April 25, 2011 (Hosea 8-14, Isaiah 28-30)

I just finished reading a little book about a mom 'feeling invisible' - about how her children and her husband seemed to ignore her. And then a friend gave her a book about the great cathedrals in France. As she read that book, she read of the how some took a hundred years to build and she was struck by the fact that those workers knew they would never see the fruits of their labor. Yet they sacrificed and labored to build a beautiful structure, without so much as even having their names listed as those completing the structures. They were 'invisible', yet they were dedicated to their work. Some even made intricate carvings in beams they knew would be hidden by ceilings, and when asked "Why?", they replied "God sees."  They were motivated by doing their work for God. I thought of that story as I read this:

^{Isaiah 29:15} What sorrow awaits those who try to hide their plans from the Lord,
      who try to keep him in the dark concering what they do!
   “The Lord can’t see us,” they say.
      “He doesn’t know what’s going on!”
 ¹⁶ How foolish can you be?
      He is the Potter, and he is certainly greater than you, the clay!
   Should the created thing say of the one who made it,
      “He didn’t make me”?
   Does a jar ever say,
      “The potter who made me is stupid”?

Just prior to those verses I read:

¹³ And so the Lord says,
      “These people say they are mine.
   They honor me with their lips,
      but their hearts are far from me.
   And their worship of me
      is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.
 ¹⁴ Because of this, I will once again astound these hypocrites
      with amazing wonders.
   I will show that human wisdom is foolish and even the most
      brilliant people lack understanding.”

God, again tells us He wants our hearts. He sees and He knows what is in our hearts.

As always in these chapters, there are lots of warnings, and rightfully so. But there are also lots of verses that pertain to God's love:

^30:15 This is what the Sovereign Lord,
      the Holy One of Israel, says:
   “Only in returning to me
      and resting in me will you be saved.
   In quietness and confidence is your strength.


¹⁸ So the Lord must wait for you to come to him
      so he can show you his love and compassion.
   For the Lord is a faithful God.
      Blessed are those who wait for his help.


¹⁹ 
   He will be gracious if you ask for help.
      He will surely respond to the sound of your cries.
 ²⁰ Though the Lord gave you adversity for food
      and suffering for drink,
   he will still be with you to teach you.
      You will see your teacher with your own eyes.
 ²¹ Your own ears will hear him.
      Right behind you a voice will say,
   “This is the way you should go,”
      whether to the right or to the left.