Day: April 11, 2020

God’s Restoring Love

To Israel, a land steeped in idolatry,
God sends the prophet Hosea.
Just as God foretold, Gomer deserts
her prophet-husband for others –
a painful but graphic depiction of
Israel’s faithlessness in response
to God’s royal love. When Gomer
sinks to the level of a slave, Hosea
is commanded to buy her back,
for she is still his wife. In the same
way the God of Israel pledges
His continuing love for His people,
even though their spiritual adultery
will result in captivity & enslavement
at the hands of the Assyrians.

Hosea was commanded by God to
marry a woman who was unfaithful
in marriage and would cause him
much heartaches. Just as Gomer
lost interest in Hosea and ran after
other lovers,we too can easily affect
our relationship with God when we
pursue desires that don’t include
Him. And when we compromise our
Christian life-styles & adopt ways of
the world we can become unfaithful.
Lord, grateful for Your sacrificial love.
Help us Flee from Bad Influence;
Help us Purpose to Obey You; and
Help us Remember Your Love. Amen

Lord, we will aspire to Obey:
When the Lord began to speak
through Hosea, the Lord said to him:
Go, take to yourself an adulterous
wife and children of unfaithfulness
because the land is guilty of the
vilest adultery in departing from
the Lord. So he married Gomer…
and she conceived and bore him
a son… Gomer had another son.
And the Lord said: Call him Lo-Ammi
for you are not my people and I am
not your God. Yet the Israelites will
be like the sand on the seashore,
which cannot be counted. In the
place where it was said: You are not
my people, they will be called sons
of the living God (Hos 1:2-3, 8-10).
Lord, sometimes Your commands
make no sense at all and the cost
to obey them really unattractive.
Nevertheless help me to obey in
response to Your sacrificial love.
Help me see the lost and hurting
people with Yr heart of love. Amen.

Lord, we will Flee Bad Influence:
I will fence her in with thornbushes.
I will block the road to make her lose
her way. When she runs after her
lovers, she won’t be able to catch
up with them. She will search for
them but not find them (Hos 2:6-7).
Lord, I ask You to build a hedge of
thorns around my family to separate
them from influence not ordained
by You. I pray that those who are
a bad influence will lose interest
and flee and that we would lose
interest in them as well. May that
hedge of thorns defend against
any contact with those who are
out of Your will. In Jesus’ name.

Lord, we’ll Remember Your Love:
The Lord said to me: Go show your
love to your wife again, though she…
is an adulteress. Love her as the
Lord loves the Israelites, though
they turn to other gods… so I
bought her for fifteen shekels
of silver… Then I told her: You are
to live with me… You must not be…
intimate with any man (Hos 3:1-3).
Lord, grateful that You are so eager
to forgive and to restore Your people.
Grateful that we have so much to
gain from being reconciled to God,
yet it is Christ who paid the price.
Grant us the grace for renewed
commitment to love You even as
died for us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Prophets to Northern Kingdom

As the Bible is arranged by genre, to
enhance understanding of context
we’re covering it by time sequence.
We begin with the 5 books of Laws
to appreciate the Redemptive Plan
of God for mankind and Job (which
occurs in the time of Genesis) to
understand the sovereignty of God.

In Phase 2, we meditated on Joshua
to 2Samuel & 1 Chronicles up to King
David: the high point of Israel history
and poetry book of Psalms where
we learn to pray and praise God.
Then continuing in United Kingdom,
we go to reign of King Solomon in
1 Kings & cover wisdom poetry of
Proverbs, Song of Songs and Eccl.

In P3 2Kings, the next century sees
the decline of two nations indifferent
to God’s laws. In Israel, 19 wicked
  kings in succession led the people
even further from God & Israel finally
went into captivity by Assyrians.
To the south, Judah survives 150
years longer; but corrupt leadership
brings 70 years of exile in Babylonia.

Continuing Phase 3, we focus next
on the prophets to northern kingdom
with dual themes of repentance and
judgment: “Shape Up or Ship Out.”
But each prophet spoke to unique
contemporary situation. So for
Hosea, the message is God’s love
for adulterous Israel; and for Amos,
God’s people ripe for punishment.
And for Jonah, the message is God
Loves the Gentiles; and in Nahum,
it’s doom of Nineveh for its brutality.

Hosea prophesies to a corrupt and
idolatrous Israel from his experience.
Instructed by God to marry harlot
Homer, Hosea finds mirrored in his
domestic life an accurate portrayal
of unfaithfulness of God’s people.
Drawing a striking parallel from his
marriage and his wife’s defection,
Hosea carries God’s message:
The wickedness of Israel will bring
swift tragedy and certain calamity.
However, though God’s love must
discipline, it will surely restore. His
love desires the best for His beloved.

Amos: Externally, the northern
kingdom was marked by flourishing
business; but internally the nation’s
condition was grim. Idolatry, greed,
injustice, hypocrisy, oppression
and arrogance indicated a growing
malignancy of deep-seated sin.
Amos, a farmer by trade, dons the
mantle of a prophet to make God’s
message crystal clear to those who
had grown lax in luxurious living:
Repent or Perish. For judgment are
soon to break over God’s people.

Jonah called by God to warn
the Assyrian city of Nineveh of
impending destruction. However,
the brutal Assyrians are Israel’s
bitter enemies, and Jonah both
fears and despises them. Instead
of heading to Nineveh, Jonah sets
sail in the opposite direction. A storm
ensues, Jonah is tossed overboard
and is swallowed by a great fish.
After three days the fish deposits
Jonah on dry land. Jonah then goes
to Nineveh & preaches as God had
instructed. When the people repent,
Jonah’s resentment grows until God
teaches him a lesson in compassion.

By the time Nahum comes on the
scene Nineveh is even more wicked
than it had been during the time
of Jonah about 100 years earlier.
The repentant spirit of the people
and the revival that stemmed from
Jonah’s visit is gone. Now a terror
to the entire world, the fortress city
of Nineveh seems impenetrable.
But God will no longer overlook the
city’s horrible sins, and He sends
Nahum to deliver the message of
impending destruction. The entire
Assyrian empire will be destroyed
and the mighty city of Nineveh
will be gutted by a raging fire.