Who Would You Choose?

Hosea continued...

Scripture:
Hosea 8:1-4 (ESV)

Set the trumpet to your lips!
    One like a vulture is over the house of the Lord,
because they have transgressed my covenant
    and rebelled against my law.
To me they cry,
    “My God, we—Israel—know you.”
Israel has spurned the good;
    the enemy shall pursue him.

They made kings, but not through me.
    They set up princes, but I knew it not.
With their silver and gold they made idols
    for their own destruction.

Devotional:

We elect leaders all the time.  As kids we pick team captains.  Clubs pick someone to be the club president or leader.  We have CEOs that run businesses. Board members are chosen and elected.  Some nations even elect their leaders.  But how many of these “leaders” are chosen by God.  Let me put it this way. How often do we seek God in choosing someone to lead?  How often do we pray before selecting a leader for a business or country?  Do we look to see if that leader is a man or woman of God?  Do we verify that they live a life of integrity?  Most importantly, do we ask God about them? 

Israel chose leaders without seeking God and look where it got them.  They eventually went astray.  They abandoned God.  They turned to earthly means and other nations.  In the end nothing saved them.  There is only one who can save.  Do we have eyes on Him?  It doesn’t matter what you are doing.  In all things we need to place Christ first.  God needs to be in the forefront of all that we do and that includes choosing a team captain, CEO, or…  Finally is God first in your Life?

Who Do You Call?

Hosea continued...

Scripture:
Hosea 7:8-16 (ESV)

Ephraim mixes himself with the peoples;
    Ephraim is a cake not turned.
Strangers devour his strength,
    and he knows it not;
gray hairs are sprinkled upon him,
    and he knows it not.
The pride of Israel testifies to his face;
    yet they do not return to the Lord their God,
    nor seek him, for all this.

Ephraim is like a dove,
    silly and without sense,
    calling to Egypt, going to Assyria.
As they go, I will spread over them my net;
    I will bring them down like birds of the heavens;
    I will discipline them according to the report made to their congregation.
Woe to them, for they have strayed from me!
    Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me!
I would redeem them,
    but they speak lies against me.

They do not cry to me from the heart,
    but they wail upon their beds;
for grain and wine they gash themselves;
    they rebel against me.
Although I trained and strengthened their arms,
    yet they devise evil against me.
They return, but not upward;
    they are like a treacherous bow;
their princes shall fall by the sword
    because of the insolence of their tongue.
This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.

Devotional:

When invasions came and enemies approached Ephraim failed to turn to God.  They sought refuge, protection, and deliverance from other countries.  They did not turn to God.  Their reliance went elsewhere.   Today let us think about one thing.  When times of trouble comes who do you turn to?  Who is it that I turn to?  The obvious answer should be God.  Take a moment and reflect over the years in your life.  Think about all the times you had troubles or things didn’t go well.  How did you handle it?

I wish I could say that every time I had troubles in my life I cried out to God.  That God waved his hands and the troubles were gone.  The truth is that more times than I care to admit I tried to fix things myself and my way.  Only then did I turn to God and say, “I can’t fix it God.  What can you do?”  Sure, there are times when I turn to God first.  I start out by praying and crying out to Him.  As I grow older and hopefully wiser it happens more often and becomes a natural first step.  God doesn’t promise to take away our troubles, strife, and hardships.  He does promise to be with us.  He does promise to make us stronger if we allow Him to work in our lives. 

Israel turned away from her first love.  Israel suffered because of it.  Who do you turn to?  Who is your focus on?  Think of it like this.  Your car will not run and is in the middle of the street.  You can struggle and struggle to push your car down the block or to the side of the road. Around you are a few small kids who can help you push.  Three or four of you push and push. You struggle to move the car.  Off to the side of the road waiting and watching are a couple of large men.  They are obviously body builders who lift massive amounts of weight.  They could easily help you push the car down the road.  Do you struggle by yourself or possibly with the help of a few children?  Do you call to the side of the road and ask the body builders for help?

God is more than big enough, smart enough, wise enough to handle whatever comes your way.  Will you struggle on your own?  Will you call upon God?  The car gets pushed not teleported.  God will help you.  He will be there with you.  You do not have to go at it alone.  Do you go at it alone?  Who do you call?

Does God Remember?

Hosea continued...

Scripture:
Hosea 7:1-7 (ESV)

when I would heal Israel,
    the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed,
    and the evil deeds of Samaria,
for 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.
By their evil they make the king glad,
    and the princes by their treachery.
They are all adulterers;
    they are like a heated oven
whose baker ceases to stir the fire,
    from the kneading of the dough
    until it is leavened.
On the day of our king, the princes
    became sick with the heat of wine;
    he stretched out his hand with mockers.
For with hearts like an oven they approach their intrigue;
    all night their anger smolders;
    in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.
All of them are hot as an oven,
    and they devour their rulers.
All their kings have fallen,
    and none of them calls upon me.

Devotional:

How long do you remember the wrongs others have done to you?  How long do you hold it against them?  Here God is saying that He remembers the evils they did.  While the nation is wallowing in sin judgement comes.  “But they do not consider that I remember all their evil.”  God has a memory that does not fail.  He remembers everything.  He knows everything.  Israel has left her first and true love.  Her sin is great.  God’s judgement comes upon the people.  God also remembers us, and he remembers our sins.  He knows everything we have done.  His judgement awaits us.

I know what you are thinking.  ‘But wait, I thought God doesn’t remember our sins.  He casts them as far as the East is from the West…”  Well maybe you are right and maybe you are wrong.  My question to you is where is your faith?  Is Christ your savior?  Do you worship other gods?  Who is your first love?  If you think you don’t have to decide, guess again.  Indecision is a decision of omission.  Judgement comes to each of us.  If you stand on your own, you stand condemned in judgement.  If Christ is your savior, then God does cast your sins away and remembers them no more.  God chooses to forget.  So, do you want to stand as the Israelites did in Hosea?  Do you want God to remember?  Do you want to face God’s judgement?  Jesus is the way, the life, the truth.  Jesus faced and took on God’s judgement for you.  Because of what He has done we are redeemed.  We are cleansed and can be with God.  God wants our relationship with Him.  He wants us to believe.  Judgement comes regardless.  Does God remember, or did He forget?  You choose…

If We Turn To Him

Hosea Continued...

Scripture:
Hosea 6 (ESV)

“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 raise us up,
    that we may live before him.
Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord;
    his going out is sure as the dawn;
he will come to us as the showers,
    as the spring rains that water the earth.”

What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?

    What shall I do with you, O Judah?
Your love is like a morning cloud,
    like the dew that goes early away.
Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets;
    I have slain them by the words of my mouth,
    and my judgment goes forth as the light.
For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
    the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

But like Adam they transgressed the covenant;
    there they dealt faithlessly with me.
Gilead is a city of evildoers,
    tracked with blood.
As robbers lie in wait for a man,
    so the priests band together;
they murder on the way to Shechem;
    they commit villainy.

In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing;
    Ephraim's whoredom is there; Israel is defiled.

For you also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed.

When I restore the fortunes of my people,

Devotional:

A fallen people sent into exile.  They had forsaken the Lord and strayed.  God’s judgement would come, and the people of Israel would suffer the consequences of their actions and rejections.  We too have rejected God and His teachings.  Judgement will come.  Romans 14:11 “for it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.’”  Hosea 6 begins with “Come let us return to the Lord…”  We too can return to the Lord.  God will heal His people.  The beginning of the chapter refers to healing and restoration.  “…on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.”

Jesus died for our transgressions; judgement has been given.  We are guilty.  Romans also states that all have sinned, the wages of sin is death.  We have sin in our lives.  We will see death.  There is one hope.  Hosea 6 shares with us that there is healing, and a way will be provided.  Jesus came and He died.  But on the third day he arose from the dead bringing with Him new life.  Jesus took on our judgement.  If we turn to Him we will be saved.

He Is Waiting For Us

Hosea continued...

Scripture:
Hosea 5:11-15 (ESV)

Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment,
    because he was determined to go after filth.
But I am like a moth to Ephraim,
    and like dry rot to the house of Judah.
When Ephraim saw his sickness,
    and Judah his wound,
then Ephraim went to Assyria,
    and sent to the great king.
But he is not able to cure you
    or heal your wound.
For I will be like a lion to Ephraim,
    and like a young lion to the house of Judah.
I, even I, will tear and go away;
    I will carry off, and no one shall rescue.
I will return again to my place,
    until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face,
    and in their distress earnestly seek me.

Devotional:

Israel will be in distress, in exile, a conquered nation.  Israel will turn to other nations and people to help or rescue them.  It will not do any good.  God’s wrath and judgement will come to them.

How often do we seek something else?  For some when they get sick or hurt instead of going to the doctor, they find the self help cure.  We seek old remedies and look to others.  When our car breaks down, we try to fix it ourselves.  In some cases, we can find that essential oil or vitamin that can help. But there are times when you just must see the doctor.  Fixing your car is the same way.  Some people can do oil changes or replace breaks.  Some can even do more than that.  But unless you are a mechanic there comes a point when you just can’t fix it. 

We get these crazy ideas that we do not need God.  We think if my good outweighs my bad I am OK and good to go.  Some think salvation is in their own hands.  A belief that I do not need anyone, or anything is common.  The thought that there is nothing out there after death, there is no heaven or hell is dangerous and an effective tool for the enemy. 

The truth is that Jesus is the way the truth and life.  There is no other way into heaven.  We have no other options or choices.  Until we turn to Christ, we are just fooling ourselves.  Hosea 5:15 “I will return again to my place, until…”  It may seem that God has abandoned us.  We may seem alone.  God may have returned to His place.  But he has not abandoned us.  He is waiting for us “they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me.”  All we have to do is acknowledge Him.  We need to confess our sins.  We need to accept Christ as our Savior.  The truth is God hasn’t abandoned us or left us.  He is not going to force Himself upon us.  He will be there.  He will not abandon us.  He is just waiting for us to turn around…

Which Are You?

Hosea continued...

Scripture:

Hosea 5:1-7 (ESV)

Hear this, O priests!
    Pay attention, O house of Israel!
Give ear, O house of the king!
    For the judgment is for you;
for you have been a snare at Mizpah
    and a net spread upon Tabor.
And the revolters have gone deep into slaughter,
    but I will discipline all of them.

I know Ephraim,
    and Israel is not hidden from me;
for now, O Ephraim, you have played the whore;
    Israel is defiled.
Their deeds do not permit them
    to return to their God.
For the spirit of whoredom is within them,
    and they know not the Lord.

The pride of Israel testifies to his face;
    Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in his guilt;
    Judah also shall stumble with them.
With their flocks and herds they shall go
    to seek the Lord,
but they will not find him;
    he has withdrawn from them.
They have dealt faithlessly with the Lord;
    for they have borne alien children.
    Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.

Devotional:

“Hear this, O priest!”  Chapter five opens with God calling them.  He is grabbing their attention.  God is informing them & Israel that enough is enough.  They have strayed from Him.  They have taught falsely to the people and as a result been led astray.  God’s punishment is at hand.  God will judge the priests, and all who will lead His people astray. 

Those that lead and teach are held to a higher standard.  They will be severely dealt with.  2 Peter 2:1 (ESV):

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

Peter gives warning to those who would teach falsely.  Their destruction will be swift.  Throughout the Bible God gives warnings about false teaching and leading His people astray.  Today we have many false beliefs and teachings.  Christians are being led astray all the time.  Our enemy will give partial truths to weave his deception.  I see a lot of similarities from Israel before they were exiled and our society today.  We have false teachers. We have accepted lies as truth.  We have lost our first love, Christ. 

If we think we can skip judgement, or it will not happen to us we are mistaken.  Israel was the superpower of the day.  They were on top and didn’t think anything would happen to them.  Why do I think that?  Simple if they were seeking God first.  If they remembered their history, they would not have wandered from God.  Look at people you know and that are around you.  Believers who know they can fall or are in the middle of their own battles tend to cling closer to Christ.  Those who are on top of the world tend to forget they need God.  Which are you?  Do you need God, no matter where you are at in life?  Or are you on top of the world thinking you can do it yourself?  I know I do not want to be counted among the false teachers.  I do not want to be one who thinks I can do it.  I want my life to center around Christ.  I pray all that I share comes from Him.  I pray that my words are in fact His. 

This doesn’t mean we will not make mistakes or get something wrong.  We must focus on Jesus.  We need to take what other people teach us and compare it to what the Bible says.  Do not take what is taught for granted.  Verify and double check.  We can teach one another.  We can help one another.  We need to hold one another accountable.

Which are you?  Is God your focus?  Are you on top of the world and do not need anyone?  It must be lonely up there…  Again, which are you???