Determined to Follow Man's Command

 We see it all of the time. There is some person or organization that puts out a directive, a rule, that everyone is supposed to obey. It could have to do with marriage, family, gender, or many different issues. We have to decide if we will follow that command or not. As believers, we should never simply follow a command from a man. We are to live by the commands of God, instead.

God addressed the tribe of Ephraim through the prophet Hosea on this. (Hosea 5:11) He told them that they were oppressed, broken by judgment, because they were determined to follow man's command. From this we see the drastic consequences that come from following man's command. We need to take this to heart and look at our own lives.

There are different ways that we can be oppressed. We can be weighed down by the burden of our sins. It is a spiritual oppression that comes from the conviction of the Holy Spirit. The more we ignore Him, the more oppression we feel. The reason is that God oppresses us. He holds us back from what we want to achieve, so we will turn back to Him.

Finally, after a time of oppression we come to a point of being broken by that judgment of God. We are broken in spirit and sometimes broken in body. We come to realize that our way is not working, and we are only getting weaker instead of stronger. Many of us have to get to that point of brokenness before we will turn back to the Lord. So it is a good thing, even though it is painful. I pray God will get this through to all of us.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Hosea 6-8.