Wandering With God

​“Ephraim surrounds me with lies, the house of Israel, with deceit. Judah still wanders with God and is faithful to the holy ones.”

‭‭Hosea‬ ‭11:12‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/72/hos.11.12.HCSB

“The Lord also has a dispute with Judah. He is about to punish Jacob according to his ways; He will repay him based on his actions.”

‭‭Hosea‬ ‭12:2‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/72/hos.12.2.HCSB

There is only one verse between wandering with God and punishment from God, but there may have been years between. What is the one thing that will take you out of wandering with God and becoming punished by God? We saw that God is not a man in Hosea 11:8-9 and that His compassion is stirred for His people. But there is a time when He has to punish iniquity. I don’t know about you but I never want to find out what His full wrath feels like.

What does it look like to wander with God? Some have compared the Christian life to a boat. We can be a speedboat and race through life as fast as we can. We can be a rowboat working very hard to keep up with God. We can be a sailboat and only move when the Spirit is moving. The speedboat and the rowboat are powered and directed by us, but the sailboat is powered by the Spirit and is steered by us. When a sailboat is sailing against the wind it has to zigzag to make any forward progress. If it tries to sail straight into the wind it will be pushed backward. As the wind pushes the sailboat and then changes directions the operator has to correct the direction of the boat to match the direction of the wind. 

Wandering with God is along the same path. We can fight against God for a while or we can continuously wander with the Spirit of God in the direction He is going. But there is one thing that can get us distracted from the movement and so we will find ourselves fighting against God. 

My one thing may look different from yours but will be common amongst others but God is faithful through our distractions. 

“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity. God is faithful, and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape so that you are able to bear it.”

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭10:13‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/72/1co.10.13.HCSB