Morning By Morning #175

Ephraim is a flat cake not turned over.

Hosea 7:8

From the pen of Charles Spurgeon:

A “cake not turned over” is uncooked on one side. Thus, in many respects Ephraim was untouched by God’s divine grace. Though there was partial obedience, a great deal of rebelliousness remained.

Dear soul, I ask if this is true in your case as well? Are you thoroughly obedient in the things of God? Has His grace so permeated the very core of your being that it flows through and divinely affects all your strengths, your actions, your words, and your thoughts? Your goal and prayer should be to become fully sanctified in spirit, soul, and body. And although your sanctification may not yet be perfect, the process should be affecting every area of your life to equal degrees. There should not be the appearance of holiness in one area while sin continues to reign supreme in another, or else you too will be a “cake not turned over.”

A “cake not turned over” is soon burned on the side nearest the flame, and although no one can have too much knowledge of God’s Word, some people appear to have been charred on one side with bigoted zeal for one part of the truth they have received. Or they are burned to a cinder with inordinate Pharisaical pride and ostentatious spiritual rituals performed simply to please themselves. This presumptive air of superiority and self-righteousness is frequently accompanied by a total absence of true living godliness. A “saint” who is only one in public is a devil in private, dealing in flour by day and soot by night, for a cake that is burned on one side remains as dough on the other.

Lord, if this is true of me—turn me! Turn the side of my unsanctified nature to-ward the flame of Your love and let it feel Your sacred glow. And allow my burned side to cool somewhat, while I discover my own weakness and lack of heat when I am removed from Your heavenly fire. May I not be found as “a double-minded man” (James 1:8), but as one entirely under the powerful influence of Your reigning grace, for I know quite well that if I am a “cake not turned over,” without both sides being subject to Your grace, I will be consumed forever amid eternal flames.

From the pen of Jim Reimann:

Our verse today is but a small portion of the Lord’s lament over Israel’s sinfulness. God longed to “restore the fortunes of [His] people, [but] whenever [He] would heal Israel, the sins of Ephraim [were] exposed” (Hosea 6:11 – 7:1). He continues:

Israel’s arrogance testifies against him, but despite all this he does not return to the LORD his God or search for him…Woe to them, because they have strayed from me! Destruction to them, because they have rebelled against me! I long to redeem them but they speak lies against me. They do not cry out to me from their hearts.

Hosea 7:10, 13 – 14

Today’s warning is for the “half-baked”—those having only a false religiosity that suits their needs. The Lord warned Ephraim, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings” (6:6). He had earlier warned Saul through His prophet Samuel in much the same way: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Sam. 15:22)!