February 8, 2010 (Hosea 1-14)

Hosea - it wasn't too many days ago that I was talking about spiritual adultery. Well, that's what the book of Hosea is all about. Here's how the book opens:

² When the Lord first began speaking to Israel through Hosea, he said to him, “Go and marry a prostitute, so that some of her children will be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning against the Lord and worshiping other gods.”

Again, God was speaking to Israel, but if the conditions are the same today, He is also speaking to us. As I read this book I thought of our country, and how we put our trust in our 'military might' and the 'wisdom' of our leaders. But would you say that America puts her trust in God? Didn't our current president say this in April of 2009 -

At a press conference in Turkey, President Obama casually rebuked the old chestnut that the United States is a Judeo-Christian nation.

"One of the great strengths of the United States," the President said, "is ... we have a very large Christian population -- we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values."

And in searching for that quote, I found this:

John McCain caught flak for saying in 2007 that the Constitution established the U.S. as a Christian nation. During the 2008 election, the Arizona senator watered the phrase down somewhat by calling the U.S. a "Judeo-Christian valued nation."

It is no longer 'politically correct' to call ourselves Christian. Or what about this:

November 13, 2003 - The new CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll found 77 percent of the 1,009 Americans interviewed earlier this week disapproved of U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson's order to remove the (Ten Commandments) monument.

Thompson ruled that Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore's placement of the 2.6-ton granite monument in the state building two years ago violated the U.S. Constitution's principle of separation of religion and government.

"It is a sad day in our country when the moral foundation of our law and the acknowledgment of God has to be hidden from public view to appease a federal judge," said Moore, suspended by the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission last week for refusing to obey Thompson's order.

Workers removed the monument about 9 a.m. (10 a.m. EDT), nearly a week after Thompson's deadline passed, and rolled it into a back room out of public view.

So if America no longer considers herself a Christian nation and no longer seeks her direction from God, how in the world do we think we will escape the same fate as the Israelites faced?

Today's blog is going to be more of a diatribe on what's been going on 'inside' of me. It's kind of a compilation of several things that I will try to express. I will follow this with some of the verses that stood out to me though, so obviously, this will be a long blog.

Several days ago I was at the grocery store and Michael Jackson's "This is It" DVD caught my eye. It wasn't something I would have thought I wanted to see, but I had this urge to rent it. So I figured, I'll spend $1 at RedBox on it. I cannot get that movie out of my mind, for several reasons.

1.) I saw Michael Jackson in a totally new light. I saw him as a person, instead of a 'freak'. He had such a gentle soul. As he was working with the musicians and producers, he was always quiet and gentle and kind, and when he corrected them, he always followed it with "God bless you."

2.) He was passionate about his music. He wanted to be surrounded by the very best in the business and wanted to put on a show that was like no other. He always gave his best and expected the very best out of those that he worked with. The main thing about this point is, though, the passion he had to tell a story and to change the world. He was going to end his concert with 'Man in the Mirror' - reflecting that change starts with us.

3.) One of his songs was about the planet and what we are doing to it. Again, as he sang this song, you could see the intense emotion that he felt. This song was played on the Grammys, so if you saw that, you saw part of it. There is a little girl that falls asleep in a beautiful rain forest, but when she awakes, bulldozers are razing the ground that is on fire. His point of this was, that some day, because we are doing 'nothing' we'll 'wake up' and it will be too late. And I thought of this point from the Christian perspective. We, myself included, are 'asleep' when it comes to really living for God. This point was again reinforced in church on Sunday. We had a guest speaker - The President of Children's Hope Chest. Here is their mission statement:

Children’s Hope Chest believes that every orphan has the right to know God, experience the blessing of family, and have the opportunity to develop independent living skills.

During his sermon he said this, "For every single issue in the world, God always sent a man or a woman. That's His plan. His plan is YOU! You, quite honestly, ARE the hope of the world. There's nobody like you. God created you in such a unique way that you have certain things that you are supposed to fulfill in relation to His kingdom on this earth. What is it? Have you ever asked God that question? Father, what is my kingdom role to fulfill?"

He then talked of "Schindler's List"- Oscar Schindler, a man who made millions of dollars and spent it all to save 1200 Jews from destruction. That's what his whole life was about. He 'got it'.

Or about a 9 year old boy, named Austin Gutwein who created an organization called "Hoops of Hope" when he heard about the needs in Africa. It's an International Organization to help orphaned children that he started at the age of 9 and now leads at the age of 14.

But what about us? What about us? It is God's plan that we just read our Bibles, go to church, enjoy this world? Or is there something more? Is it true that He has a specific purpose for us that He wants us to fulfill? "Father, what is our kingdom role?"

And again, God's words are truly the words that matter. Read these verses below and see if you see my 'diatribe' from above within them.

^{Hosea 4:1} Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel!
The Lord has brought charges against you, saying:
“There is no faithfulness, no kindness,
no knowledge of God in your land.
² You make vows and break them;
you kill and steal and commit adultery.
There is violence everywhere—
one murder after another.
³ That is why your land is in mourning,
and everyone is wasting away.
Even the wild animals, the birds of the sky,
and the fish of the sea are disappearing.
⁴ “Don’t point your finger at someone else
and try to pass the blame!
My complaint is with you.
⁶ My people are being destroyed
because they don’t know me.

⁶ I want you to show love,
not offer sacrifices.
I want you to know me
more than I want burnt offerings.

^Hosea7:8 “The people of Israel mingle with godless foreigners,
making themselves as worthless as a half-baked cake!
⁹ Worshiping foreign gods has sapped their strength,
but they don’t even know it.
Their hair is gray,
but they don’t realize they’re old and weak.
¹⁰ Their arrogance testifies against them,
yet they don’t return to the Lord their God
or even try to find him.

¹⁴ They do not cry out to me with sincere hearts.

¹⁶ They look everywhere except to the Most High.
They are as useless as a crooked bow.
Their leaders will be killed by their enemies
because of their insolence toward me.
Then the people of Egypt
will laugh at them.

^{Hosea 8:14} Israel has built great palaces, and Judah
has fortified its cities. But they have both forgotten
their maker.

^{Hosea 10:13} “But you have cultivated wickedness
and harvested a thriving crop of sins.
You have eaten the fruit of lies—
trusting in your military might,
believing that great armies
could make your nation safe.
¹⁴ Now the terrors of war
will rise among your people.
All your fortifications will fall,

^{Hosea 6:1} “Come, let us return to the Lord.
He has torn us to pieces;
now he will heal us.
He has injured us;
now he will bandage our wounds.
² In just a short time he will restore us,
so that we may live in his presence.
³ Oh, that we might know the Lord!
Let us press on to know him.
He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn
or the coming of rains in early spring.”

^{Hosea 12:6} So now, come back to your God.
Act with love and justice,
and always depend on him.

^{Hosea 14:8} “O Israel, stay away from idols!
I am the one who answers your prayers and cares for you.
I am like a tree that is always green;
all your fruit comes from me.”

⁹ Let those who are wise understand these things.
Let those with discernment listen carefully.
The paths of the Lord are true and right,
and righteous people live by walking in them.
But in those paths sinners stumble and fall.