Intentional Kingdom Living

Loving God and Loving People on purpose

More Hosea 2

I’ve been slowly progressing with the Book of Hosea.  The first post from Chapter two is here if you’re interested.

And now verse 7b:

“Then she will think,

‘I might as well return to my husband,

For I was better off with him than I am now.'”

I think it’s interesting this allegory and the Story of the Prodigal Son both take a similar turn at this point.  Looking around, they both realize what they thought would bring them happiness has actually bankrupted them.

It was bankrupting Israel.

Because God is good, He has to punish sin.  Trust me when I tell you the next several chapters go into punishment in fuller detail.  Today, though, we’re gonna skip to a glittering moment of hope.

Listen to our Bridegroom:

“But then I will win her back once again.

I will lead her into the desert

And speak tenderly to her there.

I will return her vineyards to her

And transform the Valley of Trouble into a gateway of hope.”

Man, I love these verses.

God has could demand His people to come back.  He could only chasten like in verse 9 – 13. But instead He woos her.  He doesn’t just accept her back…He welcomes her.

I’m not sure when I first hear the concept of making sure we don’t compare God’s character with the most noble human character we can conceive.

But it helps me sort out some internal struggles.

The reason it’s hard to believe that with Him performance doesn’t earn love is because in certain situations or relationships, performance does earn “love.”

But it just doesn’t with Him.

The reason I have to fight within my heart to not try to earn my way back into good standing with Him when I’ve messed up is because that can be a very necessary thing to do in a work place or other human environments.

But it’s all filthy rags to Him.

We have a God Who is completely Other.

His entire character is Beauty.

If we are His, there is absolutely nothing that can separate us from His Love.

He can take our Valley of Trouble and turn it into Hope’s Gate.

—————————————————-

Edited to add:

My heart got heavy after I published this, and I don’t want to take that lightly.  Because I lean toward blaming others instead of taking full responsibility for my own sin, I want to make sure and say almost every Valley of Trouble I’ve been in has been one I’ve put myself in. 

God will never let me off the hook in not completely confessing my sins and taking full responsibility. 


Plus, if the above had been written by someone I know, I would question if our relationship was one they were talking about.  So I want to make sure and say I had no one in particular in mind when writing and it didn’t come from conscious bitterness.  I do not want to place burdens on others, but share how only He is worthy of our worship.


I am blessed.  He loves me too much to flatter me.  Thank goodness.

We survived.

Three separate Christmases is a lot.  We are ridiculously blessed.  But I never need to eat another sugar cookie again.

Ninja Turtle Christmas Eve Jammies

Skylanders  (And off to the left you will see evidence that our oldest never stops moving.)

Cousins!  Man, they had a blast together

Legos!  (And that man right there?  In the Ugly Christmas Sweater?  Best Dad Ever.)

Paw Patrol Plushies!
I got one of my signs!

Christmas Chaos

The GGpa!

Present Fatigue?  Don’t worry, we rallied.

My sissy and her hubs and I went to a used book store.  Don’t you love places like this?

GGMa!

Oh how we love you!

Caden challenged us to a snow ball fight yesterday afternoon.  It was one of the most fun things I’ve done in a long time.  Five grown adults and two kids nailing each other (or totally missing) in the GG’s front yard.  There were three pairs of gloves between all of us, which meant at any one point someone was nearing hypothermia.  Or claiming such.

I love my family.  I love the God Who came for us.  I love that our little family has a whole ‘nother week together.

I am grateful for this life I never deserved.

How was your Christmas?

https://www.intentionalkingdomliving.com/103/

The Mighty One, God, the LORD,

Speaks and summons the earth

From the rising of the sun

To the place where it sets…

‘I have no need of a bull from your stall

Or of goats from your pens,

For every animal of the forest is mine,

And the cattle on a thousand hills.

I know every bird in the mountains,

And the creatures of the field are mine.’

Psalm 50:1, 9-11

https://www.intentionalkingdomliving.com/105/

Stuff

Last week Caden’s class went to see The Nutcracker.  He loved it (score!).  So Caleb was so happy with himself when he found this book at the library the other day:

It is absolutely as creepy as it looks.

My husband’s students were extremely generous with the gift cards this year.  Date Nights here we come!

The following is our Christmas Bucket List for the next few days:

French Toast and Hot Chocolate for dinner

Camp out as a family under the Christmas Tree Twinkle Lights in the basement

Make Neighbor treats

Watch Christmas with the Kranks

Make Candy Cane Milkshakes

Make a Lego Nativity scene

Christmas Music Dance Partay

Are you doing anything fun??

Happy Christmas Break!!

Hosea

I am going to continue on with the study of Hosea.  I told my group members I will be stealing their thoughts from the weeks they taught.  They seem to be okay with this.

Something that has been keeping me from moving forward is the tediousness of going verse by verse. But I realized that no one is requiring me to do that!  So we will take each chapter one at a time and see.

First, though, I should warn you that it gets ugly before it gets beautiful.  Fortunately there are glittering moments of hope in each chapter, as in life, and we’ll just have to cling to those.

As a recap, Chapter One is mostly about Hosea and Gomer, their marriage and children.

(If you’re interested, the previous posts are here, here, here, here, here and here.)

Chapter Two moves into how God is going to deal with Israel.

“But now bring charges against Israel – your mother –

For she is no longer my wife,

And I am no longer her husband…”

(Verse 2, NLT)

Adultery is a breach of trust.  For Hosea to stay with Gomer after physical adultery with no repercussions would be a violation of covenant loyalty.  Just as a cheated-on husband withdraws for a time to tend to his aching heart, so God pulls back from His people because of their unfaithfulness.

God continues on in His grief:

“She said, ‘I’ll run after other lovers

And sell myself to them for food and water,

For clothing of wool and linen,

And for olive oil and drinks.'”

(Verse 5)

Gomer thought her “lovers” were the ones providing for her.  She “earned” food and drink and a place to stay.  In the same way, Israel often involved themselves in Baal worship rituals to which they would then attribute the production of their crops.

God’s heart is hurting they do not acknowledge Who provides for them.  (For further evidence of this, we can skip to verse 8: “She has not acknowledged that I was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil…”)

So how about us?  In what ways do you go after other lovers in your soul?  How do you pursue these idols, expecting them to provide for you what only God can?

In the same vein, when are you most tempted to give credit for your blessings to something other than God Himself?

“For this reason I will fence her in with thornbushes.

I will block her path with a wall

To make her lose her way.

When she runs after her lovers,

She won’t be able to catch them.

She will search for them

But not find them…”

(Verse 6-7a)

Has God ever done this to you?  Fenced you in?

He did to Job and the author of Lamentations:

Job 3:23 (ESV):

“Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?”

And the author of Lamentations (3:7a):

“He has walled me in so I cannot escape…”

Are there any thornbushes in your life from Him?  Ways He has made it so you cannot escape the situation you’re in?

Like the Bear Hunt chant my son sometimes sings “Can’t go under it, can’t go around it…gotta go through it.”

I have some in my life.  Oh, do I.  He is relentless.  And I’m thankful.  Left on my own I would self-destruct.

Plus, did you see what the Job verse points out?  Even when hedged in, we’re still given light.

Okay, how bout this:


I will block her path with a wall.

Has he ever done this with you?  Has He blocked your path to save you from something or a situation?

Or, more specifically, has he blocked your path to save you from yourself?

Have you ever thought of that?  That sometimes He “makes us lose our way” because if we found our way, we would find ourselves up to our eyeballs in sin?

So many thoughts and words.  More soon!

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