We get in trouble when we make gods of our desires.

After years of straying, Hosea encouraged Israel to return to the Lord, take his words seriously, seek forgiveness and confess, We will never again say “Our gods” to what our own hands have made, for in you the fatherless find compassion.

Hundreds of years later two blind men accosted Jesus outside Jericho, shouting for mercy. Jesus stopped and asked, What do you want me to do for you? Of course, they wanted to see, so Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.

What to think of layering these two stories? Hosea warned people to stop making gods of their desires, which we’re all prone to do. Whether is be health, career, money, family or TikTok fame, we elevate yearnings to divine status. Hosea reminds us of the futility found in placing the good things of this world before God.

The blind men serve as better guides. Unseeing, sitting in the dirt, ears cocked, they assailed Jesus as he approached. Any hope of success or fame left them years before. They needed the compassion of Jesus and they made sure Jesus knew they knew. In response Jesus turned their way.

That’s the better order—the Lord first. I tend to make gods of my desires, then add a dusting of spirituality to pretty them up. Surely God wants me to be happy. But God may not want me to be happy. He may want me to sit blindly in the dirt until I realize my need for the Savior, shouting and screaming and flailing in my desperation.

Both these stories begin in anguish and end with compassion. Let’s drop the little gods you and I hold in our hands, and give serious thought to blindness and our need for the touch of the Lord.

Because empty and needful precedes compassion.

Hosea 14 & Matthew 20 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Scott Van Hoy