FOCUS brings BLESSING - Psalm 119:1-8 (God's Alphabet Song of Truth-Aleph) - #1

The Bible's longest chapter is a song, with 22 sets of lyrics, 8 lines each.

Each set of lyrics begins with a successive letter from the Hebrew alphabet.  "A" (or Aleph) begins the first set, and each line of the first set also begins (in the Hebrew) with "Aleph."  The second set begins with "B" (or Hebrew, "Beth").

Yes, this song was written to be memorized.  All 22 stanzas.  All 176 verses.

So, have you started yet? :-)

SOMETHING WORTH SINGING

Psalm 119 sings of the treasure-chest of blessing which comes through genuinely cherishing God's voice in God's Word.

The first 8-line lyric (Aleph) could not be more clear:  Focus brings Blessing.

Blessed are those whose way is blameless

Who walk in the law of the Lord

Blessed are those who keep His testimonies

Who seek Him with their whole heart

Who also do no wrong

but walk in His ways

You have commanded Your precepts

to be kept diligently

Oh that my ways may be steadfast

in keeping your statutes

Then I shall not be put to shame

having my eyes fixed on all your commandments

I will praise you with an upright heart

when I learn Your righteous rules

I will keep your statutes

Do not utterly forsake me

WHY NOT MEMORIZE?...Yep, you can, and here's why

It is interesting what happens when one takes the time to memorize 8 lines of a song.  Admittedly, without the tune (which might make it easier, and fun...to make up a tune).  But even without a tune, if you verbally (out loud) say these verses over and over again, so as to memorize, something very wonderful happens.

The out-loud repetition both reveals the meaning and imbeds the truth.  There comes a moment along the way when you are saying this yet-again out loud that your head says, "Oh...I get it!"  Diligent focus on God's word brings God's blessing ("Blessed are those who...).

But then, it moves from "those" to "me."  A desire is created, personally, within.   I want in on this.   "Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes."  Then the blessing, "Then I shall not be put to shame..."

Of course, it's not merely about hearing God's voice in God's word.  The blessing comes when one "keeps" and "walks" (or lives) in alignment with God's directive voice, in the word.  There is no hearing without doing.  Biblically defined "hearing" was never merely listening.

A hint of warning arises at the end of the 1st set of lyrics.  "Do not utterly forsake me."  The alternative to not focusing on God's word is the possibility of missing blessing and finding, instead, a forsakenness in life.  

For the next 22 days, let's sing together about how focus on what God has said can bring about blessing in the life God gives.

Hosea's Word Today - A Final (for now) Reflection from Hosea (#24)

According to one website, the most important quotes about history are these --

We are not makers of history.  We are made by history. (Martin Luther King, Jr.)

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people. (Martin Luther King, Jr.)

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in raising every time we fall. (Confucius)

Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.  (Edmund Burke)

Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. (George Santayana)

A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.  (Mahatma Gandhi)

I came, I saw, I conquered.  (Julius Caesar)

The very ink with which history is written is merely fluid prejudice. (Mark Twain)

This is one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. (Neil Armstrong)

I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.  (Thomas Jefferson)

Many of these quotes have “cousins” in the lips of others.  For example, Aldous Huxley said “That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.”    Mark Twain (again) – “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.”  And Confucius (again) – “Study the past if you would define the future.”

SHALL WE LEARN FROM HOSEA’S WORD TO EPHRAIM?

"The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri...in the days of kings of Judah and Joash, the kin of Israel.  What shall we learn from this Biblical history so as to define (better) our future?

Here are my take-aways from Hosea's lie-stretching experience and heart-challenging prophesy.

1st - God loves us more than we understand.  C.S. Lewis once remarked to the effect that God loves us fiercely, surprisingly so.  "I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy.  I will betroth you to me in faithfulness" (Hosea 2:19-20).  No one wants our good more than God, and He is jealous that we might experience the life of his love.

2nd - We can too easily play the harlot.  "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it.  Prone to leave the God I love," so echoes the hymn Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.  God is ready to "tune my heart to sing Thy grace," but my heart leans toward unfaithfulness on every given day, and in any given moment.  We can easily worship ourselves, the success (or gods) of our own hands, or something our worldly culture offers us that appears fantastic (but is much more like a single firework splashing momentarily in the night sky).

3rd - God patiently loves and waits...for a time.  Perhaps this is the critical lesson for us today that might penetrate a dulled ear.  We are in a time of grace.  God is not slow about what He will do, but (Peter's words) "is patient toward you."  Toward us.  "The grace of God has appeared bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness...to live upright in the present age...waiting for...the appearing of our Great God and Savior, Jesus Christ" (Titus 2).  "For, the day of the Lord will come" -- both Paul and Peter sing this duet.  Unfortunately, for most, it will dawn as a complete surprise.

4th - It's always the right time to turn around toward God - "Take with you words, and return.  Say to Him, 'Take away all iniquity...we will say no more OUR GOD to the work of our hands'." (Hosea 14). Whoever is wise (14:9) let him understand these things.

C'mon...let's be honest with ourselves.  And, should your moment of honesty call for a one-eighty, "draw near to God.  He will draw near to you" (James 5).  I promise you.  You'll never regret it.

"So, what happened...?" (C) - Reflections from Hosea (#23)

Kingdoms come, and then they go.

Nations exist for a time.  They morph into something different.  Boundaries can change.  Major wars and newly conquered territories redraw the map.  Suddenly, what was is no longer.

In these tidal shifts, one can lose sight of what happens to the individual, to the couple, to the family with children.  To relationships.  To a city full of neighborhoods of people.  To the people who lived near, and are gone, and replaced by..."Well, who are they?!?"  A nation, or a portion of a nation, and love between peoples, can be lost.

Clearly, when Assyria conquered Israel (722 BC),  for the northern portion of Abraham's descendants (10 of the 12 tribes) nothing would be the same.  The best, brightest, most powerful and influential, were taken away and made to live elsewhere.  Foreigners were forcibly brought in to repopulate the north - with different customs, culture, language.  Eventually, these would marry with the left-over Israelites in the land - a mix of Jewish and Gentile - and they would be called "Samaritans."

In future generations, those (especially Jewish peoples living to the south in Judea) would come to despise the Samaritans.  They were considered impure (ethnically) and unacceptable rivals (insisting on establishing their own "center" of worship in the stead of Jerusalem, cf. Jesus' conversation with the woman at the well, John 4).  A righteous Jew would travel around Samaria if heading north-to-south or south-to-north, but never through.  You wouldn't use a Samaritan dish or cup - unclean!!  Ick!!

Walls were erected (relationally).  Distance was passionately maintained.  A people which resulted from God's judgment were ostracized, belittled, hated.  Abraham's offspring badly divided.

Until Jesus came (John 1:14-18) and purposely walked through Samaria, (John 4) and drank from a Samaritan cup, and told the defensive, relationally-wasted woman it didn't matter where people worshipped, as long as it was "in the Spirit and in the Truth."

Sin and judgment drive people away from each other.  Hurts are nurtured and distances are maintained.  Then God's own Son arrives and says, "Enough...My Father longs for worshippers whom He will fill with His Spirit and set free with His truth.  There is fresh and living water that is available to anyone who will believe."

So...who are we keeping at a distance?  Might Jesus take you and me on a walk through Samaria?

"So, what happened...?" (B) - Reflections from Hosea (#22)

The Lord was Israel's relentless lover.   His example was a remarkable prophet.

The Lord was also Israel's angry judge.  His instrument was brutal Assyria.  

One source puts what happened this way

Assyrian policy was to deport conquered peoples to other lands within the empire, to destroy their sense of nationalism, and break any pride or hope of rebellion, and replace them with strangers from far away.  Assyrians were great warriors.  Most nations at that time period were looters, building their state by robbing other nations.

Assyrian was the most ferocious of them all.  Their very name became a byword for cruelty and atrocity.  They sinned their prisoners alive, and cut off various body parts to inspire terror in their enemies.  There are records of Assyrian officials pulling out tongues and displaying mounds of human skulls all to bring about stark horror and wealthy tribute from surrounding nations.  No where are the pages of history more bloody than in the records of their wars.

  http://www.bible-history.com/old-testament/the_assyrians.html

The description has its modern day expression in the brutality of the (so-called) Islamic State, or ISIS.

Hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions, of God's people were violently uprooted from their homes under the permissive judgment of God, never to return home, paying a very difficult price for very wayward hearts.

"This occurred because the people of Israel sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them out of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel..." (2 Kings 17). 

The New Testament tells us we are to learn from Israel.  

Sinning against the Lord...by fearing other gods (not responsible for their nation, land, or blessing)...and walking in the customs of those driven out because of sin.

Interesting lessons...

"So, what happened...?" (A) - Reflections from Hosea (#21)

It's probably not the best thing to do.  Still, sometimes, it keeps people in the hunt.  So, every now and then, I do it.  On purpose.

When teaching up front, I'll tell a story but leave off the conclusion.  If it's a good enough story -- one that begs for a "OK...so what happened?" -- a good number will purposely run me down.

"Hey David, you didn't finish!  How did it turn out?"  ["And, by the way, why didn't you finish!!?"]

HEY HOSEA, HOW DID IT TURN OUT?

Hosea's love for his wayward wife was God's love for His wayward people.  Reading Hosea, you get the impression that Hosea's love won out.  He bought her back, and she eventually became his faithful bride.  We're not told explicitly, but that is what the prophetic book intimates.

But what about God and His wayward people?  How did that go?

For this, one must read books in the Bible we largely ignore.  Israel, the northern kingdom (Judah to the south), has it's "Ok, what happened?" described in the book of 2 Kings.

There you find a description of a difficult, downward spiral of disobedience, coupled with a murderous merry-go-round of successive leaders..  Note these verses about the final decades and Israel's kings - from 750 to 722 B.C.

Zechariah the son of Jeroboam reigned over Israel

in Samaria 6 months.

He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord

as his father had done

Shallum conspired against him and 

struck him down, put him to death

2 Kings15:8-9

Shalom began to reign.

He reigned one month

Menahem came to Samaria and

put him to death, sacked Tiphsah

and ripped open all the women in it

who were pregnant

2 Kings 15:13-14

Menahem reigned over Israel

and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord

exacting money from Israel to give

to the king of Assyria

2 Kings 15:17-20

Pekahiah, son of Menahem, began

to reign over Israel.  He reigned

two years and did what was evil

in the sight of the Lord.

Pekah his captain conspired with 50 men

and struck him down in Samaria

2 Kings 15:23-25

Pekah began to reign over Israel.

He did what was evil in the sight

of the Lord.

Tiglath-pilesar, King of Assyria, came

and captured (Israel) and

carried the people captive to Assyria.

2 Kings 15:27-29

GOD'S WORD WAS GOOD...BUT NOT GOOD

What God's Spirit had put in the mouth of Hosea was "good."  Everything difficult that God said would happen did happen.  It all began to unfold tragically in the life of the northern kingdom and, even more tragically, in the lives of people who lived there.  

Leader after leader, sinking the nation deeper into sins which spurned God's patient love.  The word that was good was not good.  Accurate but awful.  2 Kings sounds like a calloused newspaper article.  The reality was that children and women and men and families - the fabric of a nation - was being shredded.

Ephraim shall become a desolation

in the day of punishment.

Among the tribes of Israel,

I will make known what is sure (Hosea 5:9)

In the next 12 months, we will be choosing the next set of leaders for our beloved nation.  Admittedly, the process of succession here is a bit less brutal than what happened in Israel.

However, are we in any less danger than the unrepentant of Samaria?  I wonder.  And I wonder...

How likely is it that we will elect someone who "does what is right" in the eyes of the Lord?

Walk Strong or Stumble Badly - Reflections from Hosea (#20)

Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;

whoever is discerning, let him know them;

for the ways of the Lord are right,

and the upright walk in them,

but transgressors stumble in them.

[final verses of Hosea]

How could it be that a "way" commanded by the Lord could be, at the same time, life-giving to one person and yet life-draining for another?

Consider, for a moment, this "way" the Lord commands:  "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.  And, love your neighbor the way you love yourself."

Empowering and life-giving for one person.  Discouraging and disheartening for another.  Why?  How can one person live purposefully and meaningly in this directive, while another struggles and groans at the very thought of trying?

No doubt there are a host of explanations.  But perhaps it boils down to this - to whom do you entrust the "steering wheel" of your life?  Who has his hands on the "10" and "2" positions not the wheel?  Who gives you direction?  Whose coaching are you willing to not just hear, but obey?

Hosea pleads with his people.  Do the right thing!  Know the ways of the Lord; live the ways of the Lord.  Limitless favor and blessing are on that path.

Hosea also notes the foolishness of saying "No."  Those committed to steering their own life find themselves stumbling over, stumbling in, what is right.  They are routinely at odds with what should and could be happening because they are white-knuckling the wheel that should be in the hands of God.

Dr. Haddon Robinson once said, "It is always futile to keep going in the wrong path, but it is always right to turn around, head back to the fork, and start down the right one. "  

Discover the Lord's ways.  Their clearly offered in His Book which echoes with His Voice.  Enough stumbling already.  Walk upright...and in the right ways.

"Whoever is wise..." - Reflections from Hosea (#19)

Do you know someone who is wise?

Wise is different from "bright" or "smart" or even "brilliant."

Those latter terms bring to mind someone who perhaps can assimilate a lot of facts quickly, or seems uniquely aware of all the latest information, or trends.  Someone who is particularly capable when it comes to specific subjects like mathematics or chemistry.   A photographic memory.  An individual who seems to forget nothing and can quickly recall what most of us readily forget.

Someone with wisdom is different.  We are amazed at a wise person because he or she is remarkable  in a different, more settled way.  Someone with wisdom has dug a deep well through the various strata of life's experiences, and draws from that well water that truly refreshes sojourners along the way.

A wise person will quietly, humbly offer sips of that water to those whose thirst has failed to be quenched by liters of artificially sweetened sodas.

A wise person knows well life's most important principles and truths--with Whom they can be found, how frequently they should be pondered, how consistently they must be used to shape one's thinking and acting.

At the end of his prophetic book, Hosea sounds a final opportunity:

Whoever is wise, let him understand these things.

Whoever is discerning, let him know them.

(Hosea 14:9a)

The call to the wise and discerning is to "understand these things."  What things?  The previous 14 chapters of prophetic example and warnings come back into view.  

• The fact that the true God of Israel is a relentless lover.  
• That He loves even when His people act like a whoring prostitute.  
• That when His unfaithful bride depletes her life in sin, He will love her again.  
• That persisting in idolatry and trust in other nations and gods for her security will lead to unthinkable judgment.  
• That God's heart churns when thinking about subjecting His people to deserved punishment.
• That the Lord would much rather be like an evergreen cypress, a tree that always offers sweet fruit to His own

Time invested in reflection on life's most important truths--with Whom they can be found, how frequently they should be remembered and pondered, and how consistently they must be used to shape one's life--is time well invested.

Wisely...

The Right Road Home - Reflections from Hosea (#18)

"Take with you words and return to the Lord;

Say to Him, 'Take away all iniquity; Accept what is good'."

(Hosea 14:2)

Words have power.  Especially when there is a life that backs up those words.  A life that is ready to display what the words are communicating.

Lincoln's address at the dedication of a cemetery at Gettysburg.

Martin Luther King's "I have a Dream."

Ronald Reagan's "Mr. Gorbachov, take down this wall!"

Perhaps we doubt this, though, in our present day's spray of words, words that feel hollow as they are barked about by political wannabes.

Still, God takes words seriously, especially sincere words of repentance.  

Say to God, "Assyria shall not save us;

we will not ride on horses;

and we will say no more, 'Our God'

to the work of our hands."

(Hosea 14:3)

Which of our words gets God's attention?  Jesus noted that some think that "by their many words" they have a better chance of getting God's attention, and perhaps securing their petition.

Not with the Father-God Jesus knew.  The true God always looks beyond the words to both the heart and the life of the one who prays.  "Is he genuine in this?"  "Is she simply going through the motions, or will her life match the words I'm hearing from her lips?"

For Ephraim (nation of Israel) to have a chance at God's future blessing, "he" needed to come back to the Lord with words that would be matched by deeds.  A heart that longed to be cleansed from sin.  A life that would no longer worship what "he" made.  A trust that would no longer be misplaced in a foreign power or a false god.  

"I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely,

for my anger has turned from them."

(Hosea 14:4)

Any nation, any family, any person can return to the Lord on any given day.  Come with words of personal repentance.  Come with a heart that is genuine.  Come with a life ready to be aligned in trust and obedience to the God whose love is freely given.

No matter where you may be right now, take the right road home in the right way.  

The Toggling Heart of God - Reflections from Hosea (#17)

"How can I give you up, O Ephraim?

How can I hand you over, O Israel?

My heart recoils within me;

My compassion grows warm and tender"

(Hosea 11:8)

"Ephraim has given bitter provocation;

so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him

and will repay him for his disgraceful deeds...

They shall be like the chaff that swirls from the threshing floor

or like smoke from a window."

(Hosea 12:14, 13:3)

I wonder if Hosea ever said to God, "Uh...but didn't you say this just the other day?  Why are you asking me now to say that?"

When it comes to His people, God's heart flips and flops. 

On one day, He simply cannot put up with their willful, rebellious, disgraceful living, resolving again to let the hammer fall.  It will not be pretty (the Assyrian assault would be horrific), but God had concluded that they asked for it.

On another day, God's heart grows warm with compassion.  He's been Ephraim's God for too long.  His patience suffered long, but God had hung in there.  "My heart recoils within Me."  

It's like processing what to do about a prodigal with a set of parents in one Person - a father ready for the toughness of discipline to do what only discipline can do, a mother who can hardly bear to see her child suffer.

UNDERSTANDING GOD'S HEART

I'm reminded of Peter's words.  "The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise (that the Day of the Lord will come), but is patient toward you...not willing (eager)  that any should perish, but that all come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).

Then 3:10..."But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed."

When the day of patience ends, no one can say that they didn't have enough time to get it right with God.  For more days than were warranted, God's heart (it seems) toggles back and forth until...

...well, until the day of discipline must arrive.

In that latter day, the Father's patient love will be fully known.  So will the works done on the earth by men and women who either took advantage of grace, or gambled with it.

Serious stuff...

Unnoticed, Oft Forgotten Love - Reflections from Hosea (#16)

When Israel was a child, I loved him

It was I who taught Ephraim to walk

I took them up by their arms

But they did not know that I healed them

I led them with cords of kindness,

with bands of love

...I bend down to them and fed them

(Hosea 11:1-4)

I noticed in a recent picture of my son (Cameron) and his son (Dylan) a small arm resting gently across the back of dad's neck, the hand curled around and resting on the front of dad's shoulder.

Dylan loves his dad, and his dad deeply loves Dylan.

In his Upward basket uniform, Dylan is about to play yet another Saturday game at a gymnasium, one owned by a local church.  Cameron won't miss a moment.

There's a special bond between a godly dad and his adoring kids.  They demand much of him, but most of the time, he's more than willing to provide everything they need.  Even more.  When he comes home, they run to him and he "takes them up by their arms."  He "leads them with cords of kindness, with bands of love." 

Cameron does it with Janelle, his all-world-wife partner.

TRAGIC WHEN UNREQUITED

Nothing should ruin the picture that came to mind with the previous words.  But something does.

That something is when the children refuse to be fully aware how much the dad has sacrificed, how much he's relentlessly provided.    "My people are bent on turning away from me..." (Hosea 11:7).  And God ponders the hurt, expressing it in sacred Scripture. 

Read the other side of the Bible (i.e., the New Testament) -- especially the letters from the apostles to the disciples of Jesus Christ -- and you'll hear an important bell sounded virtually on every page. 

"Give thanks in everything."  "And be thankful..."  "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

THE TRUTH IS...

God has given everyone everything he or she has.  "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights..." (James 1).

Thankfulness is when we eagerly slip our arm around the back of our Father, let our hand rest gently on his shoulder, and smile big when someone takes the picture.   Should you find your Father's neck and shoulder with your hand today as you're about to play the game today, whisper in His ear how much you love Him...and know how much He has provided for you.

Grappling for More - Reflections from Hosea (#15)

My wife of 42 years is a lot like the wife of Alexander Bruce MacRae.

Bruce MacRae was an airplane-designer-turned-farmer who sowed and reaped for several decades just outside the city limits of  Coldwater, Michigan.

And, Bruce MacRae was my father-in-law...now in heaven with the Savior.

His wife, Lois, and my wife, Lois' daughter, are much alike.  Mom MacRae loved standing for long stretches of time on the furnace grate in the dining room of the farmhouse, with her robe on, just trying to stay warm.  Similarly, Pamela likes to stand with a robe on near our gas fireplace for the same reason.

When one of her kids did something funny or unusual, Mom MacRae would tell the story of the incident over and over again.  She'd giggle just as heartily the 5th time of telling as she did the first.  Mom MacRae's daughter does the same.  Odd family stories never lose their luster.

GRASPING IN THE WOMB...

There's a short story that must have been retold in every generation of Israel's offspring.  The story of what happened in the womb of Rebekah, Isaac's wife.  The Lord had said to her, "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples within you shall be divided.  The one shall be stronger than the other, (yet) the older shall serve the younger" (Genesis 25:23).

Centuries later, Hosea reminded God's people what happened in the moments when the fraternal twins were exiting the womb.

"In the womb, Jacob took his brother (Esau) by the heel, and in his manhood, he (Jacob) strove with God" (Hosea 12:3).

Before he could crawl, talk, or walk, Jacob wanted more than 2nd place would afford him.  In Old Testament times, to be firstborn --out front of all your brothers and sisters -- meant two things.  You would eventually receive a double portion of inheritance from your father, and you would be considered the head of the family when your father died.  A unique position of privilege and blessing and influence.

By order, Esau was Isaac's firstborn.  But even as he came out of the womb ahead of Jacob, the younger had his fingers wrapped around his brother's heel.  "Not so fast!" as it were.  "I want the double blessing!!" In time, indeed, he would get it with the help of his mother and deceitful maneuvering.  He never released his grip on the heel ahead of him.

GRAPPLING WITH GOD

For all his faults (and there were many), Jacob's core orientation was to fight for what he wanted.  Even when he was deceived by his father-in-law over which of Laban's daughters he would first marry (Genesis 29...fascinating read), Jacob would scrap and persevere and hang in there until he could marry the younger daughter, Rachel.

He never lost sight of what he wanted.  He grabbed and and grasped and grappled until it was his.

Despite Jacob's shortcomings, God like this about Jacob.  Enough to Himself wrestle with Jacob one long night.  True to his nature, even though losing the wrestling match, Jacob didn't let go.  He simply would not loosen his grip on God until the Lord God blessed him (Genesis 35).

A TENACITY TO REMEMBER AND RETELL

Why did Hosea remind God's people of their forebear's tenacious bent?  "So you, by the help of your God, return.  Hold fast to love and justice, and walk continually with your God" (Hosea 12:6).

God loves when people return to Him with passion, and walk in godliness with Him every day with a never-quit attitude.   Those who realize that clinging to God is how "I will bless you" happens in your life.

So, tell your kids the family story of the boy who would not let go of his brother's heel...

"Sowing, then Reaping" Explains A lot - Reflections from Hosea (#14)

"Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap steadfast love.
Break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord,
that He may come and rain righteousness upon you" (Hosea 10:12).

A friend I once had liked to say that a whole lot of life was actually explained by the principle of sowing and reaping.    The older I get, the more I'm convinced Steve knew what he was talking about.

SOWING LEADS TO REAPING

Life is soil.  We choose which seeds to plant.  What we choose to "sow" (or plant), in time, sprouts back into our life as a consequence--a consequences that is either rewarding or debilitating.

Paul said the same thing to the young Christians living in Galatia.

Do not be deceived.  God is not mocked.  Whatsoever a person sows, that will he also reap.  For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption.  But the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life (Galatians 6:7-8).

In Hosea's day, when most in his country were sowing to sinful idolatry and misplaced worship and trust, the prophet dared to command the opposite.  "Sow right living...sow a living that keeps God's law and thus is right."  Plant that in the soil of your life, and you will "reap [God's] faithful, steadfast love."  The ground (fallow) in your life which has been dormant, unused...use it to plant "righteousness."

Seek the Lord.  He'll rain righteousness upon you.

AN OFFER TO ACCEPT

Once again, the voice of God in the prophet graciously offers a way to gain what is best in life.  Regardless of what people around you are doing -- regardless of the poor seeds others may be planting in the soil of their lives -- anyone can choose a better planting.  A quiet commitment to know God's Word and "plant" seeds of obedience to it in their living....

...God promises, over time, a remarkable reaping of goodness.  Sowing, and reaping, explains a lot.

So...what are you planting in the soil of your life every day?

Beyond Imagination - Reflections from Hosea (#13)

These days, people are imagining they can win the Powerball prize, as of this writing, some $1.5 billion.  One local editorial admitted, "I Hate Powerball, but I Bought 4 Tickets."

The lure of a quick, unimaginable payoff is tough to resist.

Most things we imagine doing are things we want to do.  Imagine winning the lottery.  Imagine living in your dream home.  Imagine your kid's basketball team winning the state championship.

We like to reserve our imagination for something wonderfully positive.

Hosea insisted that, for the people in his adulterous generation, they'll need to imagine something almost unthinkable.  "But Ephraim (the people of northern Israel) must lead his children out to slaughter" (Hosea 9:13-14).  "O Lord...what will you give?  A miscarrying womb, dry breasts."

WHAT WE EXPECT FROM GOD

Quite frankly, we expect God to give us good things.  On most days, and in countless ways, He does. Scripture teaches us that we have nothing but that we've received it (cf. John 3:27).  Nothing we provide.  Everything, actually, God provides.

He provides for the just and the unjust, the faithful and the faithless.   We are lulled into thinking that the flow of goodness will be endless, no matter how we live or what we may choose to believe.

The truth is that there is with God an end to the flow.  Though His kindness is designed to lead us to repentance, without repentance, the shoe eventually drops.

WHAT WE MUST LEARN FROM HOSEA

Prophets tuned into God's Spirit can give us the early warning signs.  Hosea surely tried with Abraham's descendants who lived 8 centuries before the birth of Christ.  "Ephraim's glory shall fly away like a bird -- no birth, no pregnancy, no conception.  Even if they bring up children, I will bereave them till none is left.  Woe to them when I depart from them" (Hosea 9:11-12).

The prophetic foretelling is sobering.  The children will suffer for the sins of the fathers.  The fathers must lead his children out to slaughter.  When Assyria comes, the unthinkable arrives.  Fathers doing what cannot be imagined.

Like the arresting contrast one finds in Psalm 1, the loss of blessing and the unfolding of judgment here should both give us pause and mentor our own hearts.  "My God will reject them because they have not listened to Him" (Hosea 9:17).

While you can, in a day of giving grace, listen to God.  It will keep you from having to do what we'd rather not imagine.

"An Altar? What's that for?" - Reflections from Hosea (#12)

It appears that each person's worship of God - if one does worship Him - is uniquely customized.  We all pretty much do our own thing, whatever that is.  Perhaps God is good with it.

Yet in times past, much of daily and weekly worship involved something called an "altar."

ALTARS IN THE REAR VIEW MIRROR

The first mention of an altar in Scripture pops up in Genesis 8.  Noah and his 7 surviving family members disembark from over a year on a boat, stepping into a world washed clean (almost) of sinful humanity.  The passage captures attention -

Then, Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of  every clean animal and some of every clean bird an offered burnt offerings on the altar.  And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth.  Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.  While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, old and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease."  And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth."

From then on, people who consistently walked with God would often worship around altars--at first made of stone, and then later, according the the Torah, made of wood with brass overlay, and a grill on top.  Wood set on fire on top.  Altars of Sacrifice became places where valuable animals were sacrificed to cover the penalty for one's violations of God's Law.  Altars of Incense issued forth a sweet smell, symbolic of prayers arising into the presence of God.

An altar was the place where one's relationship with God was set aright through sacrificial worship.  It was the place where you and God had serious interactions: fervent praises and life-shaping petitions.

ALTARS MISUSED

Like anything else God gives us, altars can be used for good, or they can be used for ill.  In Hosea's day, "Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, they have become to him altars for sinning" (8:11).  Note it!  God admits that no amount of re-educating instruction can correct the habitual misuse.  "Were I to write for him My laws by the the thousands, they would be regarded as a strange thing" (8:12).

Worship, even sacrificial worship, without sincerity of heart and obedience-to-the-Lord in every day living, doesn't cut it with God.  "As for my sacrificial offerings, they sacrifice meat and eat it, but the Lord does not accept them" (8:13).

ALTARS TODAY?

Admittedly, we don't often "do" altars today...though I remember decades ago oft sitting in Sunday night church  hearing pastor plead, "Come forward, and lay your all on the altar!"  Or Friday night, summer-camp week-ending bonfires.  "If you're truly willing to return home and live for Christ, toss your piece of wood in the fire.  Burn brightly for Christ!!"

I walked that aisle more than once.  I tossed my sticks in.  In the presence of fire, to tell God I really loved Him.   Longed for my life to count.  Eager He might listen to the cries of my heart.

Sure, it would cost me something.  Something had to be sacrificed in my life for something better to take its place.  You brought an offering.  Something to be consumed on an altar.  "For our God is a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:29).  "Let us offer to God acceptable worship!" (12:28).

Here's an idea - in all our "do my own thing" worship of the God who put His Son on the altar for me,  perhaps establishing an altar could help.  Presenting myself there with a sacrifice, and some prayerful incense.

"I urge you brothers.  Present yourself to God a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable to God, your spiritual worship.  Refuse to be conformed to this world.  Rather be transformed, by the renewing of your mind, so you can prove what living out God's will looks like -- that which is good and acceptable and complete" (Romans 12:1-2).

The Blindness of Sin & the Irony of Grace - Reflections from Hosea (#11)

Confession opens the door of grace.  Denial closes it.

Quite an irony.

Before God, to plead one's guilt is to be forgiven.  To plead one's innocence is to be imprisoned.

Such it was with Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:1-7), their son Cain (Genesis 4:9), and with fallen Image-bearers in every generation.

Of Hosea's generation, God observes, "When I would heal Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed, and the evil deeds of Samaria.  They deal falsely, the thief breaks in and the bandits raid outside.  But they do not consider that I remember all their evil.  Now their deeds surround them; they are before My face" (Hosea 7:1-2).

GOD SEES EVERYTHING

We forget, to our peril, that the Lord misses nothing.  Actually, we should be more aware of this, given our life in days when virtually everything is now on some video camera somewhere.  Driving habits, shopping in stores, going to class.  Some human eye is hacking into our living each moment.   Goodness, Google Earth can zero in on your home right now from thousands of miles in space.

So why might we think God misses anything? The One who immediately knows the number of hairs remaining on our heads, or when each sparrow falls.  "All are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must given an account" (Hebrews 4:13).

STILL, WE OFTEN COVER UP

One of the more silly moves on the part of our ancestry was the attempt to hide in the bushes.  "They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden...and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden" (Genesis 3:8).

You're kidding, Moses, right?  When you wrote that for Abraham's descendants (and for the world of humanity), was there a smirk on your face?  Like, "C'mon man!!  Hiding from the One who just finished creating the heavens and all their host, the One who knows the name of every star He fashions???  Nice try..."

Still, God patiently gave them a call of grace.  "Where are you?" (3:9)  [Another smirk, Moses?]  A call to emerge from shame and 'fess up.  A call which ended in grace.  "The Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins, and clothed them" (3:21).  Some living animal had to die that their shame might be covered.

NO EXCUSES BRINGS GRACE

"If we confess our sins, God is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).

Our best move is to shed our willful ignorance about the Lord.  He hates our sin because His righteous heart knows both what joy righteousness brings to living, and (conversely) how sin destorys us when we simply try to forget it.

Every open, sincere confession brings a fresh shower of cleansing grace from God, along with a renewed heart to walk with Him in the Light (1 John 1:5).

Don't be afraid to come out of the bushes.

"Let us Press On to Know the Lord" - Reflections from Hosea (#10)

According to the Scranton Institute on Brain Research (2015), last year's top ten resolutions were
   #1  Lose weight
   #2  Get organized
   #3  Spend less, save more
   #4  Enjoy life to the fullest
   #5  Stay fit and healthy
   #6  Learn something exciting
   #7  Quit smoking
   #8  Help others in their dreams
   #9  Fall in love
  #10  Spent more time with family

Observing that list reveals that individual goals seem to come first, then further on down the list, goals that relate to helping others or loving others.   But such a list, and "resolutions" more generally, begs a question or two.

What motivates you?  And, how long does your motivation last?  Articles in Psychology Today suggest that 50% of us make new year's resolutions, but most of those "I'm gonna do it this year!" promises tend to fade.  Within a month.  Changing thinking and behaving which lasts is much harder than we realize.  We slip back into the old ruts.

Analysts also suggest that internal motivation has far more staying power than external motivation.  In other words, if your desire to change is prompted by what you think others want you to do, your chances of lasting change are diminished.  But if the fire is within...if you have a motivation that does not depend on the expectations of others, but something that has captured your own heart...the desired change in both thinking and behaving has a true opportunity.

INTERNAL DILIGENCE

The Bible often uses the words "diligence" and "pursuit."  There were some in Hosea's day who, though they lived in a society bent on worshipping false gods and living lawless lives, swam upstream.  Some who, gladly finding others with a similar, fresh spark within,  encouraged each other toward, "Let's press on to know the Lord" (Hosea 6:3).

You find these kinds of people throughout the pages of Scripture.

• "Enoch walked with God."   Genesis 5
• Psalm 119:10  "With my whole heart I seek you...(11) I have stored up your word in my heart...(15) I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on Your ways."
• "I press on toward the prize of the upward call of God...I want to know Him..." (Paul, Philippians 3).
• "Do your best to present yourself to God, a worker who need not be ashamed" (2 Timothy 2:15)
• "Run with endurance the race set before you, looking to Jesus...consider Him who endure..." (Hebrews 12)
• "God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6).

OR NOT...

"Ephraim's love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes away early.  I desire steadfast love, not sacrifice.  Knowledge of God, rather than burnt offerings" (Hosea 6:4-10).

Repeatedly, the Holy Spirit tells us that a growing life with the Lord is not about external religious ceremonies.  It's about the daily, step-by-step pursuit of the Lord.   Daily, internally driven, like a thirst.   Small, consistent steps -- day by day, week by week -- are far better than attempts at big leaps and boundings.  Steps of Scripture reading, daily moments of reflection and quiet prayer, letting the Lord "make my day" day after day after day.

But the drive must be internal. "As the hart pants for the waterbrook, so my soul pants for thee, O Lord" (Ps 42:1).

Fresh Air - What Resurrected Repentance Could Bring: Reflections from Hosea (#9)

Even in the darkest hour.  Even when the the distance seems impossible to traverse.  Even when the heart seems most unresponsive.  Even when sin seems intractably intrenched.  Even when the sealed stone is firmly entrenched over the hole of the grave.

Still, the invitation is offered once again.  "Come!"

When the young man took his share of the inheritance, skipped off to waste it all on his flesh, the father spent daily time on the porch scanning the horizon for any sign of his son's return.  And, when he finally saw the wasted frame approaching, the dad ran to his boy with grace.  That was Jesus' take on things.

Suddenly, in mid-prophesy 7 centuries before, Hosea breaks into surprising verse.

"Come, let us return to the Lord.  For He has torn us that He may heal us.  He has struck us down, and He will bind us up.  After two days, he will revive us.  On the third day, He will rise us up, that we may live before Him" (Hosea 6:1-2).

GOD USES THE DESTRUCTION OF SIN

Nothing could be clearer in the pages of Scripture than this reality - if people want to sin, and taste the bitterness of its consequences, that's a choice God will allow to play out.  Fully.  Sin will tear.  Sin will strike down.  Lust conceives sin, and sin gives birth to death (James 1:13-15).  God can and does use our choices to sin to accomplish a tearing and a striking down.

When His own Son "became sin" for us, it killed him.  He was torn apart, struck down, and buried in the earth.  Isaiah (chapter 53) told the world it would happen to the Messiah.

And yet, death is not allowed to have the final word over the innocent Sin-Substitute.  The Holy Spirit filled Hosea's mouth with a remarkable fore-telling.  "On the third day, He will rise us up, that we may live before Him" (6:2).   No doubt, Hosea was foretelling a coming restoration of Abraham's disciplined descendants -- the nation itself -- but it would be pictured in their Messiah hundreds of years later in Jerusalem.

GOD RESPONDS TO REPENTANCE WITH RESTORATION

"He has torn, that He may heal...He has struck down, He will bind up."   Where sin flourishes, Paul observed, grace super-flourishes.  All God asks is that we turn from our foolishness and make our way back to the Father standing on the porch.

"Let us know the Lord," Hosea continues, "Let us press on to know the Lord.  His going out is as sure as the dawn.  He will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains water the earth" (Hosea 6:3).

There are few things as refreshing and beautiful as the moments following a wonderful spring rain, even as the sun breaks through the clouds again.  The smell of the fresh air, the look of renewed grass and revived flowers.  The touch of God's restoring hand, bringing life and hope and joy.

If you're reading this, pray for someone who needs Gods refreshment in their life.  Perhaps they are far away.  The invitation remains.  Share with them Hosea's appeal.  The life-destroying tearing can stop.  What is struck down can stand up again.  The drought can end.  The showers can begin.

"Come..."