Hosea 13

Hosea 13:4 I am the Lord, your God, since the land of Egypt; You know no God besides me, and there is no savior but me.

God brought the people of Israel out of Egypt, away from the terrible rule of the Pharaoh. He brought the people to the promised land. And yet, generations later, Israel had rejected God as their king and savior, and begged for other kings. But those kings could't protect them from their enemies. Israel's values and desires changed, but God had not. God remained the only true king and savior, but their wickedness blinded them to this fact.  Their abundance blinded them, making them believe the false gods had helped them or that they had climbed to success by themselves. They forgot the God who blessed them, because they were living in plentiful times.

But those times were about to halt. God was about to come in like a lion, and make them remember him. If they only turned to him in bad times, he was going to make their times really bad so they called out to him. This was not because God hated them, but because he was trying to break their stone hearts. And sometimes, people need to hit rock bottom, or have their hearts completely broken, before they can be put back together. God wanted them to recognize him as true king of Israel, no matter who sat on the throne.

It is easy to forget God when our lives are going good, we are busy making things better, and forget to tell the One who set things up for us "thank you." It is easy to fall into the slump and just going about our business, and only when we fall do we look for his help. But that is not what God wants, nor is it what he deserves. He wants our love all the time, and not just for the sake of saying it. I've seen many people on television win awards and such, and will say "and I thank God for..." and I wonder if they truly mean it, or if they are just saying it to say it. I remind my children we are to be truly thankful, even at every meal. When we say blessing, if they are being silly through it, I make them redo, so they hear the words of thanks and can try harder to mean what they are saying. So our words aren't words of the wind, like those of the hypocritical Israelites. 

There are so many things that we put our trust in today, that has us turned from God. People put their trust in financial things, like the stock market or jobs or banks. But these things can falter at anytime, like we are experiencing now. Through these dark times, many are turning back to God. We must remember when this is all done, when we can start over, that every day must be given to God. Every joy, every tear, every good, every bad. They are all to be given to God. It is through him that we are blessed. Without him, we are nothing.