Beneath the surface

Remind you of anything? Does the name Titanic ring a bell? A few years ago (maybe more than a few) there was a blockbuster movie by the name of "Titanic". I liked it, but it just had too much sexual content. The one I really liked was the black and white version about thirty years prior. It told the same story, WITHOUT ALL THE SEX. Anyway, the photo was a reminder that it is what you do not know about that may kill you and for the crew and passengers of the Titanic not seeing what was beneath the surface was literally a killer. What Israel did not know was a big problem for them as well and this passage from the book of Hosea gives us a little insight.

Hos 4:1 Hear the word of Yahweh, you children of Israel; for Yahweh has a charge against the inhabitants of the land: "Indeed there is no truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of God in the land.
Hos 4:2 There is cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break boundaries, and bloodshed causes bloodshed.
Hos 4:3 Therefore the land will mourn, and everyone who dwells therein will waste away. all living things in her, even the animals of the field and the birds of the sky; yes, the fish of the sea also die.
Hos 4:4 "Yet let no man bring a charge, neither let any man accuse; For your people are like those who bring charges against a priest.
Hos 4:5 You will stumble in the day, and the prophet will also stumble with you in the night; and I will destroy your mother.
Hos 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you may be no priest to me. Because you have forgotten your God's law, I will also forget your children.

World English Bible

Without the knowledge of God and his will for our lives, degeneration into a society of worthlessness is inevitable. Worthlessness degenerates into lawlessness and then into outright wickedness and from then on there is little hope that society will exist for long. God is necessary and his ways are the way to genuine happiness. But you have to look beneath the surface of things, straight into the human heart and ask yourself... does the warmth of God's love dwell there, or is there an iceberg hiding where people can not see?