REMINDERS

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“But I have been the Lord your God ever since you came out of Egypt. You shall acknowledge no God but me, no Savior except Me. I cared for you in the wilderness, in the land of burning heat. When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud.”

Hosea 13:4-6a

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I give thanks every day for the word of God and the opportunity to read it, discern it, and share it with others in a special way. In fact, I don’t know what I would do if a day went by when I didn’t get the opportunity to hear the Lord speaking to me through the scriptures. Truly for me, and I am sure many would share this view, the passages in the Bible are my daily spiritual food through which the Lord nourishes my spirit.

With all this, there are many things I love about this daily communion with God through His holy word but I think one of my favorites is how He always reminds me about Himself, His will, His expectations, and His promises. Indeed, the scriptures are full of reminders.

We find this present in our passage for today as we continue our study of Hosea 13 as God is speaking and directly reminding His people about what He has done for them. Look again at these words here:

“But I have been the Lord your God ever since you came out of Egypt. You shall acknowledge no God but me, no Savior except Me. I cared for you in the wilderness, in the land of burning heat. When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud.” Hosea 13:4-6a

Note right away that God wanted the Israelites to know that He wasn’t some new god that had burst on the scene like many of the pagan gods they had taken a liking to. Rather, He was the same God who was with their ancestors who were delivered out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses. He was also the God of their relatives who survived the desert exodus through the wilderness and crossed the river Jordan under the charge of Joshua. He was their God and they were His people.

The Israelites of Hosea’s day needed that reminder but they needed more than that as God continued and told them that they were to acknowledge no other God or Savior except for Him. This is how He had put that to their ancestors:

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”

“You shall have no other gods before Me.”

“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them.” Exodus 20:2-5a

Note here that this is a reminder from the word of God, a word that was known to the Israelites God was speaking to in today’s passage. They knew well that God expected them to have no other gods before Him, that they were not to bow down and worship anyone or anything except Him, and yet they still didn’t listen. It’s little wonder why God labeled them “stiff-necked.”

Finally, God reminded His people that He was their great Provider. Again going back to the days of their relatives, God let the Israelites of Hosea’s time know that it was He who fed His people, His sustenance being what kept them alive during the journey He set them on to His promised land. Indeed, God did provide in the way of manna and quail from the heavens and even water from a rock and He was still providing for His people as He had always done.

Why was God reminding the Israelites about these things?

Because they were showing Him through their sinful living that they had forgot them all. They worshiped other gods and idols as if God was non-existent and because they had pushed God out of their lives, they became self-reliant in their attitudes, proud in thinking they were keeping themselves provided for instead of remembering their great Provider and Sustainer.

The Israelites of Hosea’s day were leaving God no other choice than for Him to remind them one other thing about Himself, that He was a God of judgment.

You see, God had a history of sending punishment on His people when they chose wickedness over the righteousness He desired. If they opted to follow their own will and way, God would discipline them in a way that would remind them that it’s only His word, will, and way that matters so that they would realize the wrongs of their ways and return to Him. For the Israelites at the center of our message today, that judgment involved a seventy year exile at the hands of the Babylonians, an exile that would remind them just how much God had done in their lives, even though they chose to ignore Him. As the old saying goes, “You don’t know what you have sometimes until it’s gone.”

Back to the beginning of this devotion and my love of God’s word, especially the reminders it carries. If I didn’t possess this love, then I suppose I would end up like the people of God in Hosea’s day and forget about how much God does for me and the things He wants me to remain obedient to. Then, I would be in a bad place, the place where God would have to remind me in ways that would serve to correct my sins and bring me back to where I should have been in the first place.

How about you and your life today?

Are you actively seeking reminders from the word of God or is God going to have to take action by sending you a reminder?

Amen

In Christ,

Mark
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