You can't help feeling God's frustration with His people in the first verse of Hosea 7: ″whenever I would heal Israel, the sins of Ephraim are exposed and the crimes of Samaria revealed″. It is as though God is saying: ″Whenever I try to show love to you, you go and sin again!″

If the problem in Hosea 6:4-6 was the emptiness of Israel's worship, here in 6:7-7:7 it is her morality. It stems from the fact that like ″Adam, they have broken the covenant″ (Hosea 6:7). God had entered into a covenant with them at Mount Sinai, and said, ″I will bless you, but you must keep my laws″ (see Exodus 19:5-6). But the people weren't living in relationship with God. They didn't care about His commands. They just did what was right in their own eyes.

Disregard for God and His authority had led to violence (Hosea 6:8), which even the clergy were committing (6:9). It had led to both spiritual harlotry and sexual immorality (6:10) as well as dishonesty (7:1).

God says, ″They do not realise that I remember all their evil deeds″ (7:2). Even if the people were never brought to justice, God saw it all. But they had forgotten God, so they had no sense of any personal obligation to Him or His laws.

The kings were no better (7:3). Verses 5-6 explain how, after Jeroboam II, king after king seized the throne by killing off his rivals. With six kings dying in the span of 30 years, it is little wonder Hosea says, ″they devour their rulers. All their kings fall″ (7:7). Why was this happening? The verse ends with this sad observation: ″none of them calls on me″-the King of kings! The rulers weren't praying or asking God for His thoughts and directions.

From top to bottom, the people had lost their way morally, because they had rejected God.

Heavenly Father, forgive me when I disobey you and disappoint you. Help me to follow your laws with delight, and so love to please you. For Jesus' sake, amen.