Hosea 8:1 + Remembering

Hosea 8:1 Set the trumpet to your lips! One like a vulture is over the house of the Lord, because they have broken my covenant, and transgressed my law.

I don't know how we got on the subject -- and it's not pleasant -- but yesterday someone told me about driving a long country road to work. In the morning he'd often spot a dead deer along the side of the road. Returning in the evening, he said, "the deer would be picked clean by vultures. How did they do it so fast?"

Through Hosea we are told to "set the trumpet to []our lips." This isn't time for music; it's time to sound the alarm -- "1 one like a vulture is over the house of the Lord." It might be tempting to think that the judgment here is pronounced about the vulture ... but no. Vultures do what vultures do. The judgment is against God's own people "1 because they have broken my covenant." God takes it seriously when we "1 transgress[] [His] law."

Do we ever ...
+ "3 Spurn the good"?
+ "4 Ma[k]e kings [and priorities], but not through [God]"?
+ Do we ever make "4 idols [of] silver and gold," or plastic and self-centered desires?
+ Do we ever "7 sow [in] the wind" and wonder why we "4 reap the whirlwind"?

Conclusion ... "14 Israel has forgotten his Maker."

O Lord, you are holy and mighty and just and ... and ... hmmm ... I forgot what I saying ... I forget whom I am praising ... I forget who I truly am ... humble me ... and remind me that I am yours.

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