Wooden Maps

Have you ever had someone walk straight into you because their face was buried in their phone?
That’s the exact image that came to mind when I read this line in Hosea.

“My people inquire of a piece of wood…” (Hosea 4:12)

I couldn’t get past the first two words: My people.

God isn’t speaking about foreign nations or enemies.
He isn’t lamenting over unbelievers or outsiders or those who have never known His voice.
He’s talking about His people—the ones with covenant access to the Creator and Sustainer of the universe.

The ones He rescued.
The ones He fed in the wilderness.
The ones He loves.
The ones He still calls His own.

And yet, with all the access in the world to the living God, they lift a block of wood to their faces and ask it for direction. They walk blindly with the sun of God’s goodness blazing all around them, but they cannot see—because they are holding their “god” directly in front of their eyes.

Ancient Israel called it an idol.
I think we just call it life.

Because we do the same thing.

We inquire of our own pieces of wood:

• the news cycle

• the markets

• our social feeds

• our political tribe

• the influencers we admire

• the voices that validate our fears

We hold these things in front of our eyes and then wonder why we can’t walk in a straight line. We ask them for guidance, for identity, for reassurance, for direction—forgetting that they cannot speak, cannot save, cannot love.

And all the while, God is right there.
Radiant. Present. Attentive.
Inclining Himself toward us like a loving Father kneeling to meet the gaze of His child.

Our access to God is incomprehensible.
He offers Himself—His wisdom, His presence, His counsel, His rest.

We are His people. His.

And yet we so often wander through life like children stepping into traffic, holding our “wooden” idols in front of our eyes because they feel familiar, immediate, and controllable.

So here is the question Hosea presses on us:

What are your pieces of wood?

Whose voice are you letting guide your steps?
What are you consulting before you consult God?

Lord, help us to lower the things we’ve been holding in front of our eyes.
Help us to see.
Help us to hear.
Help us to walk as Your people—guided by Your voice.