The eagle, or vulture, circles above the house of Israel (Hosea 8:1). Why? It wasn't because the places of worship were empty. No. ″Israel cries out to me, ‘Our God, we acknowledge you!'″ (v. 2). This may have been a line from one of the temple liturgies, or perhaps an impromptu outburst from a member in the congregation. Either way, it sounded spiritual enough.

It wasn't that sacrifices weren't being offered at the altar, either. ″Ephraim built many altars for sin offerings″ (v. 11), and ″They offer sacrifices as gifts to me, and though they eat the meat″ (v. 13). They were obeying God's sacrificial laws as given in Leviticus 1-8 and 16.

Why, then, was the vulture eyeing its prey? Surely these were signs of life, not decay. Well, look at verses 2-3: ″Israel cries out to me, ‘Our God, we acknowledge you!' But Israel has rejected what is good.″ Verse 11, too, says: ″Though Ephraim built many altars for sin offerings, these have become altars for sinning.″ And let the words of verse 13 sink in: ″They offer sacrifices as gifts to me, and though they eat the meat, the LORD is not pleased with them. Now he will remember their wickedness and punish their sins.″

The people said the words, ″Our God, we acknowledge you″, but there was no goodness in them. They brought their sin offerings but there was no real change in their moral behaviour. They had given up obeying the Ten Commandments long ago (v. 12). It was all religious window-dressing, and God would pass judgement on it. He would send them back to the place where He had found them: Egypt, where they had once lived as slaves (v. 13).

God hates religious hypocrisy. So does Jesus. To the Pharisees of His day, He said: ″Woe to you . . . you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence″ (Matthew 23:25). John the Baptist put his finger on it. He says, ″Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father'″ (Luke 3:8).

Genuine repentance is what God looks for. Not your words, but your life; not your singing on Sunday, but your obedience on Monday through Saturday. So pray for His grace, that you might be real on the inside as well as the outside.

Heavenly Father, help me to be genuine. May I not simply praise you with my lips, but also by leading an obedient life. In Jesus' name, amen.