sola scriptura

In my reading I came a across a sermon C.H. Spurgeon once wrote from the text Hosea 8:12 where God says, “Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands, they would be regarded as a strange thing.” This sermon caused me to think about my own treatment of the Word of God. In this passage of Scripture the Lord, through the prophet Hosea, is rebuking Israel for its sins of idolatry and hypocrisy in the worship of Jehovah God. Verse 12 comes near the end of the chapter where God is laying out all their sins and then tells them that He could have written ten thousand laws and they would have regarded them as a strange thing. As we read the Old Testament, it is very easy to begin judging the people of Israel for their disobedience, but the reality is we are not much different in principle.

God has given us His Word. In fact, most of us have several copies of it. The people in Hosea’s day were not so fortunate, but were still held accountable to know it and live by it. They were treating the laws of God as a strange thing by simply ignoring them, as if God were asking them to do something that was abnormal.

If we are honest, we do the same in our treatment of the Word of God. We read it, or at least carry our Bibles around, and hear it preached, but when it comes to living it out there are parts and aspects we just simply ignore. We treat it as a strange thing. God could have used men to write certain passages over and over again, but we would still regard them as a strange thing. The Word of God is no strange thing. It is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account (Hebrews 4:12-13).

When we come to the Word of God it is like a mirror that exposes who we really are and where we need to change and grow in the grace and love of Jesus Christ. Don’t regard the Word as a strange thing, but as a good, wonderful, and glorious treasure!