Daily Devotions
January 7th, 2010 by Pastor SolleyHos 7:6
6 For they have made ready their heart like an oven, whiles they lie in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire.
Hos 7:8
8 Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned.
Hos 7:16
16 They return, but not to the most High: they are like a deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue: this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.There are three illustrations in this chapter. The Baker who did not keep the oven ready. The cake that was not turned. We have looked at those over the past two days.
Now we see the third. – Hos 7:16 They return, but not to the most High: they are like a deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue: this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.
It is because the oven was not kept ready and the cake not turned that the bow is deceitful. A bow was a weapon of course. For it to be effective in battle it had to be true. It had to be straight, it had to be tight, it had to shoot true. Left standing in a corner, or out in the weather for an extended perios of time it would warp and not shoot true. It would be useless in battle. This was Israel or Ephraim at that time. They had not prepared themselves spiritually for a fight, the cake had not be turned so God could deal with all things, and now when the enemy came they had nothing to fight him with. One often hears how we need to be in the Word of God and in prayer everyday. Have the oven ready. One often hears how we need to have all the counsel of God, be completely turned. The reason being so our bow will shoot true when we need it.