"But you have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil, you have eaten the fruit of deception" (Hosea 10:13).
F. E. Smith was a capable lawyer with a quick wit. He cross-examined a young man who was claiming damages for an arm injury caused by the negligence of a bus driver.
"Will you please show us how high you can lift your arm now as a result of the accident?" asked Smith. The young man slowly raised his arm to shoulder level, his face distorted with pain. "Thank you," said Smith. "And now, could you show us how high you could lift it before the accident?" The young man eagerly shot his arm up above his head. He lost the case!
Several weeks ago I sent a message with a photo of our neighbor's peacock and Tom, a friend from Arizona, sent me a stunning albino peacock photo... He thought I would enjoy it and wrote: "From everything I could find it's a real photo."
I know what he means. New photo and video techniques can doctor photos and videos in astoundingly realistic ways. A satire on a political figure can be ever so realistic. Some can mimic voices that sound so authentic the ear cannot tell the difference.
I noticed today's Scripture text several weeks ago when I shared a message from the verse preceding it: "Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you" (Hosea 10:12).
This verse is immediately followed with the daily text and seems to present a contrast: "But you have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil, you have eaten the fruit of deception." I was very intrigued by its timely message and at the time knew it was something I wanted to eventually write on. This passage concerns the northern Kingdom just prior to its destruction by the Assyrians about 2700 years ago.
Notice the parallelism in these two verses:
God's will is that His children: Sow for themselves righteousness.
But instead: They planted (sowed) wickedness.
God's will is that His children: Reap the fruit of unfailing love.
But instead: They reaped evil.
But it's the final phrase that particularly grips my attention: "You have eaten the fruit of deception."
Deception is misrepresentation and misleading falsehood and it abounds like never before. I firmly believe deception will increase as mankind continues to mock and shrug off God's commands. One of the final warnings from Jesus to His disciples was: "Let no one deceive you." Paul has a solemn warning concerning deception in Colossians 2:8: "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ."
Today we need to be on our guard against the many forms of deception that we encounter, particularly spiritual deception that can lead us astray.
I believe this requires several disciplines:
• A personal relationship with Christ.
• A firm and growing knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make us wise unto salvation.
• A sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.
• A solid foundational knowledge in church history and theology.
• An accountability to others in the body of Christ, particularly our elders.
• A discerning wariness of the "new".*
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily prayer: Father, I pray that You will help me to sow for myself righteousness, so that I will reap the fruit of Your unfailing love. Break up the unplowed ground of my heart that is stony and hard so that I acknowledge my sins, receive Your forgiveness, and look to You for guidance. May I thoroughly discern the vain philosophies and empty deception that pervades our society. I want to seek Your will above man's agenda so that You shower Your blessings upon me. Amen.
