Whom Shall We Vote For?

There are some lines from Hosea that struck a chord with me today. Hosea was a prophet to the northern 10 tribes, also known as Israel (Judah was the name of the nation comprised of the southern 2 tribes). Israel, also called Ephraim in Hosea after the dominate tribe, always had kings "that did evil" in the sight of the Lord.

Eventually, but long before Judah who had a few rulers that made an attempt to get rid of the idols and high places of worship and return to the law, they would be judged, destroyed as a nation, and their people would be either killed, enslaved or scattered among the nations.

In that context we get Hosea's statement in chapter 7, verse 7:

All their kings have fallen. None of them calls on Me.

The "their" here are the princes of the nation. It says of them earlier in chapter 7:

And the princes with their lies, they are all adulterers (i.e. investing their resources in things that are not real like man made idols instead of honoring the Lord who is the One who truly loves them).

Their hearts are like an oven as they approach their plotting . . . and they consume their rulers.

We then get the statement that all of their kings have fallen. They have gotten the rulers that they desired, none of them called upon the Lord who was the only One who could have saved their country and, well too bad, those rulers are now all dead and cannot call upon the Lord from the grave.

Then we have this chilling word which gives pause for us today:

Ephraim mixes himself with the nations; Ephraim has become a cake not turned. Strangers devour his strength, yet he does not know it. Though the pride of Israel testifies against him, yet they have neither returned to the Lord their God, nor have they sought Him for all this.

Later on in chapter seven we see that, even after forsaking the Lord for so long His desire for the princes and the people of Ephraim is for restoration and not judgment, if only their hearts would change:

Destruction is theirs, for they have rebelled against Me! I would redeem them, but they speak lies against me. And now they do not cry to Me from their heart when they wail on their beds.

Here is my take in the election season we are in now from the reading in Hosea. Almost all of our princes are lying to us. They are kingdom of the world centered and do not seek out the will of the Lord for our nation. We will get the king we deserve and suffer for it because we are not willing to trust that the Lord's ways are higher than man's ways.

The good hope here though is the implication that a ruler or rulers who forsake the lies and calls upon the Lord from their hearts can make a huge impact upon a nation.

Thus we who are a minority in this land of ours must pray that God will raise up such men and women, princes that will not lie to man or God, to be put into places of authority.

I will vote for such a person.