Bulletin Articles: Full Article for Record Number 1027
God The Moth
by Larry Ray Hafley
"Therefore I will be to Ephraim like a moth, and to the house of Judah like rottenness" (Hos. 5:12).
Perhaps you judged my title irreverent. Then, you read the passage. Just a little later, Jehovah says, "For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear them and go away; I will take them away, and no one shall rescue" (Hos. 5:14). You would have had no difficulty if the title had said, "God the Lion," for you know that even the Lamb of God, the Son of God himself, is referred to in Scripture as "the Lion of the tribe of Judah" (Rev. 5:5). Yes, "God the Lion" is perfectly acceptable, but not "God the Moth."
Both are God’s own depiction and description of himself. We understand the figure and the symbol of the lion for death and destruction. So bold is it that the Spirit uses the lion to exhibit the devil’s savage ferocity against children of God (1 Pet. 5:8). In the Hosea text, God, "like a lion," will rip and tear those who will not hear and heed, "and no one shall rescue."
But, what of the moth? How is God "like a moth"? A moth works silently, secretly. He emits no sound, no odor, no sign of his coming. Unlike the lion, a moth stirs no terror, no horror. Suddenly, one finds his goods and garments are eaten and destroyed. The fabric of one possession is made useless and worthless. Its beauty and utility disappear. Wealth is taken as surely as if it had been stolen. A nation, such as Israel was, fancies itself impregnable. It cannot fail. It will not fall. So the nation thinks. Its outward signs are good. Its armies and its alliances are strong. Like a closet of finery, it neither sees nor senses harm. However, God sees the nation’s rottenness from within. He views its spiritual adultery and religious idolatry. The moth is eating its way into the nation’s vitals.
If the work of the moth does not lead to repentance and reform, the lion will be unleashed. There is time to patch up or to remake what a moth has destroyed, but from the attack of the lion there will be no rescue, no recovery. That was the case of Israel then.
What of you and me today? Look into the closet of your heart. Take inventory, "looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God" (2 Cor. 13:5; Heb. 12:15). Do you see the moth that God has sent as a sign to correct you? Is there rottenness within? If so, make amendments. Humble yourself. He will take away the desecrated cloth and "bring forth the best robe, and put it on" you.
If you will not act when God, the moth, has warned you with his special rending, you may expect the lion, and from him there will be no escape. If you doubt it, observe what happened to Israel when she ignored her moth and met her lion. Indeed, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. 10:31).
