Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus)

We get ourselves in to messes of our own making, blame others for it, then we try to hide it so others won’t see it.  What we present to the world when we step out of the doors of our homes each day might be a different person than the person who lives hidden inside for no one else to see.  We wonder why guilt follows us everywhere we go causing our emotions to be all over the map.  That guilt is God’s Holy Spirit calling us to repentance to God—and to Truth, the Person of Jesus Christ, who paid the debt for all our sins, mistakes, and shortcomings in our judgement and actions.  Disobedience to God carries a heavy price—a price too high to bear forever.

We cannot hide what we have done for long from people.  We cannot hide anything from God who knows our hearts and minds inside and out and knows that our soul hungers for Him—especially when we are guilty and haven’t done anything to rid ourselves of the guilt.  We pile on more guilt by thinking we will never get this Jesus life right so we go on doing what we know even when it is bringing us down lower each day.

We cannot run from God.  “Where could I go that you are not there?” proclaims the Psalmist.  (Psalm 139) God created all so He is in all and knows all.  He knows who we are by name, what we are thinking and planning to do right now, what we will do and where we are headed unless we allow Him to transform our thinking which in turn transforms what we do.  We are either for Him or we are not.  We either run to Him or ignore His guidance and run from Him.  The latter is a useless act that leads nowhere.

The nations have turned their backs on God despite all He has done for them and through them.  God wants to bless His people but they have fallen for all the lies of the evil one who owns the culture in which they live.  They are no different than those who do not know God.  Therefore, they are in a mess. 

Amos 2, The Message

^1-3 God’s Message:

“Because of the three great sins of Moab
    —make that four—I’m not putting up with her any longer.
She violated the corpse of Edom’s king,
    burning it to cinders.
For that, I’m burning down Moab,
    burning down the forts of Kerioth.
Moab will die in the shouting,
    go out in the blare of war trumpets.
I’ll remove the king from the center
    and kill all his princes with him.”
        God’s Decree.

^4-5 God’s Message:

“Because of the three great sins of Judah
    —make that four—I’m not putting up with them any longer.
They rejected God’s revelation,
    refused to keep my commands.
But they swallowed the same old lies
    that got their ancestors onto dead-end roads.
For that, I’m burning down Judah,
    burning down all the forts of Jerusalem.”

Destroyed from the Roots Up

^6-8 God’s Message:

“Because of the three great sins of Israel
    —make that four—I’m not putting up with them any longer.
They buy and sell upstanding people.
    People for them are only things—ways of making money.
They’d sell a poor man for a pair of shoes.
    They’d sell their own grandmother!
They grind the penniless into the dirt,
    shove the luckless into the ditch.
Everyone and his brother sleeps with the ‘sacred whore’—
    a sacrilege against my Holy Name.
Stuff they’ve extorted from the poor
    is piled up at the shrine of their god,
While they sit around drinking wine
    they’ve conned from their victims.

^9-11 “In contrast, I was always on your side.
    I destroyed the Amorites who confronted you,
Amorites with the stature of great cedars,
    tough as thick oaks.
I destroyed them from the top branches down.
    I destroyed them from the roots up.
And yes, I’m the One who delivered you from Egypt,
    led you safely through the wilderness for forty years
And then handed you the country of the Amorites
    like a piece of cake on a platter.
I raised up some of your young men to be prophets,
    set aside your best youth for training in holiness.
Isn’t this so, Israel?”
    God’s Decree.

^12-13 “But you made the youth-in-training break training,
    and you told the young prophets, ‘Don’t prophesy!’
You’re too much for me.
    I’m hard-pressed—to the breaking point.
I’m like a wagon piled high and overloaded,
    creaking and groaning.

^14-16 “When I go into action, what will you do?
    There’s no place to run no matter how fast you run.
The strength of the strong won’t count.
    Fighters won’t make it.
Skilled archers won’t make it.
    Fast runners won’t make it.
Chariot drivers won’t make it.
    Even the bravest of all your warriors
Won’t make it.
    He’ll run off for dear life, stripped naked.”
        God’s Decree.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Run to God—He is waiting for you with open arms of love and compassion!  The goodness of God ought to lead us to repentance, as it did the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:17; Rom. 2:4)

Stop hiding from God—It is a useless quest that compounds our stress and worry, the biproducts of guilt that eventually destroys us.

“Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.  Psalm 139:7-12

Believe, repent, and be saved for eternity with God because of Jesus, His Son. His gift of obedience is peace.

So, when we are in a mess, don’t mess with God—run to God! Hear and follow His voice above all the other voices of this world.  God will help us when we turn and take the first baby step toward Him.  And He will be with us always!  That is His promise and God does not lie!

“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139:23-24

Lord,

I confess my mess and ask for your help.  Thank you for delighting in all the details of my life.  I give you my life, all of it, as an offering to you this morning.  Teach me, guide me, lead me through the high and low waters of this life.  Cleanse my heart, renew my mind, refresh my soul with all of you in me, and restore the joy of your salvation at work  in me. 

In Jesus Name, Amen

We love to “seek” justice by joining groups who fight for causes for all kinds of reasons and seasons, so that the “government” or some others organization will solve the poor and exploited problems without really giving anything from our pocket books personally. 

What if we “act” justly by generously giving without anyone knowing—without stopping to think how giving will benefit us in some way?  We have to ask ourselves, “How openhanded and generous am I?”  “What are my motivations for acting justly toward others in need from what God has given so generously to me?”

Amos is famous for reminding God’s people to cease from exploiting the poor.  As we continue to study the “minor prophets” with a powerful message from God, I am reminded of what the prophet Micah said that boils it all down for us, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)

I also recall what Jesus said when the woman spilled out her greatly expensive perfume over Jesus to honor Him and Judas incited the others to be indignant over the act.  Jesus responds; “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.”  (Matthew 26:10-11, See also John12:8) In this case, Jesus corrects those with good motives. His response is not harsh, but it is instructive. He tells them they will always have the poor with them.  In other words, they will never lack opportunities to help those in need.

Jesus is pulling from Deuteronomy as He explains the love and generosity of God to emphasize what our right and pleasing, generous response back to God and His people should be.  Jesus quotes His “you will always have the poor” statement from Deuteronomy 17:7-11:

“If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need. Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: “The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near,” so that you do not show ill will toward the needy among your fellow Israelites and give them nothing. They may then appeal to the Lord against you, and you will be found guilty of sin. Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore, I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.”

Some use only the statement, “you will always have the poor among you” as a loophole of sorts to think, “Oh well, why give?  It will always be this way.”  But we are missing the point.  If we are to grow to be more like Jesus, developing the character traits of God, then we give because He gives.  It’s who God is.  We become who He is—Givers who love to give.

“For God so loved, He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 

Amos 1, The Message

 The Message of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa, that he received on behalf of Israel. It came to him in visions during the time that Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam II son of Joash was king of Israel, two years before the big earthquake.

Swallowing the Same Old Lies

² The Message:

God roars from Zion,
    shouts from Jerusalem!
The thunderclap voice withers the pastures tended by shepherds,
    shrivels Mount Carmel’s proud peak.

^3-5 God’s Message:

“Because of the three great sins of Damascus
    —make that four—I’m not putting up with her any longer.
She pounded Gilead to a pulp, pounded her senseless
    with iron hammers and mauls.
For that, I’m setting the palace of Hazael on fire.
    I’m torching Ben-hadad’s forts.
I’m going to smash the Damascus gates
    and banish the crime king who lives in Sin Valley,
    the vice boss who gives orders from Paradise Palace.
The people of the land will be sent back
    to where they came from—to Kir.”
        God’s Decree.

^6-8 God’s Message:

“Because of the three great sins of Gaza
    —make that four—I’m not putting up with her any longer.
She deported whole towns
    and then sold the people to Edom.
For that, I’m burning down the walls of Gaza,
    burning up all her forts.
I’ll banish the crime king from Ashdod,
    the vice boss from Ashkelon.
I’ll raise my fist against Ekron,
    and what’s left of the Philistines will die.”
        God’s Decree.

^9-10 God’s Message:

“Because of the three great sins of Tyre
    —make that four—I’m not putting up with her any longer.
She deported whole towns to Edom,
    breaking the treaty she had with her kin.
For that, I’m burning down the walls of Tyre,
    burning up all her forts.”

^11-12 God’s Message:

“Because of the three great sins of Edom
    —make that four—I’m not putting up with her any longer.
She hunts down her brother to murder him.
    She has no pity, she has no heart.
Her anger rampages day and night.
    Her meanness never takes a timeout.
For that, I’m burning down her capital, Teman,
    burning up the forts of Bozrah.”

^13-15 God’s Message:

“Because of the three great sins of Ammon
    —make that four—I’m not putting up with her any longer.
She ripped open pregnant women in Gilead
    to get more land for herself.
For that, I’m burning down the walls of her capital, Rabbah,
    burning up her forts.
Battle shouts! War whoops!
    with a tornado to finish things off!
The king has been carted off to exile,
    the king and his princes with him.”
        God’s Decree.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

• We learn from the beginning how NOT to be like the grasping for power culture around us. 
• Avoid being hard hearted, mean spirited, selling out people to exploit them for personal benefit while extending little to no mercy. 
• Act justly to all people. 
• Love mercy.
• Walk humbly with God who sees the heart and knows why we do what we do.
• Be generous, give generously as God as so generously given to us.

THINK ABOUT IT…

“More people are exploited and abused in the causes of religion than in any other way.  Sex, money, and power all take a back seat to religion as a source of evil.  Religion is the most dangerous energy source known to humankind.  The moment a person (or government religion or organization) is convinced that God is either ordering or sanctioning a cause or project, anything goes.  The history, worldwide, of religion-fueled hate, killing, and oppression is staggering.  The biblical prophets are in the front line of those doing something about it.” –Eugene Peterson, Introduction to Amos, The Message 

“The biblical prophets continue to be the most powerful and effective voices ever heard on this earth for keeping religion honest, humble, and compassionate.  Prophets sniff out injustice, especially in justice that is dressed up in religious garb.  They sniff it out a mile away.  Prophets see through hypocrisy, especially hypocrisy that assumes a religious pose.   Prophets are not impressed by position or power or authority.  They aren’t taken in by numbers, size, or appearances of success.”—Peterson

“They pay little attention to what men and women say about God or do for God.  They listen to God and rigorously test all human language and action against what they hear.  Among these prophets, Amos towers as defender of the downtrodden poor and accuser of the powerful rich who use Gd’s name to legitimize their sin.”—Peterson

“None of us can be trusted in this business.  If we pray and worship God and associate with others who likewise pray and worship God, we absolutely must keep company with these biblical prophets.  We are required to submit all our words and acts to their passionate scrutiny to prevent the perversions of our religion into something self-serving.  A spiritual life that doesn’t give a large place to the prophet-articulated justice will end up making us worse instead of better, separating us from god’s ways instead of drawing us into them.” –Peterson

Lord,

Help us to guard our hearts knowing you see our hearts and know us better than we know ourselves.  Make us holy before you as only you can.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

We were warned the battery was weak with instruments that revealed the power left; but we kept going because we wanted to get to our destination in our time in our own way.  That was a mistake in judgement and wisdom. 

ONLY GOD.  As I read over this chapter that continues a warning to all God’s people and the treacherous, evil obsessed people around them, I am even more impressed with the love, patience, and compassionate heart God has for us.  Truly His mercies are new and fresh each morning, each day of our lives here, as we yield our hearts, allow the transformation of our minds and a filling of our souls with all HE wants. 

The prophet Joel warns Israel about God’s impending judgment for its spiritual complacency and religious neglect. When the people prospered, they abandoned God or minimized the importance of him in their lives. 

When things in life are going well, do we forget who got us there? 

Do we ignore the warning lights, bells and buzzers that are going off in our minds?

God always gives us chances, opportunities to repent before he inflicts discipline. Like a loving parent, God’s purpose is not to punish but to correct and nurture.  Even now, it is God’s will that “no one perish” but that all the world would believe and be saved by Jesus who died for our sins and rose to be our hope forever.  (2 Peter 3:9 and John 3:16) God also shows a safe place to hide when evil runs rampant under the shadow of his loving wings of protection.  (Psalm 91:4)  Our God, that is who He is…

Joel 3, The Message

God Is a Safe Hiding Place

^1-3 “In those days, yes, at that very time
    when I put life back together again for Judah and Jerusalem,
I’ll assemble all the godless nations.
    I’ll lead them down into Judgment Valley
And put them all on trial, and judge them one and all
    because of their treatment of my own people Israel.
They scattered my people all over the pagan world
    and grabbed my land for themselves.
They threw dice for my people
    and used them for barter.
They would trade a boy for a whore,
    sell a girl for a bottle of wine when they wanted a drink.

* * *

^4-8 “As for you, Tyre and Sidon and Philistia,
    why should I bother with you?
Are you trying to get back at me
    for something I did to you?
If you are, forget it.
    I’ll see to it that it boomerangs on you.
You robbed me, cleaned me out of silver and gold,
    carted off everything valuable to furnish your own temples.
You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem
    into slavery to the Greeks in faraway places.
But I’m going to reverse your crime.
    I’m going to free those slaves.
I’ll have done to you what you did to them:
    I’ll sell your children as slaves to your neighbors,
And they’ll sell them to the far-off Sabeans.”
    God’s Verdict.

* * *

^9-11 Announce this to the godless nations:
    Prepare for battle!
Soldiers at attention!
    Present arms! Advance!
Turn your shovels into swords,
    turn your hoes into spears.
Let the weak one throw out his chest
    and say, “I’m tough, I’m a fighter.”
Hurry up, pagans! Wherever you are, get a move on!
    Get your act together.
Prepare to be
    shattered by God!

¹² Let the pagan nations set out
    for Judgment Valley.
There I’ll take my place at the bench
    and judge all the surrounding nations.

¹³ “Swing the sickle—
    the harvest is ready.
Stomp on the grapes—
    the winepress is full.
The wine vats are full,
    overflowing with vintage evil.

¹⁴ “Mass confusion, mob uproar—
    in Decision Valley!
God’s Judgment Day has arrived
    in Decision Valley.

^15-17 “The sky turns black,
    sun and moon go dark, stars burn out.
God roars from Zion, shouts from Jerusalem.
    Earth and sky quake in terror.
But God is a safe hiding place,
    a granite safe house for the children of Israel.
Then you’ll know for sure
    that I’m your God,
Living in Zion,
    my sacred mountain.
Jerusalem will be a sacred city,
    posted: ‘no trespassing.’

Milk Rivering out of the Hills

^18-21 “What a day!
    Wine streaming off the mountains,
Milk rivering out of the hills,
    water flowing everywhere in Judah,
A fountain pouring out of God’s Sanctuary,
    watering all the parks and gardens!
But Egypt will be reduced to weeds in a vacant lot,
    Edom turned into barren badlands,
All because of brutalities to the Judean people,
    the atrocities and murders of helpless innocents.
Meanwhile, Judah will be filled with people,
    Jerusalem inhabited forever.
The sins I haven’t already forgiven, I’ll forgive.”
    God has moved into Zion for good.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Believe, really believe that what God says about who He is, what He has done, is doing and will do, is really real.  If we do believe; we are saved for God has forgiven us perfectly and completely.  Trust and Obey God.

My prayer this morning even before reading this scripture for myself might be helpful to you today…

Lord,

Thank you for hearing my heart and words in the quiet of this first hour of this day.  Thank you for being with us. Thank you for peace when evil brings panic to my heart and rattles my mind.  Continue to replace worry with wisdom, panic for peace, concerns with contentment.  I trust you, dear Jesus, I trust you.  Thank you, Lord.  You are indeed my hiding place when the battle gets rough and I need to turn it all over to you. There is no one like You!  Nothing is too hard for you.  With You all is possible and all is well with my soul.  I’m living underneath the shadow of your protective wing.  Amazing love!

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

The song, “Rescue,” by Lauren Daigle, came to mind and is playing in the background as I read the prophet Joel’s words this morning…

You are not hidden
There’s never been a moment
You were forgotten
You are not hopeless
Though you have been broken
Your innocence stolen

I hear you whisper underneath your breath
I hear your SOS, your SOS

I will send out an army to find you
In the middle of the darkest night
It’s true, I will rescue you

There is no distance
That cannot be covered
Over and over
You’re not defenseless
I’ll be your shelter
I’ll be your armor

I hear you whisper underneath your breath
I hear your SOS, your SOS

I will send out an army to find you
In the middle of the darkest night
It’s true, I will rescue you
I will never stop marching to reach you
In the middle of the hardest fight
It’s true, I will rescue you

Oh, I will rescue you…

Joel 2, The Message

The Locust Army

^1-3 Blow the ram’s horn trumpet in Zion!
    Trumpet the alarm on my holy mountain!
Shake the country up!
    God’s Judgment’s on its way—the Day’s almost here!
A black day! A Doomsday!
    Clouds with no silver lining!
Like dawn light moving over the mountains,
    a huge army is coming.
There’s never been anything like it
    and never will be again.
Wildfire burns everything before this army
    and fire licks up everything in its wake.
Before it arrives, the country is like the Garden of Eden.
    When it leaves, it is Death Valley.
    Nothing escapes unscathed.

^4-6 The locust army seems all horses—
    galloping horses, an army of horses.
It sounds like thunder
    leaping on mountain ridges,
Or like the roar of wildfire
    through grass and brush,
Or like an invincible army shouting for blood,
    ready to fight, straining at the bit.
At the sight of this army,
    the people panic, faces white with terror.

^7-11 The invaders charge.
    They climb barricades. Nothing stops them.
Each soldier does what he’s told,
    so disciplined, so determined.
They don’t get in each other’s way.
    Each one knows his job and does it.
Undaunted and fearless,
    unswerving, unstoppable.
They storm the city,
    swarm its defenses,
Loot the houses,
    breaking down doors, smashing windows.
They arrive like an earthquake,
    sweep through like a tornado.
Sun and moon turn out their lights,
    stars black out.
God himself bellows in thunder
    as he commands his forces.
Look at the size of that army!
    And the strength of those who obey him!
God’s Judgment Day—great and terrible.
    Who can possibly survive this?

Change Your Life

¹² But there’s also this, it’s not too late—
    God’s personal Message!—
“Come back to me and really mean it!
    Come fasting and weeping, sorry for your sins!”

^13-14 Change your life, not just your clothes.
    Come back to God, your God.
And here’s why: God is kind and merciful.
    He takes a deep breath, puts up with a lot,
This most patient God, extravagant in love,
    always ready to cancel catastrophe.
Who knows? Maybe he’ll do it now,
    maybe he’ll turn around and show pity.
Maybe, when all’s said and done,
    there’ll be blessings full and robust for your God!

* * *

^15-17 Blow the ram’s horn trumpet in Zion!
    Declare a day of repentance, a holy fast day.
Call a public meeting.
    Get everyone there. Consecrate the congregation.
Make sure the elders come,
    but bring in the children, too, even the nursing babies,
Even men and women on their honeymoon—
    interrupt them and get them there.
Between Sanctuary entrance and altar,
    let the priests, God’s servants, weep tears of repentance.
Let them intercede: “Have mercy, God, on your people!
    Don’t abandon your heritage to contempt.
Don’t let the pagans take over and rule them
    and sneer, ‘And so where is this God of theirs?’”

* * *

The Trees Are Bearing Fruit Again

^21-24 Fear not, Earth! Be glad and celebrate!
    God has done great things.
Fear not, wild animals!
    The fields and meadows are greening up.
The trees are bearing fruit again:
    a bumper crop of fig trees and vines!
Children of Zion, celebrate!
    Be glad in your God.
He’s giving you a teacher
    to train you how to live right—
Teaching, like rain out of heaven, showers of words
    to refresh and nourish your soul, just as he used to do.
And plenty of food for your body—silos full of grain,
    casks of wine and barrels of olive oil.

^18-20 At that, God went into action to get his land back.
    He took pity on his people.
God answered and spoke to his people,
    “Look, listen—I’m sending a gift:
Grain and wine and olive oil.
    The fast is over—eat your fill!
I won’t expose you any longer
    to contempt among the pagans.
I’ll head off the final enemy coming out of the north
    and dump them in a wasteland.
Half of them will end up in the Dead Sea,
    the other half in the Mediterranean.
There they’ll rot, a stench to high heaven.
    The bigger the enemy, the stronger the stench!”

* * *

^25-27 “I’ll make up for the years of the locust,    the great locust devastation—
Locusts savage, locusts deadly,
    fierce locusts, locusts of doom,
That great locust invasion
    I sent your way.
You’ll eat your fill of good food.
    You’ll be full of praises to your God,
The God who has set you back on your heels in wonder.
    Never again will my people be despised.
You’ll know without question
    that I’m in the thick of life with Israel,
That I’m your God, yes, your God,
    the one and only real God.
Never again will my people be despised.

The Sun Turning Black and the Moon Blood-Red

^28-32 “And that’s just the beginning: After that—

“I will pour out my Spirit
    on every kind of people:
Your sons will prophesy,
    also your daughters.
Your old men will dream,
    your young men will see visions.
I’ll even pour out my Spirit on the servants,
    men and women both.

I’ll set wonders in the sky above
    and signs on the earth below:
Blood and fire and billowing smoke,
    the sun turning black and the moon blood-red,
Before the Judgment Day of God,
    the Day tremendous and awesome.
Whoever calls, ‘Help, God!’
    gets help.
On Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
    there will be a great rescue—just as God said.
Included in the survivors
    are those that God calls.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Did this passage strike a chord of longing in your heart as it did mine for myself and other loved ones? —

“Come back to me and really mean it! Come fasting and weeping, sorry for your sins! Change your life, not just your clothes. Come back to God, yourGod.  And here’s why: God is kind and merciful. He takes a deep breath, puts up with a lot, this most patient God, extravagant in love, always ready to cancel catastrophe…there will be a great rescue, just as He said.” 

Wow!  Is God calling out to you right now, asking you to turn back to Him and really believe what He says about Himself and His gift of salvation through His Son, Jesus?  If so, sing with me…

I hear the whisper underneath your breath
I hear you whisper, you have nothing left

I will send out an army to find you
In the middle of the darkest night
It’s true, I will rescue you
I will never stop marching to reach you
In the middle of the hardest fight
It’s true, I will rescue you

Oh, I will rescue you

God warned His people of impending danger of living away from Him.  What warning signs is God giving you (and me) that should alert us to trouble? What attitude or action have we failed to confront? Is it hard to persevere? Yes! But it is so important.

“Oh, I will rescue you”, says God but He loves it when we can do our part to avoid those things that will take us under.  Call out to Him in those moments, He will help us!  He promised!

Lord,

Thank you for your teaching today that reminds us to heed warnings of the danger of walking away from your truth. Thank you for bringing us back to you.  Thank you for the warnings that lead to your beautiful rescue—all because of your relentless love for us.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

Joel is a prophet that speaks with verbal images of what God’s people must do to be saved from the pull of the culture around them.  The Chosen must be redeemed of their sins of ignoring God, replacing God with idols, and completely turning their back on the One and Only God who loved them first and chose to love them completely, providing daily all they needed.

When disaster strikes, understanding of God is at risk.  Unexpected illness or death, national catastrophe, social disruption, personal loss, plague or epidemic, devastation by flood or drought, turn men and women who haven’t given God a thought in years into instant theologians.

Rumors fly:  “God is absent”, “God is angry”, “God playing favorite, and I’m not the favorite”, “God is ineffectual” or “God is holding a grudge from a long time ago, and now we’re paying for it”.

It is the task of the prophet to stand up at such moments of catastrophe and clarify who God is and how he acts.  If the prophet is good—that is, accurate and true—the disaster becomes a lever for praying peoples’ lives loose from their sins and setting them free for God.  Joel is one of the good ones:  He used a current event in Israel as a text to call his people to an immediate awareness that there wasn’t a day that went by that they weren’t dealing with God.  We are always dealing with God!

Joel, The Message

Get in Touch with Reality—and Weep!

^1-3 God’s Message to Joel son of Pethuel:

Attention, elder statesmen! Listen closely,
    everyone, whoever and wherever you are!
Have you ever heard of anything like this?
    Has anything like this ever happened before—ever?
Make sure you tell your children,
    and your children tell their children,
And their children their children.
    Don’t let this message die out.

⁴ What the chewing locust left,
    the gobbling locust ate;
What the gobbling locust left,
    the munching locust ate;
What the munching locust left,
    the chomping locust ate.

^5-7 Sober up, you drunks!        
    Get in touch with reality—and weep!
Your supply of booze is cut off.
    You’re on the wagon, like it or not.
My country’s being invaded
    by an army invincible, past numbering,
Teeth like those of a lion,
    fangs like those of a tiger.
It has ruined my vineyards,
    stripped my orchards,
And clear-cut the country.
    The landscape’s a moonscape.

^8-10 Weep like a young virgin dressed in black,
    mourning the loss of her fiancé.
Without grain and grapes,
    worship has been brought to a standstill
    in the Sanctuary of God.
The priests are at a loss.
    God’s ministers don’t know what to do.
The fields are sterile.
    The very ground grieves.
The wheat fields are lifeless,
    vineyards dried up, olive oil gone.

^11-12 Dirt farmers, despair!
    Grape growers, wring your hands!
Lament the loss of wheat and barley.
    All crops have failed.
Vineyards dried up,
    fig trees withered,
Pomegranates, date palms, and apple trees—
    deadwood everywhere!
And joy is dried up and withered
    in the hearts of the people.

Nothing’s Going On in the Place of Worship

^13-14 And also you priests,
    put on your robes and join the outcry.
You who lead people in worship,
    lead them in lament.
Spend the night dressed in gunnysacks,
    you servants of my God.
Nothing’s going on in the place of worship,
    no offerings, no prayers—nothing.
Declare a holy fast, call a special meeting,
    get the leaders together,
Round up everyone in the country.
    Get them into God’s Sanctuary for serious prayer to God.

^15-18 What a day! Doomsday!
    God’s Judgment Day has come.
The Strong God has arrived.
    This is serious business!
Food is just a memory at our tables,
    as are joy and singing from God’s Sanctuary.
The seeds in the field are dead,
    barns deserted,
Grain silos abandoned.
    Who needs them? The crops have failed!
The farm animals groan—oh, how they groan!
    The cattle mill around.
There’s nothing for them to eat.
    Not even the sheep find anything.

^19-20 God! I pray, I cry out to you!
    The fields are burning up,
The country is a dust bowl,
    forest and prairie fires rage unchecked.
Wild animals, dying of thirst,
    look to you for a drink.
Springs and streams are dried up.
    The whole country is burning up.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

A disaster has pressed them into a deeper relationship with God.  What is pressing you right now into a deeper relationship with God?  What decisions are you making that need God’s wisdom?  Are you turning to Him for help, to leaning on your own understanding, or relying on the world for solutions?  The answers will expose the depth of our trust and faith in God, right?

The locust event that created a national disaster was used to portray what God’s people must do—decide who they will love, serve, and worship completely.  Joel projected on the big screen, using the locust plague to focus the reality of God in the lives of his people.  Then he expanded the focus to include everything and everyone everywhere—the whole world crowded into Decision Valley for God’s verdict.  This powerful picture has kept God’s people alert to the eternal consequences of their decisions for many centuries.

“There is a sense in which catastrophe doesn’t introduce anything new into our lives.  It simply exposes the moral or spiritual reality that already exists but was hidden beneath an overlay of routine, self-preoccupation, and business as usual.  Then suddenly, there it is before us:  a moral universe in which our accumulated decisions—on what we say and do, on how we treat others, on whether or not we will obey God’s commands—are set in the stark light of God’s judgement.”  (Eugene Peterson, Intro to Joel)

In our everyday experience, right and wrong and the decisions we make about them seldom come to us neatly packaged and precisely defined.  Joel’s prophetic words continue to reverberate down through the generations, making the ultimate connection between anything, small or large, that disrupts our daily routine, and God, giving us fresh opportunity to reorient our lives in faithful obedience.  Joel gives us opportunity for “deathbed repentance” before we die, while there is still time and space for a lot of good living to the glory of God!

God is still God and always will be God.  We are not.  Love, trust, obey God with consistent communion with God in all of life—in good times and bad.

Lord,

We look forward to meditating and taking to heart what your prophet Joel will be teaching us.  I love you, Lord with all that is in me.  Teach me, Lord.  I am yours.

In Jesus Name, Amen

I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
I wanna feel what love is
I know you can show me (hey)

Gotta take a little time
Little time to look around me
I’ve got nowhere left to hide
Looks like love has finally found me

In my life, there’s been heartache and pain
I don’t know if I can face it again
Can’t stop now, I’ve traveled so far
To change this lonely life

I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
I wanna feel what love is
I know you can show me

(Remix, by Foreigner)

Hosea may be categorized with the minor prophets.  But for me, Hosea has a major message of obedience, loyalty, and love to God.  Hosea’s is told to marry a prostitute and he not only does that but then demonstrates daily the love of God in him to his wife with a sinful past and present. She keeps going back to her sinful life but he pursues her and brings her back time after time until she realizes the real love Hosea has for her.  Yes, to say that Hosea has shown us what real love is to his prostitute wife is an understatement!  This “shock and awe” story shows us the love of God to us. 

God wanted to show His disobedient people through Hosea’s life what real love is with God’s relentless pursuit of them no matter what was happening in the world around them.  God loves.  God still loves.  God’s love never changes.  Because of God’s demonstrated love through Hosea, then later in Jesus, God’s Son, we no longer need to sing the mournful song, “I want to know what love is”, because God has clearly shown us through the life of this obedient man of God.  Hosea loved God back.  God longs for us to do the same.

“We love Him because He first loved us”, writes John, after Jesus came to earth and demonstrated the love of God to the world in ways the world had never seen.  Jesus was sent to seek and to save the lost.  He was Son of man and Son of God at the same time so he felt all that mankind experienced as he moved into the neighborhood of humanity.  (1 John 4) Jesus fulfilled all the commandments of God while explain to lost people and those who had forgotten God, God’s true intentions for mankind to come back to Him…to come back to His love and care.

Jesus taught us what love is by telling the world who God is.  John also tells us that Jesus, Son of God, demonstrated the “full extent of His love” at His last meal with his beloved disciples before going to the cross by taking on the role of a servant and washed feet—all of them—even Judas who he knew would betray him.  (John 13) Our Savior and Lord washed feet!  What kind of love is this?  It is overwhelming, relentless, unchanging, while holding nothing back, kind of love.

It was this love that held Jesus to the cross with all our sins on his shoulder so we could be declared free from the punishment we deserved.  The power of this love resurrected our Lord from the grave, defeated death forever!  Because God so loved the world…We are redeemed, set free, to love like Jesus loves us—with nothing held back.

Hosea 14, The Message

Come Back! Return to Your God!

^1-3 O Israel, come back! Return to your God!
    You’re down but you’re not out.
Prepare your confession
    and come back to God.
Pray to him, “Take away our sin,
    accept our confession.
Receive as restitution
    our repentant prayers.
Assyria won’t save us;
    horses won’t get us where we want to go.
We’ll never again say ‘our god’
    to something we’ve made or made up.
You’re our last hope. Is it not true
    that in you the orphan finds mercy?”

* * *

^4-8 “I will heal their waywardness.
    I will love them lavishly. My anger is played out.
I will make a fresh start with Israel.
    He’ll burst into bloom like a crocus in the spring.
He’ll put down deep oak tree roots,
    he’ll become a forest of oaks!
He’ll become splendid—like a giant sequoia,
    his fragrance like a grove of cedars!
Those who live near him will be blessed by him,
    be blessed and prosper like golden grain.
Everyone will be talking about them,
    spreading their fame as the vintage children of God.
Ephraim is finished with gods that are no-gods.
    From now on I’m the one who answers and satisfies him.
I am like a luxuriant fruit tree.
    Everything you need is to be found in me.”

* * *

⁹ If you want to live well,
    make sure you understand all of this.
If you know what’s good for you,
    you’ll learn this inside and out.
God’s paths get you where you want to go.
    Right-living people walk them easily;
    wrong-living people are always tripping and stumbling.

WHAT DID WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Love God back with all that is in us. 

Trust that God as our best interest at heart—His heart.

Obey what He says for what He says is best for us.

Ask for wisdom, wait for direction because our God knows all and is in all.

Believe, as relentlessly as God love us, and be saved forever.  Never stop believing!

Lord,

Thank you for the beautiful, but challenging love story of Hosea and his wife.  We ask why did he keep going back to rescue her from prostitution of herself time after time?  But then we realize that is exactly what you do for us.  Forgive our fickleness.  I am so grateful for your longsuffering, compassionate, patient love for me.

Thank you for showing us your relentless love through Hosea’s life of obedience to you.  Thank you for loving us the way you do.  We do not deserve your love yet you give it without hesitation, holding nothing back to those who seek you.  Help all of us to love each other like you love us—unconditionally.

In Jesus Name, Amen

The people of Ephraim had felt that they were an important tribe that deserved to be listened to and obeyed. But Ephraim had abandoned God for Baal, and that had brought spiritual death. They had gladly participated in Jeroboam’s human-made religion by sacrificing to the golden calves—even offering human sacrifices—and kissing the calves in worship.

Wait, what?!?  Yes, we look on the true story of the obscene disobedience of God’s people and ask ourselves;

How could you fall for worshiping a golden calf?

Why did you run from God at the first sign of trouble?

When did you begin to worship idols—all that is not God?

What made you think killing your babies would heal your sins and make you a better person?

God is heartbroken over his people’s disobedience, lack of love for Him and each other, perverted and obscene behaviors with the final blow of killing what He has created in the womb—their own babies.  All of this leads to his response to cleanse the land of evil—all of it.

Hosea 13, The Message

Religion Customized to Taste

^1-3 God once let loose against Ephraim
    a terrifying sentence against Israel:
Caught and convicted
    in the lewd sex-worship of Baal—they died!
And now they’re back in the sin business again,
    manufacturing god-images they can use,
Religion customized to taste. Professionals see to it:
    Anything you want in a god you can get.

Can you believe it? They sacrifice live babies to these dead gods—
    kill living babies and kiss golden calves!
And now there’s nothing left to these people:
    hollow men, desiccated women,
Like scraps of paper blown down the street,
    like smoke in a gusty wind.

^4-6 “I’m still your God,
    the God who saved you out of Egypt.
I’m the only real God you’ve ever known.
    I’m the one and only God who delivers.
I took care of you during the wilderness hard times,
    those years when you had nothing.
I took care of you, took care of all your needs,
    gave you everything you needed.
You were spoiled. You thought you didn’t need me.
    You forgot me.

^7-12 “I’ll charge them like a lion,
    like a leopard stalking in the brush.
I’ll jump them like a sow grizzly robbed of her cubs.
    I’ll rip out their guts.
Coyotes will make a meal of them.
    Crows will clean their bones.
I’m going to destroy you, Israel.
    Who is going to stop me?
Where is your trusty king you thought would save you?
    Where are all the local leaders you wanted so badly?
All these rulers you insisted on having,
    demanding, ‘Give me a king! Give me leaders!’?
Well, long ago I gave you a king, but I wasn’t happy about it.
    Now, fed up, I’ve gotten rid of him.
I have a detailed record of your infidelities—
    Ephraim’s sin documented and stored in a safe-deposit box.

^13-15 “When birth pangs signaled it was time to be born,
    Ephraim was too stupid to come out of the womb.
When the passage into life opened up,
    he didn’t show.
Shall I intervene and pull them into life?
    Shall I snatch them from a certain death?
Who is afraid of you, Death?
    Who cares about your threats, Tomb?
In the end I’m abolishing regret,
    banishing sorrow,
Even though Ephraim ran wild,
    the black sheep of the family.

^15-16 “God’s tornado is on its way,
    roaring out of the desert.
It will devastate the country,
    leaving a trail of ruin and wreckage.
The cities will be gutted,
    dear possessions gone for good.
Now Samaria has to face the charges
    because she has rebelled against her God:
Her people will be killed, babies smashed on the rocks,
    pregnant women ripped open.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

At first, we think how barbaric the behavior of God’s chosen centuries ago.  How thankful we are that God so loved that He sent Jesus to save us, becoming the once and for all sacrifice for our sins.  But we cannot become pious because centuries later, these same, sickening behaviors are present in our society still. 

We must not fall for worshiping modern sins that the world considers cleaned up to look acceptable.  It is disobedient to God to—

• worship anything that is not God.  Refuse to “kiss the golden calf! Worship of anything or anyone that stands between God and us stunts our growth in the greatest love relationship we will ever have.  God’s love is unchangeable, unshakable, relentless, perfect, unending, and full of compassionate mercy and grace. 
• use people for personal gain or satisfaction.Use tools of the trade, the spiritual fruits described in Galatians 5, to build up and encourage each other.  Jesus said when you use and hurt others, you are doing the same to me.
• kill each other.  As humans, we have designed craftier ways to “kill” because of the inherit evil in us.  We slander, gossip and bully others until their character is destroyed and their mental and emotional mind is shattered and broken, wounded for life.
• turn from God and His ways to pursue selfishness in all ways and means.  We do it in business practices, family relationships and in our churches.  

Evil still exists even though Jesus defeated the prince of evil.  As our Savior, Jesus went to hell and back again to free us from our sins of disobedience.  But we still have a daily choice to decide who we will serve.

Choose wisely.  It’s a matter of life or death!  Run out that grave of bondage and death and rise to new Life!  Live this new Life trusting and obeying Jesus who rose again with all the resurrection power of heaven infused within Him on that third day!  That same power has been given to us!

^“I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” Philippians 3:10-12

Press on, friends, and take hold of Jesus Christ who will never let go of us!

Lord,

Wow, we have no right to judge the sins of the past.  Our sins might be made to look presentable and acceptable to the world but you see right through all the fake disguises.  Forgive us, Lord, for we know not what we are doing at times.  Sometimes we know exactly what we are doing and rebel against you to go our own way.  Forgive us.  Continue to transform our thinking, renew our spirits with your Holy Spirit and restore the joy of your salvation at work within us.

In Jesus Name, By Your Power, For Your Glory, Amen

We are a whiny people.  We complain as we wait for God to do what we want Him to do.  We pray and expect God to fulfill our order perfectly like going through a drive-through.  We expect great service from a perfect God.  But how arrogant are these thoughts we entertain with pride-filled attitudes, thinking God owes us for our acknowledging that we know Him.  I wonder, do we really know Him at all?  I am ashamed and unclean.

The people of Israel had forgotten that they were God’s chosen people. Instead of faithfulness to God, they chose idolatry and wickedness, and their hearts grew hard. But God still pursued his people and reminded them of his love for them.  But would it be enough for them to come back to God, all that is God, and leave the idol worship and selfishness behind?  Some did come back. Some never left Him. 

As I think about this, I wonder; maybe God is waiting on us? 

To those without God then and now God asks, “What are you waiting for? Return to your God! Commit yourself in love, in justice! Wait for your God, and don’t give up on him—ever!” –God speaking through Hosea to His people.

Hosea 12, The Message

^1-5 Ephraim, obsessed with god-fantasies,
    chases ghosts and phantoms.
He tells lies nonstop,
    soul-destroying lies.
Both Ephraim and Judah made deals with Assyria
    and tried to get an inside track with Egypt.
God is bringing charges against Israel.
    Jacob’s children are hauled into court to be punished.
In the womb, that heel, Jacob, got the best of his brother.
    When he grew up, he tried to get the best of God.
But God would not be bested.
    God bested him.
Brought to his knees,
    Jacob wept and prayed.
God found him at Bethel.
    That’s where he spoke with him.
God is God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
    God-Revealed, God-Known.

* * *

⁶ What are you waiting for? Return to your God!
    Commit yourself in love, in justice!
Wait for your God,
    and don’t give up on him—ever!

^7-8 The businessmen engage in wholesale fraud.
    They love to rip people off!
Ephraim boasted, “Look, I’m rich!
    I’ve made it big!
And look how well I’ve covered my tracks:
    not a hint of fraud, not a sign of sin!”

^9-11 “But not so fast! I’m God, your God!
    Your God from the days in Egypt!
I’m going to put you back to living in tents,
    as in the old days when you worshiped in the wilderness.
I speak through the prophets
    to give clear pictures of the way things are.
    Using prophets, I tell revealing stories.
I show Gilead rampant with religious scandal
    and Gilgal teeming with empty-headed religion.
I expose their worship centers as
    stinking piles of garbage in their gardens.”

^12-14 Are you going to repeat the life of your ancestor Jacob?
    He ran off guilty to Aram,
Then sold his soul to get ahead,
    and made it big through treachery and deceit.

Your real identity is formed through God-sent prophets,
    who led you out of Egypt and served as faithful pastors.
As it is, Ephraim has continually
    and inexcusably insulted God.
Now he has to pay for his life-destroying ways.
    His Master will do to him what he has done.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

If we forget who we are and wander from God’s ways, he loves us enough to lovingly pursue us.  Are our hearts so hard we no longer hear His voice? Have we conformed to the world so successfully that we no longer realize the depth of His relentless love for us?  Do we really believe we can do life better than God, without God?

Stop wandering around in the desert of indecisiveness.  Stop going without Living water and sustaining Bread who nourishes our soul.  This Bread and Water is forever!  Have a little talk with Jesus in humbled repentance of all sins.  He forgives.  He remembers our sins no more.  Then let us commit all our thinking and ways of behavior to God and allow His Holy Spirit to guide us to His best for us and through us.

What are you waiting for?  God hasn’t moved.  God is waiting on you to come back.

Lord,

Thank you for never letting go of your grip on me.  Thank you for loving me with a relentless love, always wanting what is best for me.  Thank you for saving my soul, nourishing my being, and making me whole by your love, mercy and grace.  I run to each morning for the daily manna that never quits, never gives up on me.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

In Jesus Name, Amen

The day after celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ with the joy and assurance of our hope followed by the family gatherings over great food, along with the laughter of kids playing together, we rest in our thoughts as we prepare for another work day with regular activities, same thoughts of accomplishing what we need to do for this day, or with clean up from the day before.  Whatever you do at your house, I pray that the joy from yesterday is not allowed to be taken from you as the evil one prowls your thoughts and tries to pull you away from the One who loves you most and loves you best. 

If we listen to the evil one call out to us to “get back to normal” and live for self, then our faith is proven to be as fickle as the faith of Israel.  Hosea words help us to hear God as He shares his broken heart for those who walk away from his love, help, provision, and protection.  His heart breaks to see our fickled minds run off to play with all that is not God—which will destroy us—if we do not turn back to God.

Hosea 11, The Message

Israel Played at Religion with Toy Gods

^1-9 “When Israel was only a child, I loved him.
    I called out, ‘My son!’—called him out of Egypt.
But when others called him,
    he ran off and left me.
He worshiped the popular sex gods,
    he played at religion with toy gods.

Still, I stuck with him. I led Ephraim.
    I rescued him from human bondage,
But he never acknowledged my help,
    never admitted that I was the one pulling his wagon,
That I lifted him, like a baby, to my cheek,
    that I bent down to feed him.

Now he wants to go back to Egypt or go over to Assyria—
    anything but return to me!
That’s why his cities are unsafe—the murder rate skyrockets
    and every plan to improve things falls to pieces.
My people are hell-bent on leaving me.
    They pray to god Baal for help.
    He doesn’t lift a finger to help them.

But how can I give up on you, Ephraim?
    How can I turn you loose, Israel?
How can I leave you to be ruined like Admah,
    devastated like luckless Zeboim?
I can’t bear to even think such thoughts.
    My insides churn in protest.
And so I’m not going to act on my anger.
    I’m not going to destroy Ephraim.
And why? Because I am God and not a human.
    I’m The Holy One and I’m here—in your very midst.

^10-12 “The people will end up following God.
    I will roar like a lion—
Oh, how I’ll roar!
    My frightened children will come running from the west.
Like frightened birds they’ll come from Egypt,
    from Assyria like scared doves.
I’ll move them back into their homes.”
    God’s Word!

Soul-Destroying Lies

Ephraim tells lies right and left.
    Not a word of Israel can be trusted.
Judah, meanwhile, is no better,
    addicted to cheap gods.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

We are either with God or against God.  Those are the only two directions in which to decide to travel.  The journey without God looks and feels good for a moment as we assure ourselves, we’ve got this—until we don’t have this and we fail and fall on our faces. 

But God pursues those fickle in faith whose hearts have turned cold and hard.  He still loves his created, even those with forgotten faith in Him.  In fact, those are the ones He seeks with diligence according to Jesus who tells the story of the Shepherd who leaves the 99 to pursue to one who strayed and is in trouble. 

God does not call us by our sin, but calls us by name.  God does not define us by what we have done or by the failures we have had in life.  God simply loves us and calls us home to be with Him.  We are prodigals.  He is the Father, waiting at the end of the driveway for us to turn around and run to Him as He runs to us.  As we take steps toward Him, He runs to us, puts His arms around us and calls us his own.  Wow.  What kind of love is this?  Agape love.  It is a love that never stops, never gives up on me/us.

Where are you going, dear friend?  We all have tendencies to redefine ourselves according to our catastrophes. “I am the divorcée, the addict, the bankrupt businessperson, the kid with the disability, or the man with the scar.” We settle for a merely small activities on our journey: to make money, make friends, make a name, make muscle, or make love with anyone and everyone to gain significance for a moment or two.  Avoid the smallness of life.  Thinking that this is all there is to life is a costly mistake.  And what happens when you lose all that you have built? 

Think you have lost what you had with God? Here’s the thing, you haven’t. “God’s gifts and God’s call are under full warranty—never canceled, never rescinded” …Hear what God is saying to all of us!  “But looked at from the long-range perspective of God’s overall purpose, they remain God’s oldest friends. God’s gifts and God’s call are under full warranty—never canceled, never rescinded.”  Romans 11:29, MSG…read all of chapter 11 to understand even more.  God is for us, not against us!

No matter what happens in life we are still a child of God.  He will never leave or forgive us.  He knows us by name.  He knows what we are going through for nothing escapes the notice of God.  Repeat after me, “I am God’s child. My life is more than this life. These days are a vapor, a passing breeze. This will eventually pass. God will make something good out of this. I will work hard, stay faithful, and trust him no matter what.”  You will not believe the power that is infused into our being when we truly believe who God says we are….His.

If you have never said yes, to God, then believe, repent, say yes now and be saved for eternity!  His love never changes.

Lord,

Thank you for consistently pursuing us, calling us by name, not by our sins, until we turn and run back home to You.  You are life on the ordinary days as well as on the days of special celebrations of remembering you and what you have done for us and in us.  I want Your love, care, protection, and provision.  I don’t want to live life on my own.  I want to remain in you as you remain in me.  Show me your way and I will walk in it—with You.

In Jesus Name, Amen

As toddlers, the first words of rebellious independence that come from our mouths after being coached to talk are, “I do it!”  You see the look in the toddler eyes and hear the determined voice and we think, “well, look at you, being all independent!”  And you allow them to do it themselves…until they cry for help.  You don’t fight it.  It’s part of the human maturing process to grow independent of everyone doing it all for us.  It’s a natural progression in learning to think for ourselves as we make decisions that are good for us while learning skills to take care of ourselves.  We want to grow up.  Our parents want us to grow up.  If we do everything for a child the child’s growth will be stunted.

So, our thinking is trained, based on our nature, to want to do it all–by ourselves.  However, we are made to feel less than adequate If we ask for help.  It is the “independent, do it my way or else” kind of person that we think of as a leader.  Mm. 

Is that why it is so hard for us to trust God—much less obey God?

I’m reminded of the cartoon that depicts a guy warned not to go near a slippery cliff.  He did.  He fell.  He frantically prayed the shortest prayer ever to God, you probably know it and have prayed it, “God, help!”  Suddenly his jacket was caught on a branch on his way down to sudden death.  His response?  “Never mind, God, I’ve got this!”  We laugh, but we are exactly like that sometimes, aren’t we?

Hosea gets serious with God’s people as they continually think they can do life completely without God—unsupervised!

Hosea 10, The Message

You Thought You Could Do It All on Your Own

^1-2 Israel was once a lush vine,
    bountiful in grapes.
The more lavish the harvest,
    the more promiscuous the worship.
The more money they got,
    the more they squandered on gods-in-their-own-image.
Their sweet smiles are sheer lies.
    They’re guilty as sin.
God will smash their worship shrines,
    pulverize their god-images.

^3-4 They go around saying,
    “Who needs a king?
We couldn’t care less about God,
    so why bother with a king?
    What difference would he make?”
They talk big,
    lie through their teeth,
    make deals.
But their high-sounding words
    turn out to be empty words, litter in the gutters.

^5-6 The people of Samaria travel over to Crime City
    to worship the golden calf-god.
They go all out, prancing and hollering,
    taken in by their showmen priests.
They act so important around the calf-god,
    but are oblivious to the sham, the shame.
They have plans to take it to Assyria,
    present it as a gift to the great king.
And so Ephraim makes a fool of himself,
    disgraces Israel with his stupid idols.

^7-8 Samaria is history. Its king
    is a dead branch floating down the river.
Israel’s favorite sin centers
    will all be torn down.
Thistles and crabgrass
    will decorate their ruined altars.
Then they’ll say to the mountains, “Bury us!”
    and to the hills, “Fall on us!”

^9-10 You got your start in sin at Gibeah—
    that ancient, unspeakable, shocking sin—
And you’ve been at it ever since.
    And Gibeah will mark the end of it
    in a war to end all the sinning.
I’ll come to teach them a lesson.
    Nations will gang up on them,
Making them learn the hard way
    the sum of Gibeah plus Gibeah.

^11-15 Ephraim was a trained heifer
    that loved to thresh.
Passing by and seeing her strong, sleek neck,
    I wanted to harness Ephraim,
Put Ephraim to work in the fields—
    Judah plowing, Jacob harrowing:
Sow righteousness,
    reap love.
It’s time to till the ready earth,
    it’s time to dig in with God,
Until he arrives
    with righteousness ripe for harvest.

But instead you plowed wicked ways,
    reaped a crop of evil and ate a salad of lies.
You thought you could do it all on your own,
    flush with weapons and manpower.
But the volcano of war will erupt among your people.
    All your defense posts will be leveled
As viciously as king Shalman
    leveled the town of Beth-arba,
When mothers and their babies
    were smashed on the rocks.
That’s what’s ahead for you, you so-called people of God,
    because of your off-the-charts evil.
Some morning you’re going to wake up
    and find Israel, king and kingdom, a blank—nothing.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

• Turning from God means doing life without the One who created and gives life. 
• Left unsupervised, we fall for lies, the advice of fools, and get into troubles that are hard to escape. 
• When we do it our way, having our own way in all things, thinking we can do all of life without God’s wisdom and guidance, the ungodly crowd applauds our efforts—until we run out of money, resources and popularity.
• With God as our guide, we sow righteousness and reap love. 
• Without God we sow selfishness as we plow furrows of ungodly character and behaviors, influencing the hearts of others as well as your own.  We reap a crop of evil and feast on a “salad of lies”.  (Yes, I love the clarity of Peterson’s Message paraphrase of the prophet’s words from God!)   

We have two choices.  We can choose to do life without God.  Or we can choose to do life with God.  Hosea shows us the consequences of both.  One leads to great pain, suffering with the foolish until eventual death. The other leads to life and more life—eternal life. 

Life with God will not be care-free, without problems and challenges, for we live in the same imperfect world with those who do not follow God.  However, we have the promise of Jesus that He will always be with us, helping us.  He went back to heaven but He left behind His Holy Spirit to live inside us to constantly give us wisdom, encouragement, help in decision making, warnings, comfort, and insight for what is right and pleasing in God’s thinking which transforms our thinking.  Jesus overcame the world—and we will, too!

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” –Jesus  (John 16:33)

Take note:  Jesus did nothing on earth of significance without asking God, His Father about it first.  As hard as it might be, we must fight our natural independent tendencies, thinking we’ve “got this” when we do not.  We must humbly come to God, ask for His forgiveness for going our own way and learn to lean into His understanding about life.  We can no longer rely on our own thinking.  To give up our way is to gain His way which is more than you can think or imagine! 

Depend completely on God.  Trust God. You will be amazed!  God knows us better than we know ourselves.  He wants only the best for us.  God knows what tomorrow brings.  We don’t know what will happen in the next hour, day or week.  Go to God and receive the daily manna of His love, mercy and grace and do life His way.  You will not regret it!

Lord,

Your mercies are indeed new each morning as I come to you with a grateful heart.  Thank you for saving me from myself.  Thank you for learning that dependance on you is a more peace-filled life to live. Thank you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit—Three in One!

In Jesus Name, Amen