For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.

                                          

          "For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind...." Hos. 8:7

For several years now I have taken note of an interesting phenomenon. Perhaps we could call it a dichotomy (I threw that in so you’d know how good I am at reading a dictionary). In the cited verse above the prophet is talking about ancient Israel and their continual decline into sin. They started off faithful and obedient to God but, over the generations of time, had grown increasingly sinful. 

WHY? Their situation begs an answer to that question. What was the reason for the steady deterioration of their national righteousness? Oh, scholars and so-called Bible experts would probably debate this subject to death and come up with a myriad of answers but, since I’m neither a scholar nor do I proclaim to be an "expert" on the Bible (just a continuing student) I think the answer is pretty simple. It’s my answer that will constitute the rest of this editorial.

I think that for us to answer the question as to why Israel "sowed the wind and reaped the whirlwind" we only have to look no further than a few verses following that statement. In verse 14 of that same chapter, Hosea said that "Israel had forgotten his Master..." Then in chapter 13 verse 6 he adds a further explanation as to "why." God, through His prophet, tells us that "when they were filled, their heart was lifted up and they forgot Me."

That’s my simple answer to the question. THEY FORGOT GOD! There’s another passage that I’d like to call your attention to that also reinforces my reasoning as to this answer. If you open your Bibles to Deut. 32 and read verses 15 -18 you’ll see even more detail as to what Israel did that started them off on their national decline and apostasy from God which resulted in their national destruction.

Reading down through those verses you’ll see that they "got fat" which is just saying that they saw their successes through "proud" eyes and they "forsook God which made them." It goes on to say that they "lightly esteemed" the very One who had saved them from Egypt. In speaking about their Savior, "the Rock," it’s written that they became "unmindful" of Him and that they had "forgotten God that formed them."

In further backing up of my answer, I’ll cite a couple more passages for you to consider on this topic. The prophet Jeremiah said that Israel had "perverted their way" and that they had "forgotten the Lord their God." (Jer. 3:21) Then in 13:25 he said their "lot," (punishment) was because they had "forgotten me and trusted in falsehood (lies)."
OK, having laid a foundation of scripture, let’s return to my opening remarks about the phenomenon I’ve noted and I’m pretty sure that you have too. It seems that the leaders of our government have been systematically trying to remove God and anything pertaining to Him out of every part of our national lives. It appears that this is a concerted effort towards that end. IE: don’t mention God in any way, form or fashion.

BUT - let a tragedy occur like a school shooting, a destructive forest fire or a calamity of some sort and what’s one of the first things you hear people saying? WHERE WAS GOD? WHY DID HE ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN? That’s the dichotomy that I see. Don’t even mention His name, especially don’t publicly pray to God, but yet He’s sure handy to blame a tragic occurrence on, isn’t He?

I believe that this assault on religion and God, in general, is part and parcel of Satan’s constant and sustained battle plan against God and His children. And, it just seems to me that Satan has recruited a lot of soldiers to represent him in his campaign against righteousness.
And, I further believe that his current efforts against us today is probably the same as the ones he used against ancient Israel that brought about their downfall. I mean, they worked back then and if we’re not more vigilant and diligent than Israel, our national security might be just as much in peril.

Allow me to pose a scenario to you. Do you think it possible that our nation has "grown fat" over the years? That, like Israel, we started off as a nation having a "firm reliance on the protection of divine providence" (Dec. of Independence) and we’ve sort of consistently declined our national selves away from God? 

And that our national slippage has reached the point where we’re not supposed to write, speak or even hint at some display of reverence towards God. Especially not in schools or anything pertaining to the government. It certainly seems to me that old Satan sure has the battle going his way at the moment and has gained quite a bit of ground in this war. 

Is it any mystery to us that one of his off-spring commits an atrocious act? I rather think that we should expect tragedies committed by his followers to occur simply because God has effectively been removed from public view. That a national absence of God can only lead to a lot of innocent lives being lost, sort of in the sense of "collateral damage," in a war in which we’ve "forgotten" our greatest weapon - the wisdom and teachings of God. 

I’d say that we’re in grave danger of following right in the footsteps of ancient Israel because we’ve "perverted our way" and we’ve "lightly esteemed" God and His wisdom. I’m just afraid that we’ll "sow the wind" to the point that we’ll "reap the whirlwind." Further, I have a fear that if we don’t use our "sword," the "Word of God" (Eph. 6:17) effectively and quickly, our nation will emulate Israel and "forget God."
Yep, Israel allowed the world to replace God in their hearts. You know, man’s heart will be filled with something. If not filled with God and His wisdom, then it will be filled with Satan’s and the worlds wisdom. Only a fool would allow this to happen. I’m not the one saying that - God says that. In 1Cor. 3:19 we read: "the wisdom of the world, which is foolishness in the eyes of God."

That’s a pretty easily seen equation, isn’t it? That if God views the "wisdom of the world" as being "foolishness," then those whose hearts are filled with it have to be counted as "fools." And, by the same token, those who don’t recognize the dangers brought on by the "forgetting of God" would have to fall under that same category - "fools."

As a final thought here, I’m afraid that if we, as a nation, "forget God" like Israel did, we’ll end up realizing what they did: "But Zion said, the Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me." (Isa. 49:14) One last scriptural warning and I’m done for today. "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." (Psa. 9:17)

Ron Covey