Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus)

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

We waste a lot of time wallowing in our selfish thinking that someone “owes” us.  We hold back and even “shelve” the love of God in us when we grip tightly to the offenses of slander, mocking, and maybe even physical abuse of pushing and shoving that bullies inflict on us.  We waste time on grudge matches waiting on our offenders to apologize when most times they don’t realize they have offended us.

We waste an enormous amount of time overthinking what others think of us, plotting what we will say or what we will do to please them when, in reality, they are doing the same for someone else in their life to please so therefore no notice is taken for your efforts.  I’ve wasted time just writing this statement of fact—but we all do it!  Selfishness chasing selfishness!

We waste time seeking to get all the details right in our lives of work, church, family, friends while plotting what to do about or to our enemies without giving much thought to seeking the One who is above all and knows our hearts, the number of hairs on our heads, knows our first thoughts when we rise but loves us unconditionally anyway.  He sings over us (Zephaniah) and wants the very best for us but we turn our gaze to what is right in front of us that we feel we need to manage first.  Jesus invites us to His Table to commune and fellowship with Him, but our time is precious and our appetites hunger for more of self and the control of self-made agendas.

Yes, we look back and think, what a waste of time—that time we could have had to be filled with the love of God.  We are starving for peace, joy, real love that does not let us down, mercy for mistakes, and grace for growing in our spirit in ways that complete us.  We are starving for God.  We hunger to be saved from the mess we have made for ourselves because of our own selfishness.

A recent George Barna survey indicates that what the world is seeking most is peace—But we are looking for it in all the wrong places.

Hosea 9, The Message

Starved for God

^1-6 Don’t waste your life in wild orgies, Israel.
    Don’t party away your life with the heathen.
You walk away from your God at the drop of a hat
    and like a whore sell yourself promiscuously
    at every sex-and-religion party on the street.
All that party food won’t fill you up.
    You’ll end up hungrier than ever.
At this rate you’ll not last long in God’s land:
    Some of you are going to end up bankrupt in Egypt.
    Some of you will be disillusioned in Assyria.
As refugees in Egypt and Assyria,
    you won’t have much chance to worship God—
Sentenced to rations of bread and water,
    and your souls polluted by the spirit-dirty air.
You’ll be starved for God,
    exiled from God’s own country.
Will you be homesick for the old Holy Days?
    Will you miss festival worship of God?
Be warned! When you escape from the frying pan of disaster,
    you’ll fall into the fire of Egypt.
    Egypt will give you a fine funeral!
What use will all your god-inspired silver be then
    as you eke out a living in a field of weeds?

* * *

^7-9 Time’s up. Doom’s at the doorstep.
    It’s payday!
Did Israel bluster, “The prophet is crazy!
    The ‘man of the Spirit’ is nuts!”?
Think again. Because of your great guilt,
    you’re in big trouble.
The prophet is looking out for Ephraim,
    working under God’s orders.
But everyone is trying to trip him up.
    He’s hated right in God’s house, of all places.
The people are going from bad to worse,
    rivaling that ancient and unspeakable crime at Gibeah.
God’s keeping track of their guilt.
    He’ll make them pay for their sins.

They Took to Sin Like a Pig to Filth

^10-13 “Long ago when I came upon Israel,

    it was like finding grapes out in the desert.
When I found your ancestors, it was like finding
    a fig tree bearing fruit for the first time.
But when they arrived at Baal-peor, that pagan shrine,
    they took to sin like a pig to filth,
    wallowing in the mud with their newfound friends.
Ephraim is fickle and scattered, like a flock of blackbirds,
    their beauty dissipated in confusion and clamor,
Frenetic and noisy, frigid and barren,
    and nothing to show for it—neither conception nor childbirth.
Even if they did give birth, I’d declare them
    unfit parents and take away their children!
Yes indeed—a black day for them
    when I turn my back and walk off!
I see Ephraim letting his children run wild.
    He might just as well take them and kill them outright!”

¹⁴ Give it to them, God! But what?
    Give them a dried-up womb and shriveled breasts.

^15-16 “All their evil came out into the open
    at the pagan shrine at Gilgal. Oh, how I hated them there!
Because of their evil practices,
    I’ll kick them off my land.
I’m wasting no more love on them.
    Their leaders are a bunch of rebellious adolescents.
Ephraim is hit hard—
    roots withered, no more fruit.
Even if by some miracle they had children,
    the dear babies wouldn’t live—I’d make sure of that!”

¹⁷ My God has washed his hands of them.
    They wouldn’t listen.
They’re doomed to be wanderers,
    vagabonds among the godless nations.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Time wasted—God’s chosen are starving for Him.

God had planted His people in a special land, but they had polluted the land with their idols. The more prosperous they had become, the more they had turned away from God. So, they had to suffer a bitter harvest for their sins, they and their children. The nation was blighted, having no roots and bearing no fruits. What a persistent human tendency—to take for granted what God has graciously supplied!

We discover the farther we walk away from God, they more our hunger for Him grows.  But when we turn our gaze back to God and pull up a seat to His Table, we find we have everything we need to quench our thirst and halt our hunger.  See Jesus as He sits at the head of The Table.  It is Jesus who changes everything by showing us the Way back to God, telling us the Truth about God, then giving His life for ours so that we may have Life with God for eternity.

Jesus, God’s Son, came to seek and to save the lost without God and fill their hunger for God.  “I AM the Bread of Life; I AM the Living water!”  Jesus does exactly what the Father tells him to do and say while he walks the earth.  The starved are fed, the hurting are healed, the lost are found and brought back to God.  Those without hope have Hope for Life!  The Source of Life has put a halt to the hunger and starvation for God!

However, so that the whole world could be saved once and for all, Jesus’ mission included crucifixion, the cruelest form of death for any human.  Matthew relates how Jesus prepared his disciples; “When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, ‘As you know, the Passover is two days away—and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.’”  (Matthew 26)  Jesus knew what was next.  His time had come to save us.  Every minute was precious, all the details came from God, His Father.  There was no time to waste.

What happens next still astounds and marvels us who are reading God’s story of salvation where each one of us can be a willing participant—if we believe.

In the background of Jesus ministry are His accusers, “church people”, who wanted peace in the community, at all costs.  This is not the peace Jesus offered, however.  They also want to retain their self-produced power over God’s people.  Again, not the power Jesus is talking about of God’s power.  God was all but forgotten by the priets in their years of living and leading on earth. 

Let’s get back to The Table.  Before He was crucified, Jesus celebrates Passover with His friends.  Seated at The Table is Judas, starved for God but is being fed by the enemy.  He tells them the significance of the Passover story once more but with a twist of profound meaning for each one of us.  The blood of Sacrificial Lamb would be shed once and for all for all sins present and sins to come for those who believe. 

“Take the cup, drink all of it; Take the Bread, eat, for this is my body given for you.”

John, his “beloved disciple”, relates that Jesus then got up from The Table to further show the full extent of His love for them by washing the feet of every disciple—even Judas, who would betray Him that very night. “The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.”  (Read all of John 13 to understand the significance of this act of service.) 

Jesus ended with a powerful question, “Do you understand what I have done for you?” 

Hours later, the Son of Man’s body was brutally beaten and tortured and He felt every blow and snap of the metal infused whip.  His dignity was stripped away as well as His clothes as they mocked Him.  They smashed a crown of thorns with spikes on his head until it was embedded enough to tear his skin—all this before being nailed to the cross.

This is Good Friday.  That’s why my thoughts are filled with what Jesus did for me.  I cannot waste any more time thinking of my hurts and offenses while starving for more of God.  All that concerns, worries me or robs my peace grows shallow and dim in light of what Jesus did to redeemed me.  Nothing else matters when we fill our thoughts with the One who loved us enough to die for us. 

Jesus is all we need for all of life here as we prepare for life forever with Him.  “Do you understand what I have done for you?” Jesus still asks of us today.

Are you starving for peace?  Are you wasting time looking for it in all the wrong places?  Then go, run to the One and Only who gives a peace that goes beyond our understanding.  Remove all the debris and clutter from your heart.  Fill your starved soul with Jesus.  Seeking what God wants for us lessens our selfish desires that waste our time in acquiring.  “Peace, not as the world gives…”, says Jesus, is what He gives us as a gift!  It is a peace that lasts, a peace that is eternal.

Are you hurting and broken within?
Overwhelmed by the weight of your sin?
Jesus is calling
Have you come to the end of yourself
Do you thirst for a drink from the well?
Jesus is calling

O come to the altar
The Father’s arms are open wide
Forgiveness was bought with
The precious blood of Jesus Christ…

(Come to the Altar, by Elevation Worship)

Come to The Table.  Jesus will meet us there as we become still and focused on Him.  He seeks to commune with us.  We are obviously precious to Him.  He took our punishment, stood in our place!  We are not a waste of His time!  It pleases Him to meet with us.  He controls time so He has all the time in the world for us!

Stillness of soul is increasingly rare in this world addicted to noise and speed.  Jesus’ desire to meet with us matches our desire to be filled with peace. Seeking the One who loves us most and loves us best each day is not a waste of time—believe me.

Lord,

Thank you for saving my soul and making me whole.  Thank you for forgiving me of all the time I wasted on foolish thoughts and actions.  I’m yours.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

As I read the incredibly, rebellious story of God’s chosen turning their backs on Him, leaving His protection, shunning His perfect love for them through serious disobedience that reaches new lows in behaviors, this song comes to mind…Are we any different in our own rebellious ways?

And isn’t it amazing to know that our Father, a compassionate, loving God cares enough to confront us and our sin?  So much so, even though He is sickened by what we do to ourselves, He runs after us?  Who is like our God?  What kind of love is this?  The following song, Reckless Love, says it all and is playing in the background of my mind…

Before I spoke a word, You were singing over me
You have been so, so good to me
Before I took a breath, You breathed Your life in me
You have been so, so kind to me

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah

When I was Your foe, still Your love fought for me
You have been so, so good to me
When I felt no worth, You paid it all for me
But You have been so, so kind to me

And oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
And I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah

There’s no shadow You won’t light up
Mountain You won’t climb up
Coming after me
There’s no wall You won’t kick down
Lie You won’t tear down
Coming after me
There’s no shadow You won’t light up
Mountain You won’t climb up
Coming after me
There’s no wall You won’t kick down
Lie You won’t tear down
Coming after me…

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
And I couldn’t earn it, I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah

(Writer/s: Caleb Culver, Cory Asbury, Ran Jackson)

Yes, Lord, I hear you singing over me even now…

Hosea 8, The Message

Altars for Sinning

^1-3 “Blow the trumpet! Sound the alarm!
    Vultures are circling over God’s people
Who have broken my covenant
    and defied my revelation.
Predictably, Israel cries out, ‘My God! We know you!’
    But they don’t act like it.
Israel will have nothing to do with what’s good,
    and now the enemy is after them.

^4-10 “They crown kings, but without asking me.
    They set up princes but don’t let me in on it.
Instead, they make idols, using silver and gold,
    idols that will be their ruin.
Throw that gold calf-god on the trash heap, Samaria!
    I’m seething with anger against that rubbish!
How long before they shape up?
    And they’re Israelites!
A sculptor made that thing—
    it’s not God.

That Samaritan calf
    will be broken to bits.
Look at them! Planting wind-seeds,
    they’ll harvest tornadoes.
Wheat with no head
    produces no flour.
And even if it did,
    strangers would gulp it down.
Israel is swallowed up and spit out.
    Among the pagans they’re a piece of junk.
They trotted off to Assyria:
    Why, even wild donkeys stick to their own kind,
    but donkey-Ephraim goes out and pays to get lovers.
Now, because of their whoring life among the pagans,
    I’m going to gather them together and confront them.
They’re going to reap the consequences soon,
    feel what it’s like to be oppressed by the big king.

^11-14 “Ephraim has built a lot of altars,
    and then uses them for sinning.
    Can you believe it? Altars for sinning!
I write out my revelation for them in detail
    and they pretend they can’t read it.
They offer sacrifices to me
    and then they feast on the meat.
    God is not pleased!
I’m fed up—I’ll keep remembering their guilt.
    I’ll punish their sins
    and send them back to Egypt.
Israel has forgotten his Maker
    and gotten busy making palaces.
    Judah has gone in for a lot of fortress cities.
I’m sending fire on their cities
    to burn down their fortifications.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Instead of trusting the Lord to protect her from Assyria, Israel fortified her towns and sought help from foreign nations. From a spiritual point of view, that was like prostitution.  God still cares about His people—enough to confront them with Truth.

God cares enough about us to confront our sins. 

He runs after us with a heart of compassion.

He disciplines us as a Father would a child he loves deeply and wants to bless.

There is nothing we have done that He will not forgive.

He pulls us out the fires of our own making.  He will even help us deal with the consequences left over from our sin.  But our sins?  They are forgiven, to be remembered no more!  Hebrews 10:17

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
And I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah

Why?  Because “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) The final confrontation for our sins was Jesus Christ, Son of God, who paid the debt once and for all.

But seriously why, you ask?  This is too good to be true!  I know what you might be thinking.  But, this Truth is the only truth on earth you can trust: “Believe and be saved.” The complete version is this; “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” Romans 10:9   

Jesus is the Way to Truth who gives Life eternal.  (John 14:6)

Still wonder why?  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Sing with me…

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
And I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah

Lord,

I praise you, thank you, and fall down before you for I am humbled by the way you love me more than anyone else on earth has the capacity to love.  You chased me down when I was trying to do life by myself.  You confronted my rebellion ways with your reckless love and you saved me from myself.  You redeemed me from hold that sin and the resulting guilt had on me.  You set me free to love you back and to love others like you love me—unconditionally.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  I will be singing over what you have done for me for the rest of my life here and for eternity there!

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

It is no wonder that the word “ignore” sits inside the word ignorance.  We ignore God, who we say we know as Way Maker, Promise Keeper, Light in the darkness for what we want to do.  As the music fades and we leave church, we go back to our “ignorance” of wanting it our way and will blast people around us with anger when they do not deliver.  We are fickle.  Our faith in God is fickle.  Each hour what we want changes.  What we believed in the past changes to suit what our present desires demand we acquire.  You might even say our faith and our thinking is only half-baked, like a pancake not turned over.

When we ignore seeking God first, ignore time alone with Him to know Him, ignore His Holy Spirit’s teaching, guidance and leading and go our own way we become very ignorant of God.  Our knowledge of God shrinks to merely knowing of Him but not knowing Him personally. 

Yes, ignoring God leads to pure ignorance—only a fool would live that way, right Hosea?

Hosea 7, The Message

Despite All the Signs, Israel Ignores God

^1-2 “Every time I gave Israel a fresh start,
    wiped the slate clean and got them going again,
Ephraim soon filled the slate with new sins,
    the treachery of Samaria written out in bold print.
Two-faced and double-tongued,
    they steal you blind, pick you clean.
It never crosses their mind
    that I keep account of their every crime.
They’re mud-spattered head to toe with the residue of sin.
    I see who they are and what they’ve done.

^8-10 “Ephraim mingles with the pagans, dissipating himself.
    Ephraim is half-baked.
Strangers suck him dry
    but he doesn’t even notice.
His hair has turned gray—
    he doesn’t notice.
Bloated by arrogance, big as a house,
    Israel’s a public disgrace.
Israel lumbers along oblivious to God,
    despite all the signs, ignoring God.

^3-7 “They entertain the king with their evil circus,
    delight the princes with their acrobatic lies.
They’re a bunch of overheated adulterers,
    like an oven that holds its heat
From the kneading of the dough
    to the rising of the bread.
On the royal holiday the princes get drunk
    on wine and the frenzy of the mocking mob.
They’re like wood stoves,
    red-hot with lust.
Through the night their passion is banked;
    in the morning it blazes up, flames hungrily licking.
Murderous and volcanic,
    they incinerate their rulers.
Their kings fall one by one,
    and no one pays any attention to me.

^11-16 “Ephraim is bird-brained,
    mindless, clueless,
First chirping after Egypt,
    then fluttering after Assyria.
I’ll throw my net over them. I’ll clip their wings.
    I’ll teach them to mind me!
Doom! They’ve run away from home.
    Now they’re really in trouble! They’ve defied me.
And I’m supposed to help them
    while they feed me a line of lies?

Instead of crying out to me in heartfelt prayer,
    they whoop it up in bed with their whores,
Gash themselves bloody in their sex-and-religion orgies,
    but turn their backs on me.
I’m the one who gave them good minds and healthy bodies,
    and how am I repaid? With evil scheming!
They turn, but not to me—
    turn here, then there, like a weather vane.
Their rulers will be cut down, murdered—
    just deserts for their mocking blasphemies.
And the final sentence?
    Ridicule in the court of world opinion.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

God wants to heal our ignorance.  God wanted to heal Israel. What prevented Him from helping His distressed people? They wanted Him to act on their terms and not according to the condition of His holy covenant. They thought they could get away with their many sins, but God saw them all and remembered them. 

I’m reminded of the dedication of the temple built for God.  Solomon’s prayer received this response from God:

“…if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”   2 Chronicles 7:14

Another prophet answers the question of what God requires of 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 And how do we walk humbly?  Walking humbly is laying down what we want for what God wants.  When we finally realize that what God wants is the best for us, we will more readily let go.  As we let go, we also begin to realize the depth of love God has for us.  Amazing!

Yes, we are fickle.  But God is not.  We can depend on God.  God loved us first and loves us for eternity.  His love never changes and why should it?  His love is perfect in every way.  His love drives away our fears.  His love teaches us to love others.  His love is endless, expansive, unconditional, relentless and in our way of thinking, reckless! 

God loves ALL and is in all who love Him back.  “For God SO loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  (John 3:16) It is God’s desire that NO ONE perish or be left out of His family. The Gospels are full of the details of all that God wants to do in us and has for us as He loves us.

The prophets told the Good News centuries before Jesus came.  Then Jesus came to fulfill what God said through His prophets.  The Good News is simply this:

• God loves you.  God loves me.  God loves all who He has created.  All. 
  • God wants us to love Him back. 
• God wants us to love each other like He loves us—without conditions.

Let us stop ignoring God!  Come to God.  Believe that what God says is really real!  His promises are true, His way is always right and He provides the Light to get to where we need to be—with Him always.

As we review all Hosea’s images of how Israel ignored God and sinned against Him with their foolish ignorance, we might take inventory of our own devotion to the Lord.

How lasting is it?

How deep is it?

How strong is it?

How serious is it?

How dependable is it?

Lord,

May we all pause to reflect on our foolishness.  May we repent of our ignoring you which leads to ignorance of your wisdom in living life.  I humbly bow before you, asking what YOU want today.  I’m yours.  I’m looking expectantly for you for the rest of this day.  You are always at work—but sometimes I ignore the signs of you at work in me.  Forgive me.  Thank you for your faithfulness when I am fickle in my faith.  Thank you for saving me and making me whole.

In Jesus Name, Amen

I have a prayer for God’s church and her leaders as we approach this weekend where we will celebrate the Third Day that made all the difference between life or death for us.  I pray that God’s leaders will have wisdom to hear what God wants said.  I pray for all to pause to pray, reflect on the third day, and praise God from a full grateful heart for sending Jesus to save us.  I pray that leaders will lead from a heart of thanksgiving for what God has done in them!   I pray for leaders and volunteers to know God and live for God as glimpses of God for others to see as evidence of his love, mercy and grace. 

I pray that the busyness of preparing the worship room, the musicians, the presentations, the children’s areas, the student areas and even the parking lot does not become the religious priority.  I pray that the competitive promotions for the church’s market share of attenders are not the priority of thinking.  I pray that our hearts are centered on one thing—On the Third Day, Christ arose. 

If we think only of pleasing those who will come with the greatest music, best sermon ever or the beautifully prepared room, then we will just be a “gang of priests”, like Hosea tells about, manipulating people who need Jesus.  Only Jesus.  With every opportunity God gives, invite people to Jesus, His Son, who is perfect and became the perfect sacrifice for our sins.  Merely inviting people to church as the end all for their lives will be false advertising for they will be disappointed at all the imperfection they will see.  We are God’s church, a people of imperfections but perfectly forgiven.  So, we point to Jesus always.  It is Jesus who saves us—no one else and nothing less.  “Come on, let’s go back to God,” shout the worshipers. 

My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus’ blood, my righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand:
all other ground is sinking sand;
all other ground is sinking sand.

Hosea 6, The Message

Gangs of Priests Assaulting Worshipers

^1-3 “Come on, let’s go back to God.
    He hurt us, but he’ll heal us.
He hit us hard,
    but he’ll put us right again.
In a couple of days we’ll feel better.
    By the third day he’ll have made us brand-new,
Alive and on our feet,
    fit to face him.
We’re ready to study God,
    eager for God-knowledge.
As sure as dawn breaks,
    so sure is his daily arrival.
He comes as rain comes,
    as spring rain refreshing the ground.”

* * *

^4-7 “What am I to do with you, Ephraim?
    What do I make of you, Judah?
Your declarations of love last no longer
    than morning mist and predawn dew.
That’s why I use prophets to shake you to attention,
    why my words cut you to the quick:
To wake you up to my judgment
    blazing like light.
I’m after love that lasts, not more religion.
    I want you to know God, not go to more prayer meetings.
You broke the covenant—just like Adam!
    You broke faith with me—ungrateful wretches!

^8-9 “Gilead has become Crime City—
    blood on the sidewalks, blood on the streets.
It used to be robbers who mugged pedestrians.
    Now it’s gangs of priests
Assaulting worshipers on their way to Shechem.
    Nothing is sacred to them.

¹⁰ “I saw a shocking thing in the country of Israel:
    Ephraim worshiping in a religious whorehouse,
    and Israel in the mud right there with him.

¹¹ “You’re as bad as the worst of them, Judah.
    You’ve been sowing wild oats. Now it’s harvest time.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Worship God.  Worship only God.  Love God back because He first loved us.

God wants us to be faithful to Him. It hurts him to see us wander away.

Don’t build your house on a career. Don’t build your house on a thrill. Don’t build your house on a talent. Don’t build your house on one solitary earthly relationship. Don’t pursue things that don’t last. Build your house on a solid rock foundation of the only thing that can last: Jesus, as Savior and Lord.

When darkness veils his lovely face,
I rest on his unchanging grace;
in every high and stormy gale,
my anchor holds within the veil.

His oath, his covenant, his blood,
support me in the whelming flood;
when all around my soul gives way,
he then is all my hope and stay.

When he shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I then in him be found:
dressed in his righteousness alone,
faultless to stand before the throne.

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand:
all other ground is sinking sand;
all other ground is sinking sand...

Lord,

I am so grateful for the Third Day.  As you rose from death to life, you became our Hope.  You are our Hope and Assurance of eternal life, forever unconditional love, unending mercies that are new and fresh each morning, along with your beautiful gift of grace.  Indeed, there is NO ONE like you!  I love you back with all that is in me.  I worship you today in the quiet of this first hour of the day.  Thank you for your daily manna of nourishment from your word.  Thank you for dying for my sins, then rising from death to life on that Third Day.  How deep is your love for us, it goes beyond our thinking!  Life is all about you because you are Life!

In Jesus Name, Amen