Finishing Up Hosea

As my friends and I took a couple of weeks off for vacations, this past Tuesday meant a hurried conclusion to Hosea. There is no way to plumb the depths of this book in only three to four weeks. Yet, the summer is flying away and here are the last few thoughts I had regarding this wonderful book of God's redeeming love.

In Hosea 12, we are told that Ephraim (the Northern Kingdom remnant of Israel) "feeds on wind, and pursues the east wind continually..." (verse 1) I've been refreshing my memory work of the book of James and the cross references in my Bible for this passage brought to mind a few correlations that I needed to see.

In Genesis 41:6 Pharaoh tells his dream to Joseph of an "east wind" that scorches the corn. James 1:9-11 plainly speaks of how the poor man "should glory in his high position and the rich man should glory in his humiliation". Why? Because just like the withering grass that the sun shrivels up with a scorching wind, "the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away". (see Flowering Grass, January 2013)

What am I chasing that when the chaff is all burned away, simply won't exist anymore? What treasure am I hoarding and where is it being stored? (see Matthew 6:20)

Hosea, for me, has been all about exposing the subtle idols that come between me and the radical, boundless, passionate pursuit of the Holy Creator who loves me. I am sad to say, there have been a lot that have risen to the surface. Just a few examples include pride, self-image, perception others have of me, media, use of time and the list goes on.

There has been a theme running through my life for the last eight or nine months and I chose to tune it out for most of those. Mark Batterson's All In deeply challenged me to dig in and find out why I've been in a season of hesitation. I've been getting some answers and the more days that pass, the message is getting clearer and much more difficult to ignore. Most of it comes back to my idols of comfort, self-image and fear of the unknown (aka lack of control). I can't keep pushing this aside though and today brought some very vivid clarification of what God's Spirit is calling me to. I'm not certain how much time I'll have to post over the next few days, so just know that I'm not trying to delay any sort of "big reveal".

No...He's showing me repeatedly, through multiple books, songs, sermons, and conversations that it's the little things that He's calling me to. I just need to take myself off the throne of my kingdom and let the King bring His Kingdom into my home, my neighborhood, my relationships and my heart...one moment...one action...one expression of obedient love at a time.

I guess you could say God is preparing me to be a "fool for Jesus". Radically following Him always looks foolish. I won't do it if I'm consumed with the opinions of others. Stop worrying what people think of me is a huge hurdle to overcome. I know it's only the beginning. And in the End, I have a man who married a prostitute and pursued her obediently, faithfully and passionately and didn't worry about what others thought of his reputation or how it "looked" to thank when I meet him someday.

Hosea 7

Verses 8 and 9 of this chapter in Hosea cause me to pause and reflect introspectively at how I have acclimated to the culture around me.

"Ephraim mixes himself with the nations;

Ephraim has become a cake not turned.

Strangers devour his strength,

Yet he does not know it..."

Ephraim, in this context, refers to what was left of the Northern Kingdom after most of them had been taken into captivity by Assyria. The final destruction of the Northern Kingdom happened 10 years after the original captivity began. Thus, Ephraim could also read, "what's left of the 10 tribes of Israel that separated from Judah and Benjamin."

I find it interesting, that much later in the life of Jesus, He stops in what had been the capital of this Northern Kingdom, Samaria, and whets the appetite of the soul of a Samaritan woman with His invitation to Living Water. I've always been taught that devout Jews in the time of Jesus would walk all the way around Samaria to avoid it because they were a blended race of people.

As Hosea indicates, it must not have been merely a physical blending. Spiritual blending and worship of idols, sacrifice to false gods and what God calls "harlotry" were all part of what occurred.

So here's the question I must ask:

In what ways have I blended with the culture around me and how does doing so devour my strength?

It's interesting that discussing this passage on Tuesday morning with my friends happened the morning after the exact same topic was discussed at the 7 book club I'm in. This month at book club the topic was the excess of media in our lives. I know for myself and most of the people around me, we just fell headlong into this cultural media takeover and never even blinked, let alone stopped to ask if it was how God wanted us to live and spend the precious little time He has given us.

Media has always been a stronghold in my life and to be honest, I've had enough. I long to meet with people...real live people. I know when I am with others and engaged in conversation that is meaningful, I do not sit there wondering, "What's on TV that I'm missing?", or "I wonder if my Castleville crops are ready?" or "What can we watch on Netflix tonight?" Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to give up media so I can have a cleaner house, fix fancier dinners or start sewing all of my own clothes. But what if letting go of most of my engagement with media meant that I spent more quality time with my spouse, my children and my friends? I think that's how God wanted me living all along.

But see...we've "mixed" ourselves. 

And we never even stopped to ask if the "mixing" was healthy or not.

I am not even glancing the surface of the people who are treated like slaves to create the devices we covet and waste money and time on. That is an entirely different topic. (And one worthy of your google research!) 

No...I'm simply talking about this thing called time. While it is absolutely true that we all have different talents and different treasures...we all stand equal with the measuring rod of time. How much of it are we engaging in Kingdom living, Kingdom pursuit and King worship?

One of my major theological issues over the years with Americanized Christianity is that most pastors will readily pull out the 10% tithe from the Old Testament and rally (aka bully) his flock into submission on this point. But...I have yet to ever hear one soul cry out, "Why aren't you giving God 10% of your time too?"

10% is 2.4 hours a day. Now...not counting church unless you're serving, because otherwise that is all about fueling you...when was the last time you wholeheartedly sought God for 2.4 hours a day?

I think the New Testament point is this: It's all God's so every moment should be focused on Him. [I would argue the same point about our money.]

So here's my struggle and one of the many idols God is trying to pry from my fingers...

What areas of my life have I allowed to be "mixed" to the point that looking like the rest of the culture devours my strength?

The biggie for me is media. It has zapped my creativity and sometimes dulled my conscience. There is no condemnation here, but I think it is worthy of a few moments of your time to stop and ask the question.

Hosea 4

 

 

I realized at this, the start of my third post on the book of Hosea, that I have yet to recommend that you read it. Here is a link to do so. The book is not very long and since I'm not commenting on each chapter, I don't want you to miss anything that God's Spirit may want to whisper to your heart.

 

 

In Hosea chapter 4, I found a few verses that may sound like someplace we all know:

 

"Listen to the word of the LORD, O sons of Israel,

For the LORD has a case against the inhabitants of the land,

Because there is no faithfulness or kindness

Or knowledge of God in the land.

There is swearing, deception, murder, stealing and adultery.

They employ violence, so that bloodshed follows bloodshed.

Therefore the land mourns,

And everyone who lives in it languishes..." (Hosea 4:1-3)

 

 

Hmmm? Sounds familiar if you live in the U.S., doesn't it? Again, as I said in my post on Hosea 2, there 'is nothing new under the sun'. But aside from all of the deception that people and businesses work out everyday and as horrific as the next story of a middle schooler attempting to kill someone is and even as unbelievable inane as the proposition that somehow more bloodshed will stymie bloodshed rather than producing more...the land mourns.

 

If you've been hanging out with me on here very long, you know my love for God's Creation. It doesn't take a climatologist, meteorologist or seismologist to educate you...if you just look...our land is mourning.

 

Sadly, this is not the worst of it though. No..."everyone who lives in it languishes."

 

We are a languishing people.

 

Why?

 

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." (Hosea 4:6a)

 

He's not talking Common Core or algebra in 4th grade or becoming a neuroscientist here. No...God goes on to say in that same verse that His people "have forgotten the law of your God."

 

Since I first read this a few days ago, my thoughts keep returning to Martin Luther and the Reformation away from the Catholic church. What started it? If you don't know this part of history, the "nutshell" version is that the church only allowed Holy Scriptures written in Latin which only some priests could read and comprehend. Luther translated the Bible into German, the common language of his people and when they read it for themselves, they discovered a personal God who loved them deeply and with a passionate fervor that they could not ignore.

 

Here's what this naturally leads me conclude...when we meet God's Spirit regularly over His Word and open our hearts and minds without reservation to what He wants to teach us...He just might begin a little reformation (aka revolution) in the midst of us.

 

If not...I know that at the very least...we won't be languishing. Any. More!

Hosea 2

As my friends and I go through this study of the Minor Prophets this summer, I hope to share some of the nuggets of truth, encouragement and Love that I glean throughout the passages. I may not find something in every chapter, but I anticipate God's Spirit being faithful to teach us a lot as we delve into His Word together.

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"For she does not know that it was I who gave her the grain,

the new wine and the oil,

And lavished on her silver and gold,

Which they used for Baal." (Hosea 2:8, NASB)

My New American Standard Bible tells me that "Baal" meant lord, owner, possessor or husband. He was the Canaanite god of fertility and the Israelites had forsaken Yahweh to follow this foreign god. To be truthful, God calls it "prostituting", "harlotry" and even "whoring". A wrote a little about this after we started our study last week, so I won't belabor the point.

What strikes me in this one small verse is that just as the author of Ecclesiastes states, there is nothing new under the sun...thousands of years after God prompted Hosea to write His Words to Israel, we still receive everything we have from Him and yet lavish so much of what He gives us on our idols.

No guilt here...but just take a few moments to let that sink in.

I'll try to put it into my Americanized version so that this can hit me right where it needs to: God provides a job, an income, another day and even another breath to serve Him and accomplish His purposes...and what do I turn around and pay homage to by using those gifts??

Is He at the forefront of every expenditure I make?

Do I even pause to ask if this is something I need or is it just fueling an addiction...an idol?

Is what I'm buying or even doing with my time glorifying Him or is it being used to glorify myself or another idol I've placed in His path?

I know...tough questions...and not ones that I like to ask. So what do I do with the answers to these questions? I know for myself, I'm asking Him to show me what exactly are the idols in my life. I'm guessing the second step will be to ask Him to help me get rid of them. 

I have to confess that I've been a little more than surprised by the things He's drawing my attention to that I've placed before Him. Honestly...they are very subtle. But just like the idol that provokes jealousy I can 'reverse engineer my emotions' and whatever keeps me afraid, jealous, vengeful or in a cycle of self-pity...those are precisely the idols I've placed before God.

This is not pretty. But it is work that needs to be done. God is cleaning house and I'm okay with that because I know the space He creates can be filled with more of Him!

Provoking Jealousy

When I started studying Hosea last week with some ladies at my local coffee shop, we talked a lot about harlotry/idolatry as God depicts our sin in Hosea 1. As I'm finishing up Mark Batterson's book, All In, (review soon!) the chapter entitled "The Idol that Provokes to Jealousy" resonated deeply with me. Batterson's referring to Ezekial 8:3 where he sees an idol that provokes jealousy in God.

We are taught to hate that word jealousy, aren't we? After all, we aren't supposed to be jealous of anything right? Batterson writes that God isn't jealous of anything...He's jealous for everything. It's all His to begin with.

Including me.

And you.

He created us for relationship with Him and He jealously protects that relationship to the point that He wants absolutely nothing to stand between He and I. (or you.)

"The idol that provokes to jealousy is anything that diverts our attention from God, our affection for God, or our reliance on God. It's anything that consumes more time or more money than our pursuit of God."

And this:

"Identifying your idols starts with looking at the way you spend your time and spend your money. I can tell you what my priorities are, but if you really want to know what is most important to me, all you have to do is look at my calendar and my checkbook. They don't lie. They reveal what my true priorities are. They will also reveal the idol that provokes to jealousy."

Batterson goes on to write about the hidden rooms of our hearts and what would others see if they could peer inside? Then this is what stopped me up short this morning when I read it:

"If you want to identify your idols, you need to reverse engineer your emotions. Trace the trail of your tears or fears, your cheers or jeers. If you follow it all the way to the trailhead, you'll come face-to-face with the idols in your life." 

Ouch!

What makes or ruins my day?

What produces the strongest emotions in me?

It's not wrong to cheer on my favorite team, or laugh at something I watch...but if those are producing more emotion in me than the things that break the heart of my Savior...then I need to start asking myself some tough questions.

What moves the heart of God is a good place to start.

Beginning Hosea

I'm meeting with a few ladies this summer to study the Minor Prophets. There are 12 books of the Old Testament that fall into this category, and to be honest, I've only ever studied one of them...Habakkuk. I'm excited to start this journey with them and what follows is what I wrote in my journal as soon as I returned home.

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Thank You for a good start to the day! 

It began by walking to meet You (& friends) for coffee. A beautiful morning awaited and the birdsong perfectly accompanied my footfalls on a warm summer breeze.

Just the three of us over coffee and sunshine, sharing our desire and passion to know You more.

Hosea? Who's he? And why should we listen?

In a time before blogs and Twitter and texting and becoming "viral"...why do You choose one man to marry a harlot and name his children as an example? Who would even know? Who would ever care?

I do.

When I play the harlot, running to idols and false gods, what does it do to Your heart? Why do You pursue me time and again when I place "stuff" in Your path?

Grace is a gift and forgive me for taking it lightly. A reflection of You is who I long to be. Help me live what I say I believe.

The big things I have yearned to do in Your name are exposed for the vanity and pride they contain...but You...You are found in the smallness of life.

If an atom can resonate with the hum of Your creation, can't also a coffee date, a smile and a hug?

You alone are God and You desire no other gods before You. I pray this question will haunt me the rest of my days: "Am I not enough?"