Their heart is divided

Hosea 10:2

Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: he shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their images.

What was the true problem with Israel? Why did they have idols rather than seeking the Lord only? Why did they find themselves in terrible straits and languishing in foreign lands? Why did they continue to experience the wrath and consternation of Almighty God? It wasn’t that God expected that they would never sin. For He could have forgiven and looked over their sin time and time again. But the problem—what was it? It was a problem of the heart—it was that their heart was divided. It was divided in half! Half for God, and half for the false and pagan deities. Half for God and half for themselves. Half for God and half for the world. And, dear friend, this will never work! Does not Jesus say, “Ye cannot serve God and mammon”? No! We can’t! For either we will hate the one and love the other, or else we will hold to the one and despise the other! Never can this be sustainable! We will always fall on one side or another. And, unfortunately for Israel, they tended to fall on the side away from and against God.

What a tragedy! Their heart was divided! But what a preventable tragedy it was! If they had surrendered all to God when He providentially led them through the wilderness and when He fed them with bread from heaven—if only they had turned to Him in want, and had sought Him alone in their deprivation, how He could have saved them time and time again! But over and over the same problem emerged—a divided heart. And, my beloved, I say to you with gentleness and love, is your heart divided or is it fixed? The psalmist said in so many words, “My heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord” (See Psalm 112:7). It must be fixed! It must be fastened only on the Lord without wavering. You must not trust in yourself part of the time, and trust in God the other part. No! It must be all or none! It must not be divided! It must not be sectioned up! It must not be part given to the Lord, and part held for ourselves. Oh, my dear friends, let us not have divided hearts. Worship this day the Lord alone. Trust Him alone. Look to Him alone. Believe Him alone! Look not to the others! Other ground is surely sinking sand. May it never be said that your heart or my heart is divided, but may it be firmly fixed on the Lord, having been surrendered in its fullness to the Lord.

“Father, we want to be wholly Thine this day. May our hearts not be enticed, allured, or seduced by the world, by the flesh, or by the devil himself. May we be fully given to Thee, fixed on Thee, and wholly surrendered to Thee. May we never be an abominable mixture of two, but may we be all for Jesus. May we say with the hymn writer, “All for Jesus! All for Jesus! All my being’s ransomed powers, all my thoughts and words and doings, all my days and all my hours.” And we shall praise you for this. For it is in the name of your Son Jesus that we pray, Amen.”