“They Will Not Frame Their Doings”

Hosea 5:4.—They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known the Lord.

Isn’t it amazing how straight forward God’s Word is?  I’m constantly hit with how “politically incorrect” the Bible presents its message.  God just doesn’t seem to mess around.  Much like Yeshua when He boldly blasted the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23:27: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.” Wouldn’t you have loved to have been there?

Can you imagine what it would have been like being one of the Prophets that had to proclaim this sort of thing day in and day out?  They weren’t that popular and had to be willing to stand pretty much alone in the midst of their own people.

The phrase “they will not frame their doings to turn unto the their God” caught my attention.  There is such a spirit of resistance manifested in this statement.  It’s a willingness to not turn one’s will to the will of God.  Sounds like a losing proposition, doesn’t it?  

Why would God’s people (us) be so resistant to Him?  He only wants what is best for His children.  And yet, as children are apt to do, they/we fight against and resist submitting to the will of our Heavenly Father.  

Contrast that to Yeshua and His response to His Father’s will for His life while on this earth.  It says in John 8:29 — “And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.”  In other words, He always “framed” His “doings” to do what the Father wanted of Him. 

I truly believe we want to live in submission to the will of our Heavenly Father.  But yet …that’s not always the case is it?  Can we do something about that?  Or, are we hopelessly left to our own ways?  I believe the answer lies in the verse before us.

First off, we need to honestly recognize the struggle within.  We need to tell ourself the truth.  Our will constantly is set against our Father’s.  We’re no different than any of God’s people that have come before us.  As a matter of fact, Stephen when he stood before the council addressed this same issue.

In Acts 7:51 Stephen said, “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.”  We are, as the old hymn Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing expresses so well, “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love. Take my heart, O take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above.”  (I miss these great Hymns.)

Next, we need to take precautionary efforts.  We are to strive to frame/submit our wills to His.  Just like “framing” anything takes time and effort, so will this.  That might be why we have Romans 8:29 to encourage us: “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.”  In order to be conformed to Messiah, we need to be framing, with His help, our whole life to His will.

Lastly, we need to ferret out the “spirit of whoredoms” (plural) that are in the “midst” of our lives.  I know, you don’t need to do this — it’s that “other” guy.  Okay then, how do you measure yourself? Is it against those around you or is it against the Bible?  Are you conformed in every aspect to “the image of His Son?”  I trow not.  Anything that causes us to drift on the current that leads us away from God is a “spirit of whoredoms.”  The problem is we don’t want to let the winnowing of God’s Word extricate the chaff in our lives that we really enjoy.

That was the problem in Hosea’s day.  And it will be the same problem for God’s people until we receive our glorified body.  That’s great encouragement, but it’s also no excuse.

Let’s learn from Hosea’s message.  It still speaks to us with fresh application today.  Find one of your “spirit of whoredoms” and, with God’s help, start to tackle it and bring it into submission to the will of your Heavenly Father.

And yes … you do have more than one.  Trust me.