I am like a moth to Ephraim,
    like rot to the people of Judah.

Hosea 5:12

Well I have to confess that this was a new one to me.

I knew that God described himself in Scripture as being like a powerful lion, a tender lamb and caring mother hen but until I read Hosea 5, I never knew the Lord describes himself as a moth!

Let’s be honest moths are not generally well liked. Especially in the Petticrew household, moths are Ann’s least favourite creature.

So, what on earth does the Lord mean by asking Israel to think of Him as a moth?

Just before I came to Switzerland, I took some suits to be dry cleaned and discovered they had been moth eaten. Thankfully they weren’t very expensive suits or badly damaged. In ancient Israel there were no mothballs, so moths often destroyed expensive clothing and possessions. Moths destroyed the things that the Israelites valued.

I think that when the Lord says “I am like a moth to Israel “He is saying He is going to destroy those things that His people loved more than Him. This wasn’t an act of vandalism it was an act of love.

Looking back over my own life I can see the moth of heaven at work. Sometimes I have had to lose things I thought were precious to realize that they had become idols to me, they had become something that I valued more than I valued God.

Watch out, if you are putting a greater value on something rather than God, the moth of heaven may be coming for it