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Hosea 3 & 4 - Day 745 (link to reading)
Scripture: Hosea 3:1-5 Commentary (bethmelekh.com): We note that in the previous chapter HaShem has promised to show compassion upon Israel and to seed righteousness in them through His sacrificial love. Their future is belonging and right relationship but their present was the antithesis of these things. The stark contrast between the faithfulness of God and the unfaithfulness of Israel is illuminated in the living mashal (parable) of Hosea’s life. Hosea (Salvation) is tasked with physically showing the northern tribes and by extension all Israel (including Judah and Benjamin) the abhorrent nature of her condition. Consider the gut wrenching heartbreak the prophet must suffer in order to act out these instructions, the self-sacrificing obedience to God, the forsaking of an opportunity for marriage to a faithful bride of the remnant in order to continue to offer grace to the wayward wife Gomer (Perfect, beautiful), who has wilfully chosen to seek her own pleasure over the secure love of her husband. Are we willing to be obedient in the face of suffering? To forgo just outcomes in this temporary world in order to expose wickedness and offer redemption to the wicked? What would that look like in our lives? Application: Would you? Could you? No, I'm not talking about green eggs and ham. I'm talking about being obedient, regardless of the personal cost and sacrifice. Prayer: Lord Jesus, help my unbelief... Hosea 2 - Day 744 (link to reading)
Scripture: Hosea 2:1-5 Commentary (thewarehouse.blog): Grace and truth. They are the inescapable character traits of God. God is a fair and just God. He doesn’t compromise like we do. I think that sometimes we take for granted the holiness of God when focusing on His grace. We read passages like Hosea 2:3 and wonder if God would really do something like that. The truth is, He did. He stripped his people of everything as they were punished through the exile. He did this because He loved them and desired for them to be holy like Him...God allows truth to conquer us. He allows circumstances to break us. He sends us to the land we desire, a far off land full of every sin imaginable. It is there that truth is truly found. Application: How do you love someone who is making bad choices? It's not easy to watch someone you love destroy their life, but the alternative is just as bad. Pray, be available for them, but don't enable them. Prayer: Lord Jesus, help... Hosea 1 - Day 743 (link to reading)
Scripture: Hosea 1:1-10 Commentary (workingpreacher.org): In Hosea 1, God commands the prophet Hosea to marry a promiscuous woman named Gomer, whose unfaithfulness will become a living metaphor for the Israelites’ religious apostasy. Hosea is further told to give his children symbolic names that communicate God’s displeasure with the people of Israel. At the end of the chapter, however, those names are reversed to show the restoration of the people to God’s favor. (The lectionary reading only includes part of the reversal, which continues in Hosea 1:11–2:1) Hosea 2 and 3 also present Hosea’s family life as an analogy for God’s relationship to Israel... Hosea 1 employs a literary motif that biblical scholars call the “prophetic marriage metaphor” (see also Isaiah 1; Jeremiah 2-4; Ezekiel 16, 23). This metaphor represents God as a husband and God’s people as an unfaithful wife. It criticizes the worship of other deities as spiritual adultery, while emphasizing God’s mercy in restoring the broken relationship. The metaphor assumes a hierarchical view of marriage, in which the husband has considerable power over the wife... Application: God is willing to do whatever it takes to get our attention and rebuild His relationship with us. Even if that meant coming to earth and sacrificially dying on a wooden cross to atone for the sins of the world. Prayer: Lord Jesus, have your way in me... Psalm 74 & 75 - Day 742 (link to reading)
Scripture: Psalm 75:1-3 Commentary (thewarehouse.blog): Psalm 75 is a plea for justice. The dilemma with justice is that many of us want it to reign down on those around us but fail to take a look in the mirror. Who decides between good and evil and by what standard will they judge? Application: I am more patient, gracious, and kind when I am aware of my faults and limitations. That's probably the reason why God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. Prayer: Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner... Psalm 72 & 73 - Day 741 (link to reading)
Scripture: Psalm 73:1-14 Commentary (crossway.org): the psalmist Asaph is pouring out his misery. He's discontented because the world is influencing him, and he's envious of what other people seem to have. They don't walk with God and yet they seem so blessed. They're healthy and wealthy, and they don't seem to be struggling with the same problems that God's people do. So, Asaph is wondering Is it worth it to walk with God? He's questioning. Can't we all relate to that? I think we can. In the middle of the psalm, he looks at God, gets his eyes off the world and himself, and he focuses upward. As he's focusing on God, his thinking changes. His perspective shifts to become eternal. He starts to realize what the reality is. It may look like these other people who despise God have it all, but they don't. They really have nothing, and what they seem to have won't last. Even though by worldly standard, Asaph—a believer—doesn't have a lot, he realizes he's the one with everything because he has God. He's humbled, and he pours out his heart to the Lord. He sees his own grumbling heart, and he repents. In my favorite verse, he says, Whom have I heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Application: Like Asaph, I often forget to look at the world from God's eternal perspective, but when I do, I'm humbled. Prayer: Lord, whom am I, that the Creator of the Universe would care to know my name... |
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January 2024
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