have flashed, a bell would have rung that a train was approaching. Somehow the car did not pay attention to the warnings and –wham– the front end was knocked right off that car. Thankfully, the driver was not injured, but it could have been devastating. Oftentimes when we talk to people or hear a sermon from God’s Word, we hear some kind of warning about where we are with God. Inattentive people don’t hear warnings.
Inattentive people don’t feel judgment. Pain is not the problem; pain simply points to the problem. If I have pain in my life, but I ignore the pain, what I am really ignoring is the cause of the pain. Sin is the danger. Judgment is just the pain that comes from that sin.
So, every day I am growing, growing bitter or growing better. In every case, I am growing older because time is passing. Sin grows in inattentive people. What is growing in you today?