Step 3. – Instability
What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?
What shall I do with you, O Judah?
Your love is like a morning cloud,
like the dew that goes early away. (Hos. 6:4 ESV)
The NASB says your “loyalty is like a morning cloud”. The idea here is that the love and faithfulness of Israel toward God did exist, but was not very stable. By “morning cloud”, I think Hosea is probably describing fog. There is no stability to fog. Hosea was telling Israel that their loyalty and their love for God was as thin and weak as the fine mist of the morning fog. Not very complementary.
The book of James goes on to talk about a variety of topics, and includes a warning that calls those who doubt unstable:
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. (Jam. 1:5-8 ESV)
The New Living Translation puts it this way:
If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do. (emphasis mine)
As a Christian, our loyalty must by undivided, or we find our stability being compared to the morning fog.
When we first become Christians, we fill our hearts and minds with good intentions for how we are going to walk with the Lord.
- Intend to go to church
- Intend to have a daily prayer time
- Intend to read the Bible daily
- Intend to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit
- Intend to be faithful
- Intend to give offerings
- Intend to serve
- Intend to…
When it comes to living for Christ, intentions are worthless. It is not what you intend to do that shows your love for the Lord, but how you follow through with those intentions. The Lord is not looking for good intentions, but a good relationship. If we allow our loyalty, our love to be divided between God and the world, then we become as unstable as the morning fog. Like the dew, we dry up while the day is still young.
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