Have you ever been given a gift from someone and instead of telling them “thank you”, you go to some other random person and tell them “thank you” instead? No? I mean that would be super weird and rude, right? Or if someone did this to you after you’d given them a gift, you would be totally offended! But what if I told you the person giving the gift is actually God, and that most of us have done this countless times… probably without ever thinking twice about it.

We get a pretty real picture of this exact situation in this next section of Hosea when God is talking to the Israelites about their behavior. He had bestowed many gifts on them, but instead of giving God the credit, the Israelites credited other nations for all of their provisions and then sought out those nations for further provision.  Naturally, God becomes angry about this. He had given Israel everything, but in return, Israel had betrayed him. So he vows to take everything back from them, forcing them to come to terms with their unfaithfulness.

It’s easy to look at this as just some crazy Old Testament story

It’s easy to look at this as just some crazy Old Testament story that might be hard to relate to, but let’s be honest: when was the last time you gave God credit for the things you have in your life? Maybe you prayed for something for a long time, got it, and then completely forgot to go to the Lord with thanksgiving. I’m not saying this from some higher place either—I do the same thing every single day.

It’s so easy to cry out to God when things are going wrong. When we are suffering, we feel the need for His presence and even his intervention in our lives. But when things are good, when we feel like we have everything we need, we’re quick to not only forget our Creator but we might even give the credit to someone else, maybe even ourselves!  Look how hard I’ve worked. I deserve all that I have because I built this life myself. I am just thriving right now! But then the convicting part—how quick are we to take the credit when things go wrong? We usually don’t. It’s a lot more convenient to blame God when things don’t go the way we planned, so instead of taking the credit like we did when we had all the provisions, we cast the blame when it seems like those provisions are gone. God, why would you do this to me? Why would you allow me to go through this?

Again, I’m preaching to myself here.

Again, I’m preaching to myself here.  My friends, we have to remember that “every good and perfect gift comes from above” (James 1:17).  When things are going well, let’s not forget to give the praise to the one who gives us everything we have. Sure, we work hard and we steward well, but we are not the owners of our belongings. In fact, no one else is the owner but God. The Israelites had to learn this difficult lesson by losing all of their gifts so that they might seek the Giver of gifts instead.

None of us will do this perfectly, but really it all just comes down to the heart. The Israelites had a heart far from God, so even when they did give him credit it really didn’t matter. They didn’t love him or truly seek his will for their lives. But I believe when we are truly pursuing our Father, thankfulness will come naturally. When we understand the depth of his love for us, we won’t be able to help reciprocate that and thank him whenever we can.

So this week, let’s let boldness look like humility; being humble enough to give God credit for the gifts in our lives! Now go out, and be bold!