Hosea 6:4-11. God asks what shall He do with Ephraim and Judah? Their love of Him is like a morning dew, a morning cloud that burns away. He desires steadfast love, not sacrifice; knowledge of God, rather than burnt offerings. But they deal faithlessly with Him, continually transgressing the covenant. Their cities are filled with evildoers, their priests band together and commit felony. "In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing." And so, a harvest is appointed.

God desires that we know Him, truly know Him, not just go through the motions of sacrifice and praise and then forget about Him the rest of the day. Sacrifice and praise really mean nothing without love of God - they are perfunctory actions that we "get through" in order to move on with our day. When we treat God like this, we do not carry Him with us in our daily pursuits and thus our daily pursuits begin to slide into wickedness.

This was what happened to Israel and Judah. They go through the motions of sacrifice in the morning, then deal faithlessly with God and others the rest of the day. At the point of this reasing in Hosea, it has gotten so bad that God knows He must appoint a day of harvest. They must suffer the consequences of their sin in order to turn back to Him.