Daughters of promise

Let Israel know this! The prophet is a fool, the inspired man is demented because of the grossness of your iniquity and because your hostility is so great. Ephraim was a watchman with my God, a prophet; yet the snare of a bird catcher is in all his ways. Hosea 9:7-8 

Listen to this passage from THE MESSAGE. 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. 

Today, I’m writing to the prophets, those of you who speak the word of the Lord faithfully. Perhaps you’re paying a price.  Those you preach to are in prosperity and they are repelled by a message that calls for repentance.  They are unwilling to take up their respective crosses for the sake of Christ. Unless there is tribulation, the ears of most listeners are closed. Only a few hearken to the voice of God who calls out to a peculiar people, willing to abandon themselves to whatever it means to follow Christ. 

Take courage. Remember the many faces of Jesus. He loved. He healed. He touched. But He also spoke to the resistant faces of religious leaders.  They were so stirred up that they plotted to take His life. His words bore the nature of the Sword, tearing asunder the religious edifices that His people hid behind.  Exposed, vulnerability was expressed through rage. 

May God overshadow you with grace to stand in the fire. Do not tweak the message to make it more palatable. The Gospel has not changed.  Do not let anyone rob you of your zeal.  You are the watchman on the wall, standing guard over the bride of Christ lest they go further astray. Your post calls for vigilance and fire.  Behind the words, endearing love must be in tact. 

Enable each of Your prophets to walk in the footsteps of John the Baptist and make a straight path for Your coming. Amen 

You have made love for hire on every threshing floor. The threshing floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her. Hosea 9:2 

Have you ever been so desperate for a breakthrough that you did everything you could to bring it about yourself through whatever means you had to finagle? 

Israel was so hungry for blessing and prosperity that they practiced idolatry on the threshing floor, the place where they processed grain. They really believed it would help the harvest. Not only was it sinful, it was superstitious. God cursed it because He will not share His glory with anyone. 

What is it that eludes you today? More money? No amount of problem solving outside of prayer will bring the provision. Manipulating a distant relative will cause the money to burn in your hands. Extorting a raise from your boss will do the same. 

Need recognition? No heroic act originating from self-centeredness will bring the adulation that will fill your soul to overflowing. The praise you receive by setting others up to adore you will be short lived. Tomorrow, you’ll need to do it again to get the same thrill. 

The only One who satisfies us is Jesus. The only pathway to contentment is resting and trusting the Trustworthy One.  Simple trust abandons all forms of striving. 

New wine is available to us and it is of the overflowing variety.  No longer is love a reward for hard work. We can give up our daily propensity to earn it, believing we can make God happier with us.  We are already perfect in His eyes.  

We don’t even have to strive for a breakthrough.  We are kept by Love.  We rest in Perfect Love.  We are peaceful in the waiting.  And when the accuser comes to insinuate that our circumstances are due to our failures, we remind him of who we are in Christ.  We are hidden in His perfection. 

With every accusation from our enemy, You defend.  I wait for Your answers in the perfect peace of Your love. Amen

They sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind. Hosea 8:7 

The relationship between sowing and reaping is a most interesting dynamic. And the relationship between what we sow and what we reap in proportion is also interesting.   We sow one amount but reap another. The seeds of our actions are compounded so that what we reap is an exaggeration of what we sowed. I know this to be true.

I have been careless to sow some unrighteous seeds in my lifetime. Ideas were birthed in private, in my thought life. No one even knew but me that such thoughts existed. Eventually, these thoughts germinated, took on a life of their own, and I began to act on them. When I finally reaped the consequences, it seemed that I was living in a firestorm. “How could this little thing cause so much trouble,” I wondered? 

The dynamics are the same when I sow godly seeds. When God has graciously worked through my hands to extend an act of love on His behalf, it has often come back to bless me tenfold. Showing compassion to a young kid in seminary can yield a strategic opportunity two decades later.  What I’ve prayed for was realized but compounded in implications.  I’ve seen this principle work time after time. 

The question we face today is this ~ “What kind of whirlwind do we want to experience?” Having experience two kinds of whirlwinds, I can tell you which kind appeals to me.

I have finally come to cherish the things God births. In the womb of His Spirit, these seeds are watered through prayer before they materialize. But oh, the ripple effects. God gets so much mileage out of a single act of obedience. Each one is as a river that breaks off to form many tributaries. Living Water flows out in multiple directions and brings eternal life to whatever it touches.

Little is much when Your hand touches it. I commit this day to You. Multiply righteous seeds, Father. In Jesus’ name, Amen 

WHY BOTHER CRYING!

They did not cry out to Me with their heart when they wailed upon their beds. Hosea 7:14 

Is God compassionate?  And is He moved enough by my pain to alleviate it? Yes, but perhaps not right away.  My hope is deferred more often than not.  But, oftentimes, God waits to see what kind of tears I’ll cry.  Before you conclude that I am maligning God’s character, consider today’s scripture with me. 

I live in a world that is governed by the laws of sowing and reaping. Whatever I sow will generate consequences. If I live righteously, there will be blessing. If I sin, there will be painful repercussions. Given enough pain, tears will begin to fall and they’ll reflect many emotions.  They may be angry.  

Many times, I was mad at God for letting me down, or so I thought at the time.  Tears were rooted in self-pity. I wanted God’s sympathy for my plight though my choices dictated it. The fact that I cried about it was not what was most important to God.  Believers and unbelievers alike, weep when their discomfort is great. 

God’s issue with Israel was that their tears did not cause them to seek Him. The reason for their weeping was to get relief, not restoration with the One they had sinned against. 

Obviously, all pain is not self-inflicted. But sometimes it is. It’s the kind generated by rebellion.  God is most concerned about our heart’s response.  He longs to bless us, longs to restore, but He can’t do that without a child who humbly cries out for His help. Hot, angry tears against our prison bars, or even against ourselves, are not the kind that unlocks doors to a new beginning. 

“Why are you crying?”  That’s what You ask Your child.  And if it’s because of disobedience, may I answer like this ~ “Because I hurt You by what I did.” Amen 

I would redeem them but they speak lies against me. They do not cry to Me from their heart when they wail on their beds. Hosea 7:13-14 

I want every place of pain in my life redeemed, don’t you? I don’t want the tragedies to remain tragedies. With God’s supernatural touch, they can be transformed and turned for good in front of my very eyes. But, there is a qualification for redemption. It’s this. It is cooperative. I must believe and expect. God is then released to work on my behalf. My internal language of prayer must be of a faith vernacular. 

How do I cooperate then? God says something critical that should catch my attention. “I would redeem them but they speak lies against me.” As soon as I recall the litany of hopeless chatter that used to exit my mouth, I recognize the lies. I had not set a watch over my tongue, taking every thought captive before it turned into words. 

This is just hopeless. It will never turn around. 

God can’t forgive this, not this. 

How dare God let this happen to me! He’s doesn’t love me. 

I know God is supposed to be powerful, but even this is too much for Him to do. 

As long as these words defined my lack of faith, I did not know redemption. It’s often interesting to paraphrase a converse of Scripture. While it isn’t always successful, today I believe it is. So, consider this. “I will redeem them if they speak the truth about me.” Ah, this has the ring of other scriptures, does it not? Before I lay on my bed and wail because I feel I deserve better, or wail because I believe God is anemic, let me consider the acceptable alternative. I can remember that I am not God.

My perceptions and beliefs do not define reality. God’s words do and I will speak words of faith that declare the riches of His character and the power that rests in His right hand. Then and only then, can I await my promised redemption. 

If I’m going to cry, let me cry for the joy of You. Let the tears fall for being privileged enough to live amidst the wonder of Your many redemptions. Amen 

So Ephraim has become like a silly dove, without sense; they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria. When they go, I will spread My net over them; I will bring them down like the birds of the sky. I will chastise them in accordance with the proclamation to their assembly. Hosea 7:11-12 

When Hosea writes, he is generous with word pictures. He suggests that God’s people have become frantic, like birds without direction. They fly here and there for the a counterfeit nest that will give them a sense of wellbeing. They actually believe that their wanderings can escape God’s notice. They reason that if they turn a blind eye to God, God must turn a blind eye to them. God is clear about this falsehood. He is going to spread His net over them. He reminds them, through the mouth of Hosea, that they will be disciplined. 

Why is it that we are tempted to fly to Egypt? When we are without direction, you’d think that we would seek God first. Yet, we go back to what we once knew. The ways of Egypt of are so ingrained in our fallen nature that we go there by default. It feels comfortable, even though our spirit warns us that we’re going the wrong way. 

It would be wrong to keep this devotional broad so as not to make the point clear. So allow me to personalize it. When pressures come, I can feel frantic for relief. And since temptation always starts with a need, the enemy comes with suggestions for quick ways out of pain. He tempts me to think the way I used to think, indulge in activities that used to be narcotics in my old way of life. He would want to lead me away from God, toward swift fixes. The problem is, I know too much. It’s not the past.  I have a lot of Scripture in me. I’ve been well fed, and I know better. 

Today, Egypt will glitter in the distance. When I feel the battle in my thought life, I will be tempted to visit a landscape I have no business entering. Disbelief, anger, revenge, hopelessness – all these beckon me. Let me be as a bird with clear direction and fly North. True North. 

I fly to You, Lord, for You wait to receive me. Egypt does not compare with the pleasures at Your right hand. You are worth all sacrifices I have to make. Amen 

Aliens have devoured his strength, but he does not know it; yes, gray hairs are here and there on him, yet he does not know it. And the pride of Israel testifies to his face, but they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek Him for all this. Hosea 7:8-10 

Self-awareness is one of the keys to success. We must know how others experience us. We must ask God to consistently reveal our blind spots. Otherwise, we will be like these Israelites. They were void of strength but saw themselves as powerful. They were weak but feigned virility. They spurned their need for God yet believed themselves to be in His favor. 

Blind spots are frightening. Have you ever had dinner with a small group and thought, “Boy, he talks a lot, but he doesn’t seem to know it.” Everyone at the table is polite and gives him their attention. Happy in the spotlight, he talks all the more and is unaware of how he is being experienced. Or perhaps you are part of an intimate Bible Study and one member of your circle is negative. Everyone there is braced for her arrival, knowing the atmosphere will change as soon as she enters the room. She, also, is unaware of herself. She does not see that she is toxic to the environment of vibrant fellowship. 

Anytime we think we are one thing but actually another, we walk in the shoes of these Israelites. Hosea prayed for them and perhaps others are praying for us, that we would come to know a certain truth about ourselves that is hidden when we look in the mirror. There can be terror at the thought of knowing ourselves as we really are. Is there really no good thing in us without Jesus? That is the essence of the Gospel. We come to Christ eaten away with spiritual cancer. No part of us is exempt from the ravages of sin. Intuitively, we do know the truth but run from it.   In spite of this, I was still created in the image of God.  His beauty if also in my DNA.

Oh, that we would embrace the art of self-awareness and see our depravity. It is only then that we plunge into the depths of Christ and covet the robes of righteousness that he offers to put around our shoulders. We must not wallow in the fact that we are undeserving. Let us seize the gift of His love and celebrate the fact that Christ’s transforming power has come to live within us. Perfect love casts out all fears of marred images in the looking glass. 

Show me myself and just why You had to give Your life for me. Amen 

All their kings fall, and none of them calls on me. Hosea 7:7 

Each of us groans under the effects of the fall. Believers and non-believers suffer alike but some never call on God. They cry tears, but only tears looking for relief. There is no introspection. No lessons learned. Tragically, they just stiffen their resolve to survive somehow. There is no other choice for those who don’t know Jesus. It’s the best they can do.

God invites me to share in the suffering of His Son.  Because His trials had meaning, mine can too.  I was created to reveal the glory of God and His light can shine through me even on the darkest days.  When glory is revealed against the backdrop of tragedy, the Gospel is on full display and Jesus can be seen. I show others that the joy of being His, the joy of His companionship, and the assurance that my pain has a purpose, is far more weighty than the burden.   

Today, some will suffer the unfair accusations of others. They will either be eaten away with the anger of injustice, or they will choose to understand Jesus more when they remember that He was falsely accused and accepted it humbly – all for us. Today, others will watch a loved one wither away with cancer and the loss will either cripple them or cause them to more fully embrace the joy that life is eternal. Death is the doorway to abundant life, not a tragic ending. Today, a parent’s heart will break over path of a rebellious child. They will be tempted to disown their own son or daughter, or they will choose to explore the truth of their own past rebellion against God. They will trace, once again, His never- ending supply of mercy. 

With each cross comes a choice. Meaningless suffering – or the chance to find the heart and purposes of God in our tears. For any of us who endeavor to discover the latter, our pain will be bittersweet ~ bitter enough to lament but sweet enough to radiate hope in our tears.

Meet me with mercy in the fire. Amen 

Their hearts are like an oven as they approach their plotting. Their anger smolders all night, in the morning it burns like a flaming fire. Hosea 7:6 

The keeper of the fire must stoke the coals to keep them alive. The embers need to be hot, ready for the job of baking the morning bread. There will be no fire without someone fiddling with the coals. The message is clear. No person commits a sin without forethought. 

Every sin begins as a seed. For it to grow from a thought to an external action, the idea must reside on the back burner of our minds. We will nurture it. It will be turned over and over in our heads, the place we think we can indulge safely.  But, the heat of the coals is being preserved and fire will not be far away. 

This concept is the very one Paul talked about in I Corinthians regarding ‘burning lust.’ If we nurture lust in our thought life, it is already a lighted fuse. 

How can we be protected from fire?  By taking every thought captive. Our minds are a battlefield. Not far away from us, Satan’s minions have pitched their tent. He strategizes, trying to discern what ideas he can pitch to us that will be so attractive and so familiar to our DNA that we believe they originated with us. Once embraced, they take on a life of their own. Satan loves to be our companion as we tend the coals. 

Ah, but there’s another fire I much prefer tending. Deep inside my spirit, the Spirit of God invites me to stoke the fires of righteousness. How much better for me to discern His thoughts, choose to think on the things He suggests, and ask Him to stir the embers. The fire of a consecrated thought life is sure to burst into flames.  

Thank You for passion, for consuming me. Your tent is my home. Amen 

What can I do with you, Judah? Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears. Hosea 6:4 

It is confusing to experience fickle behavior from a friend. One moment their eyes may be framed with concern, the next, they are unmoved by our plight. Not being able to predict which ‘friend’ we will encounter, our heart cannot fully rest. We are on guard when sharing our thoughts and feelings.

Many have been raised by parents whose behavior was unpredictable. Happy one day, but unavailable emotionally the next. The children lived anxious and unsure of themselves As adults, they somehow perceive that God is fickle, too. They have a difficult time relaxing in His love. They believe that He has two faces and will change without provocation.

God stays the same. We are the ones who change. God knows all too well that we are the fickle ones. Yet, He is not reserved with us. He is like a lover who shares Himself with abandon, hoping for the best. When the outcome is warm and affectionate, He is satiated. When we regard Him with disinterest or level unfair accusations at Him, He continues to pursue us anyway even though His heart is left longing. That God would make Himself vulnerable to the likes of you and me seems ludicrous, yet that is how much He values companionship. He planned our birth, watched our development, and waited for the day when we would look up and say, “You love me and You proved it. I am Yours!” 

Dew appears in the morning when the day is new, but with a little heat it dissipates. May my love for God be unlike the dew.  It needs to survive my own fears, circumstances that would seem to implicate His unfairness, and the heat of fiery trials.  I want to love Him as He loves me ~ all the time, no matter what.

Mature my love.  Amen