Tag Archives: Hosea

Is that really what you want me to do? January 1, 2018

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Bible Reading Plan – www.Bible-Reading.com; The Story, Chapter 15; You Version Bible app Engaging God’s Story Reading Plan Days 99 through 105

Welcome back to our study of The Story, God’s plan to restore us to a face-to-face relationship with Him. If you’ll remember, we have been walking through His word looking at the four movements that permeate the Bible. His word opens with His face-to-face relationship with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden as He walked with them in the cool of the day. They gave up the right to see Him face-to-face when they disobeyed His command to avoid eating from the tree in the middle of the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

From that day forward, God has put in place a plan to bring us back into fellowship with Him. He built a special nation, Israel, to point us to Him and show us how to live in community together and with Him. This is the second movement in God’s story. The nation failed to live up to their side of the covenant God made with them, though, and went into exile in 598 BC and became a vassal of Babylonia. It didn’t become a self-governing nation again until 1948 when Israel’s borders were recognized after World War II. During the intervening 2500 years it fell under the auspices of some other nation’s rule.

The third movement comes in the form of a baby born to a teenage girl in a little village called Bethlehem. He would be called the King of kings and Lord of lords because He is God incarnate. The very Son of God foretold by the prophets centuries earlier. He was part of the Father’s plan to bring us back into that face-to-face relationship God desperately desires to restore with us.

The fourth movement in the story heralds the beginning of the church, the instrument that continues to share the message that God so loved the world that anyone who believes in Jesus as the Son of God would be saved and have everlasting life with Him in His perfect garden. We are part of that fourth movement and have the responsibility of sharing that message. The kingdom has come and we are to share the message with those around us.

The final movement of God’s story tells us of a restored relationship. A new heaven and new earth. A place where the redeemed will live in harmony with God and with each other because there will be no death, no pain, no sickness, no sin, no evil. It will be a perfect place. The place Jesus talks about as the place He is preparing for us to take all those who believe in Him when He returns to take us to be with Him.

So that is the story and today we look at Chapter 15 and what a strange story this is if seen only from our lower story point of view. The book of Hosea would make a terrible B-rated movie. The prophet hears a voice tell him to go marry a prostitute named Gomer.

Well, the first thing I think of when I hear the name, I think of Gomer Pyle from the Andy Griffith show. A little dumber than dirt and always in trouble. Probably not far from the truth in this marriage making idea that comes to Hosea, you might be thinking. But Gomer is a girl, a prostitute. But Hosea hears the voice and heads to the local corner where the call girls hang out. He waits for Gomer to walk by and flutter her eyelids at him, but instead of asking how much, He asks her to marry him. Now that’s a proposition she probably hasn’t heard before. Surprisingly, Gomer marries the prophet.

Things don’t change for Gomer, though. Prophets don’t make much money and she missed the baubles and trinkets her clients gave her. So it isn’t long before she looks up her pimp and goes back to work.

A few months or a few years go by and God tells Hosea to go get Gomer back. Here is that upper story at work again that we just don’t understand. From the lower story, it just doesn’t make sense. We would tell Hosea to cut his losses and run as fast and far away from this prostitute as he can and find a sweet girl with a few morals if he wants to keep his reputation as a holy prophet intact. But God tells Hosea to go back to the red light district and get Gomer back.

Can you imagine the look on her face when she hears the knock on her door expecting another of her clients, opens the door, and sees Hosea on his knees begging her to come back home? She goes reluctantly but still plays the harlot even when she goes back home. Hosea pleads with her more to give up her life of prostitution.

The lower story seems crazy to us. We see a prophet ruining his life chasing after this promiscuous woman. He has two children with her and even their names teach us what a terrible tragedies their marriage held. Their names meant God-scattered and unpitied, Jezreel and Lo-Ruhamah. Kids often live up to their names. How would you like to be Hosea’s kids growing up in their suburb of Jerusalem?

We don’t know the final outcome of Hosea’s marriage. We don’t know if Gomer ever straightened her life out or not. From the tone of the story and the message Hosea gives Israel, it doesn’t sound like it. You see, God used this unlikely lower story to share His upper story with His chosen people and all the nations who would hear about Hosea from that day on. He used Hosea’s life as an example of His indescribable love for us. A love that wants to rescue us from the deepest darkest sins and bring us back into His loving arms. A love that even when we run away from Him, He works diligently to bring us back and restore our relationship with Him.

Too often, like Gomer, we turn our eyes back to the old life and run away from God. We just won’t let Him care for us and provide for us the way He desires. Instead we turn to the pimp of the world thinking that life that leads to our ultimate destruction is more attractive. But like Gomer’s life, filled with temporary glitter and one night stands, it only leads to heartache and death.

We see again in these unlikely characters a lower story that seems to lead to No-wheres-ville. How could God ever use this mess in His march to bring us back to Him. But then in His upper story, we see His plan of redemption unfolding as He seeks the restoration of Israel through the demonstration of this prophet’s unusual life story. God wants us back. God chases us to redeem us. But we still have the final choice to make.

Did Gomer stay with Hosea and live happily ever after? We are not told. I’d like to think so, but we don’t know for sure. She may have wandered back to her life of prostitution. Or she may have straightened out her life and been faithful to Hosea the rest of their lives together. I doubt if it was a happily ever after in either case. The consequences of Gomer’s lifestyle would have continued to follow her through her married life with the snide remarks, the whispered gossip, the sly glances. Life for them as a couple would never be normal.

But God can do something so much better for us. Like Gomer, we may still suffer some of the consequences of the sins we commit before we decide to follow God, but He promises us everlasting life in His perfect garden when we follow Him. He tells us as His followers we will one day live walk with again face-to-face. What a great time that will be.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more about The Story and our part in it. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Extend a little mercy (Matthew 12:7-8) March 13, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – 1 Corinthians 5-6

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 12:7-8
Do you not understand what the prophet Hosea recorded, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice”? If you understood that snippet of Scripture, you would not condemn these innocent men for ostensibly breaking the law of the Sabbath. For the Son of Man has not only the authority to heal and cast out demons, He also has authority over the Sabbath.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Jesus points back to a peculiar prophet. God told Hosea to demonstrate His words through actions that all of Israel would understand. God told Hosea to marry a prostitute who then ran away from him and went back to her long list of lovers. But Hosea went after her and brought her home. Hosea graphically showed us God’s incredible love for us and His attempts to bring us back into His fold through Hosea’s actions with his wayward wife.

One of the outcomes of Hosea’s demonstration was the realization that God shows mercy to His children. He is more interested in mercy than the rituals we go through year after year and day after day to try to please Him. It’s not those rituals that He wants. He wants our love, He wants us to show others grace and mercy just as He shows us grace and mercy. He wants a relationship with us.

One of the things necessary to build a relationship with God is obedience. And one of the things He demands of us is mercy to others. Because He shows us mercy, we should show mercy to others, something the Pharisees seemed to have in short supply. They were ready to condemn Jesus’ disciples for being hungry and eating a few grains of wheat on the Sabbath. Their rules said you couldn’t harvest on the Sabbath and the disciples act of running their hand across a ripe stalk of wheat growing in the field and eating those few grain, they considered harvesting.

Now, you and I would probably think about harvesting as cutting down the whole field then thrashing the wheat to separate the grain from the chaff. We would think about that kind of work as a harvest activity, not the simple act of running your hand across one or two stalk to get a few grains to satisfy your immediate needs. But the Pharisees carried their rules and regulations to extreme. They put limits on even the simplest of activities. The distance you could walk on the Sabbath. The maximum weight of any object you could lift. The types of activities in which you could participate. The preparation of meals allowed and disallowed. The type of food you could eat. The clothes you could wear. They tried to control every aspect of life.

It was bad in Hosea’s day and got continually worse. God reminded His people through His prophet that He wanted them to give each other mercy. Don’t be so hard fast with rules that you forget people are involved. Don’t forget the mercy He showed you when you broke His rules and failed to obey the commands He gave you. Remember, all of us have sinned. All of us fail in our attempts to reach God in His glory. Yet He extends His mercy to us. We should extend mercy to those around us in the same way.

God instituted the ritual sacrifices to point out the necessity of coming to Him to ask forgiveness for our sins. He pointed out through those rituals that He is God and we are not. He deserves our worship and He extends His mercy to us. He reminds us the consequence of sin is death and the price demanded takes the life of the animal sacrificed in the rituals that remind us of that consequence. God gave His people those rituals as reminders of the awful justice that sin demands, but He extends His mercy to us when we follow Him. As His children, He forgives and substituted first animals and then Himself as the price for our sins.

Can we do anything short of showing the same mercy to those around us who fail to meet the standards that we hold? Does that mean we condone bad behavior? Absolutely not! No more than God condones bad behavior. But we can learn to forgive. We can show mercy and demonstrate God’s love to others. We can show others how to extend grace and in so doing, bring them into the knowledge of God. We can introduce them to the One who brings hope and joy and life to a world of hopelessness and death.

The people around Jesus that day didn’t listen to Hosea and many of them didn’t listen to Jesus. Unfortunately, it’s the same today. But the few that will listen and understand, find His peace, the legacy He left behind. They find His joy, His love, His life coursing through their veins. All it takes is trusting in Him and following His commands.

Extend a little mercy today. You’ll be surprised at the difference it will make in you.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Experts in following God (Hosea 14; Hebrews 5), July 8, 2015

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Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Hosea 14; Hebrews 5

Set – Hosea 14; Psalms 102; Hebrews 5

Go! – Hosea 13–14; Psalms 100,102; Hebrews 5

Hosea 14; Hebrews 5
1 Return, Israel, to the Eternal, your True God.
You’ve stumbled because of your wickedness.
2 Think about what to say, and come back to the Eternal One.
Say to Him, “Forgive all our sins, and take us back again.
Bring us into Your good grace so we can offer You praise and sacrifice,
the fruit of our lips.
3 We admit that Assyria can’t save us, nor can riding horses and chariots into battle.
We’ll never again say to idols made with our own hands, ‘You’re our gods!’
We know You’re merciful because You take care of orphans.”
4 Eternal One: I’ll heal their apostate hearts so they won’t turn away from Me again;
I’ll love them freely because I won’t be angry with them anymore.
5 I’ll be like dew that waters Israel. She’ll blossom like the lily.
She’ll put down roots like the stable cedars of Lebanon;
6 She’ll send out shoots until her beauty is like the olive tree
and her fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon.
7 The people will return from exile and sit in My shade once again;
they’ll flourish like grain; they’ll send out shoots like the vine.
And their fame will be like the wine of Lebanon.
8 Ephraim, what do I have in common with deaf and blind idols?
I’m the One who responds to your pleas and cares for you.
I’m like a flourishing juniper tree; I provide life year-round.
9 The wise will understand these things;
the perceptive will know them.
For everything the Eternal One does is right,
and the righteous follow His ways.
But those who turn against Him will stumble along His path.

1Remember what I said earlier about the role of the high priest, even the ones chosen by human beings? The job of every high priest is reconciliation: approaching God on behalf of others and offering Him gifts and sacrifices to repair the damage caused by our sins against God and each other. 2 The high priest should have compassion for those who are ignorant of the faith and those who fall out of the faith because he also has wrestled with human weakness, 3 and so the priest must offer sacrifices both for his sins and for those of the people. 4 The office of high priest and the honor that goes along with it isn’t one that someone just takes. One must be set aside, called by God, just as God called Aaron, the brother of Moses.
5 In the same way, the Anointed One, our Liberating King, didn’t call Himself but was appointed to His priestly office by God, who said to Him,
You are My Son.
Today I have become Your Father,[a]
6 and who also says elsewhere,
You are a priest forever—
in the honored order of Melchizedek.

7 When Jesus was on the earth, a man of flesh and blood, He offered up prayers and pleas, groans and tears to the One who could save Him from death. He was heard because He approached God with reverence. 8 Although He was a Son, Jesus learned obedience through the things He suffered. 9 And once He was perfected through that suffering He became the way of eternal salvation for all those who hear and follow Him, 10 for God appointed Him to be a High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.
11 I have a lot more to say about this, but it may be hard for you to follow since you’ve become dull in your understanding. 12 By this time, you ought to be teachers yourselves, yet I feel like you want me to reteach you the most basic things that God wants you to know. It’s almost like you’re a baby again, coddled at your mother’s breast, nursing, not ready for solid food. 13 No one who lives on milk alone can know the ins and outs of what it means to be righteous and pursue justice; that’s because he is only a baby. 14 But solid food is for those who have come of age, for those who have learned through practice to distinguish good from evil.

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

Too many people learn their life lessons through intense suffering. Unfortunately, More never learn life lessons at all because they just never take the time to figure out what got them into the mess they find themselves. The passages you heard from Hosea and Hebrews points out the importance of stopping and reflecting on where you are in life and what your goals are for the coming years.

The Israelites finally woke up and discovered the enemy at their door was a result of their abandonment of Me. They forgot how they came to this land in the first place. Finally, they listen to My prophets, came to their senses and began to pray. When they did, I listened.

The writer of Hebrews brings his readers to the same conclusion in the verses you heard today. Too many of My followers content themselves with dabbling in My word. Just getting enough of Me to satisfy their guilty conscience but never delving into the riches I have for you. I want you to grow up. I want you to tackle the meat in My word. I want you to study what I tell you.

Learning about Me is different than knowing Me. Think back to your school days. Until you dug into your school work and began to put all of those elementary skills to work building on each other, you couldn’t compose sentences or paragraphs or ideas into meaningful essays. You couldn’t get beyond adding simple numbers or understand how higher math could ever be useful in life. But ask a mechanical engineer about calculus and how he uses it to test the tensil strength of materials. He’ll tell you the importance of the math he learned years ago.

Some have said it takes 10,000 hours of active practice to become an expert in any skill. Have you given 10,000 hours to the active practice of seeking and following Me? That doesn’t mean just saying you’re a Christian or going to church. That means active practice – studying, praying, seeking Me with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

You don’t have to say anything, we both know the answer. Is it time to work toward becoming an expert in following Me? There’s no time like the present to start.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Prepare the soil (Hosea 12), July 7, 2015

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Hosea 12

Set – Hosea 12; Psalms 73; Hebrews 4

Go! – Hosea 10–12; Psalms 73; Hebrews 4

Hosea 12
1 Eternal One: Ephraim feeds on the wind.
He chases the hot east wind all day long.
He’s becoming more and more deceitful and violent.
They’ve abandoned their covenant to make an alliance with Assyria,
trading oil for favor from Egypt.
2 The Eternal has charges to bring against Judah;
He’ll punish the nation of Jacob for the way he’s acting
and pay him back for the things he’s done.
3 Even from the womb, he fought with his brother by grabbing his heel;
when he grew to be an adult, he struggled against God.
4-5 He wrestled with a heavenly messenger and won;
he wept and begged for his help.
It was the Eternal, the Commander of heavenly armies, who met him at Bethel;
the Eternal Himself spoke with him there; the Eternal One is His memorial name.
6 So you must return to your God, maintain loyalty and justice,
and wait patiently for your God.
7 Like Canaan, Israel is a merchant who uses dishonest scales—
he loves to cheat people!
8 Ephraim gloats, “I’ve gotten rich! I’ve made a fortune for myself!
And in all my dealings no one can charge me with iniquity and dishonesty.”
9 Eternal One: I’m the Eternal One; I’ve been your True God ever since you left Egypt.
I’m going to make you live in tents again,
As you do in remembrance during the Feast of Tabernacles.
10 Eternal One: I’ve spoken to the prophets; I’ve given them many visions,
and I’ve told you parables through them.
11 Because Gilead is so wicked, it is worthless.
They sacrifice bulls at the cultic center of Gilgal,
But their altars will be heaps of stone next to a plowed field.
12 Jacob fled to the fields of Aram;
Israel worked for Laban in exchange for a wife;
to pay the bride-price, he shepherded Laban’s flocks.
13 But the Eternal One led Israel out of Egypt by a prophet;
Moses, God’s own prophet, kept the people safe.
14 But now Ephraim has made his Lord furious, and this is His judgment:
God will punish him for the blood he’s shed
and pay him back for his defiance.

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

Farmers always expect a harvest. Can you imagine what it would be like to be a farmer but not expect a harvest from the work you put into the crops? You prepare the fields each winter and spring. You spend days and weeks fertilizing, plowing, checking the soiling and making sure it is ready for planting. Then you carefully plant seeds into freshly plowed ground to ensure the best crop possible for a good harvest when the fruit is ripe on the stalks.

You water, weed, fertilize during the season. You protect the crop from bugs, birds, and other animals that might destroy the crop before you can harvest it. Then the big day comes. The crop should be ripe. The harvest should be ready. But instead of a harvest, you have nothing. Can you imagine the heartbreak the farmer must feel? All year he has labored, but he has done so in vain. No farmer goes through that labor without expecting a harvest. He always expects to reap what he has sown.

Life is like that. You reap what you sow. If you sow good deads, in time you will reap a harvest of good. But if you sow evil deeds, in time you will reap evil. Your harvest will reflect the seeds you planted and labored so diligently to grow. So I have a few questions for you along the metaphor of the farmer and his crop.

Have you planted the right seeds? Have you planted good deeds and a righteous life or evil? Let’s assume you are planting good deeds, or trying to.

Are you working diligently on the preparation of the soil before you plant the seeds and after the seeds are planted? Too many think just planting the seed is sufficient to make a bountiful harvest grow. What they find instead is just planting a seed will often result in a scrawny plant.

Pay attention to the preparation of your own soil and in the place you plant the seeds of good deeds. Fertilize the soil of your life and the lives of others with prayer. Plow the field with My word, a sharp sword that can divide body and spirit. That dividing sword can be the plow that creates furrows in the mind and spirit and prepares the heart for the seed being planted.

Once seeds of good deeds are planted, care for them. Water them with My spirit. The evidence of My can be found in its fruit – unconditional love, joy, peace, patience, kindheartedness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Remove the weeds that come from the world’s interference.

Take care of the seeds of good deeds you plant in others and prepare the soil well. Then care for the field. When you do, you will see a bountiful harvest in yourself and in others. 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Come back, stay faithful (Hosea 2:2-20), July 5, 2015

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Hosea 2:14–23

Set – Hosea 2; Hebrews 2

Go! – Hosea 2–5; Hebrews 2

Hosea 2:14-23
14 But once she has nothing, I’ll be able to get through to her.
I’ll entice her and lead her out into the wilderness where we can be alone,
and I’ll speak right to her heart and try to win her back.
15 And then I’ll give her back her vineyards;
I’ll turn the valley of Achor, that “Valley of Trouble,”
into a gateway of hope.
In the wilderness of exile she’ll learn to respond to Me
the way she did when she was young, when I brought her out of Egypt.
16 And I swear when that day comes, she’ll call Me “my husband” and never address Me again as “my master” as she did those other gods. 17 She’ll never invoke the name of any other master again.
Everyone will forget that gods by that name ever existed. 18 When that day comes, this is what I’ll do for My people: I’ll make a covenant for them with the wild animals and flying birds and crawling insects, and they’ll agree never to devour her crops again. I’ll smash all the bows and swords and weapons that could be used to invade their land, and they’ll live in security.
(to His reclaimed bride) 19 I’m going to marry you, and this time it’ll be forever in righteousness and justice. Our covenant will reflect a loyal love and great mercy; 20 our marriage will be honest and truthful, and you’ll understand who I really am—the Eternal One.
21 And I swear that when that day comes
I’ll answer the sky and prayers for rain,
and the sky will give the land the water it’s asking for.
22 And the land will give the grain and wine and oil the fertile soil they need to develop,
and the crops will shout back to Me, “God sows!”
23 I won’t just restore the agricultural abundance;
I’ll sow into My beloved land and plant the people in the land and make them My own.
To the one who has not been shown mercy,
I’ll rename her Mercy.
I’ll tell Not My People, “You are now My People!”
and he’ll respond, “You’re my God!”

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

You might remember Hosea’s story. I asked him to marry a harlot as an example of how My children treated Me. Hosea’s wife ran off to other men instead of being faithful to her husband, but he goes to her and brings her back home despite her unfaithfulness. The poetry in the prophecy tell of his actions to win her back. Hosea tried everything he could to keep her faithful to him. He gave her his love and remained faithful to her even though she was unfaithful to him.

My children treat Me like Hosea’s wife treated him too often. I give you blessings and you don’t appreciate them. I give you My love and you chase after worldly things instead. I protect you, provide for you, help you, teach you, yet you throw My love away and give yourself to meaningless activities and throw yourself to whatever will give you temporary pleasure instead of aspiring to develop lasting relationships with Me.

How is it that you can read history and know what happens to those who oppose Me and still continue on the path you take? How can you continue to defy Me when you see that in the end only a relationship with Me will last? How can you chase after the things of the world when you see the evidence time and again that those things only lead to your destruction?

It was difficult for Me to use Hosea as an example for the Israelites. I knew the heartbreak he would feel as his wife deserted him and ran off after other men. I knew the tears he would shed because of her deceit after all he did to provide for her. I knew the anguish Hosea would experience because of the rejection he felt from the one he loved.

I knew Hosea would experience these things because I experience them when one of My children, one of My creation, reject Me despite the love I give them. I do everything I can to reach to you, yet you run away from Me. I give you My love, even to the point of sacrificing Myself on the cross to redeem you, still you turn from Me and follow your own path. I love you with a love that reaches deeper than your vilest sin. All I ask is that you return to Me and be a faithful bride.

Like Hosea, I will take you as you are. But I won’t let you remain in your sin. I won’t let you continue to return to your unfaithful ways. I won’t allow you to continue to reject Me forever. I love you, but I remain holy. I cannot live in the presence of sin. It must be blotted out. I made provision for you so your sins can be blotted out. I died for you for just that reason.

Perhaps remembering Hosea’s story will help you understand how I feel when you run from Me. I want you with Me. Come back to Me. I’ll accept you as you are and help you remain faithful if you will work with Me.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.