Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to
OurChristianWalk@aol.com.
In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** Follow The Christian Walk on
Twitter @ThChristianWalk
** Like posts and send friend requests
to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn
** Become a Follower of The Christian
Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“Ephraim has surrounded Me with lies, Israel with deceit. And
Judah is unruly against God, even against the faithful Holy One.”
“Ephraim feeds on the wind; he pursues the east wind all day
and multiplies lies and violence. He makes a treaty with Assyria and sends
olive oil to Egypt. The Lord has a charge to bring against Judah; He will
punish Jacob according to his ways and repay him according to his deeds. In the
womb he grasped his brother’s heel; as a man he struggled with God. He
struggled with the angel and overcame him; he wept and begged for his favor. He
found Him at Bethel and talked with Him there—the Lord God Almighty, the Lord
is His name! But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and
wait for your God always.”
Hosea 11:12-12:1-6
This ends today’s
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
So you have sinned in God’s sight, disregarding and
disobeying His will and word. You have failed to size up to His expectations of
righteousness and holiness and missed the mark on being the kind of person He
wants you to be.
How do you get back in good graces with God after that? If
there is a chance for reconciliation, what are the first steps you should take?
As we finish Hosea 11 and open up the scriptures in Chapter
12, we find God giving us tasks to carry out to get us back on the path of
reconciling ourselves with Him. Look again at these verses:
“Ephraim has
surrounded Me with lies, Israel with deceit. And Judah is unruly against God, even
against the faithful Holy One.”
“Ephraim feeds on the
wind; he pursues the east wind all day and multiplies lies and violence. He
makes a treaty with Assyria and sends olive oil to Egypt. The Lord has a charge
to bring against Judah; He will punish Jacob according to his ways and repay
him according to his deeds. In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel; as a man
he struggled with God. He struggled with the angel and overcame him; he wept
and begged for his favor. He found Him at Bethel and talked with Him there—the Lord
God Almighty, the Lord is His name! But you must return to your God; maintain
love and justice, and wait for your God always.” Hosea 11:12-12:1-6
First, God details the sins of His people, some of the sins
He is finding issue with.
“Ephraim has
surrounded Me with lies, Israel with deceit. And Judah is unruly against God, even
against the faithful Holy One.”
“Ephraim feeds on the
wind; he pursues the east wind all day and multiplies lies and violence. He
makes a treaty with Assyria and sends olive oil to Egypt.”
What were the lies and deceit manifested by the Israelites
against God?
They were rooted in the spiritual unfaithfulness of God’s
people and their subsequent worship and reliance on pagan gods and idols. This
was illustrated by God calling out His nation for their treaty agreements with
nations who were hostile to God. Rather than turn to their Maker and Master for
provision, the Israelites were striking out on their own, as much independent
from God in their trade dealings as they were in their faith life.
And so God decided to take actions against the wicked
actions of His people.
“The Lord has a
charge to bring against Judah; He will punish Jacob according to his ways and
repay him according to his deeds.”
The Israelites were guilty as charged. There was no chance
for acquittal of any kind because a perfect God applies perfect justice. God
doesn’t detail here what He plans to do but does promise that whatever
consequences He brought would be equitable with the evil deeds committed.
In other words, the punishment would match the crime. Did I
mention that God is perfectly just?
So the people of God were in deep trouble with Him because
of their spiritual adultery. How would they be able to get back onto the path
of reconciliation and begin repairing their relationship with the Lord?
God provides the answers as our scripture passage closes
with a reminder of the life of Jacob who came out of the womb grasping Esau’s
heel before duping his father Isaac into giving him the birthright his brother
deserved. Indeed, Jacob struggled with God in his life before having a
confrontation with an angel of the Lord at Bethel where Jacob was overcome and
defeated, left begging for the Lord’s favor. Jacob wanted to reconcile himself
to God but he didn’t know what to do, just like the Israelites of Hosea’s time.
Enter God who told Jacob the following in regard in getting
back to where He wanted him to be. His three answers equally applied to the spiritually
bankrupt Israelites in today’s scripture passage as well as apply to us today.
What were the three responses given by God?
1. You must return to your God.
This is the first step one must always take to get onto the
path of reconciliation. One must first return and recommit to God, connecting
once again to Him and His Spirit as well as granting Him our full devotion and
obedience. Once we return to Him, the other two items become easy to achieve.
2. Maintain love and justice.
Once we return to the Lord and commit anew to His word,
will, and way, then we ensure that we don’t do anything without His bidding and
when we have that level of loyalty and reliance on the Spirit of God, then it’s
easy to maintain love and justice because we will be making His love and
justice our own.
In other words, as God’s people, we simply become an
extension of His love and justice as well as other notable qualities He
possesses.
3. Wait for your God always.
Maybe you have heard the old saying:
“God might not be there right when you want Him to be but He’s
always right on time!”
You see, the God of perfect justice and perfect love is also
the God of perfect timing. He acts when it’s the most appropriate time if He
deems action is needed at all and whatever way He acts, it is always right, righteous,
and for our good because He is the definition of righteousness and goodness.
All we need to do is wait on Him and do so patiently and
faithfully.
Return to your God, maintain love and justice, and wait for God
always.
Do these things and you will know you are walking on the
path of reconciliation with God, a path that will ultimately lead you to
forgiveness through His rich grace and mercy.
Amen
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
No comments:
Post a Comment