Hosea 5-8: A Burnt Offering

Your love is like the morning mist,
   like the early dew that disappears.
Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets,
   I killed you with the words of my mouth;
   my judgments flashed like lightning upon you.
For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
   and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings. - Hosea 6:4-6 NIV

We forget that God sees all.  He looks beyound our words and promises and sees how faithful we are in heart and deed. Empty promises and acctions can't buy God's love. Empty offerings, empty worship, empty devotion, he sees through it all.  Over and over again, if you look closely, you can see what God requires: Mercy, justice and mercy, and a relationship with him.  A real relationship, not one as Hosea says, like the morning mist that disappears, but a lasting, abiding relationship, one that cannot be shaken, one that is reflected by our lives. God's very own son, provided a way to the Father, but what are we doing with that access.  Are we using it for our own self interest, or to please him?  Are our lives full of mercy and acknowledgement of God.  Anything else we would offer God is just rubbish, hay wood and stubble, a burnt offering.

2010 Post - Hosea 5-8:  Reap the Whirlwind