Month: April 2012

RE Verse reading–Isaiah1:1-20 (day two) “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”  (vs 18)  What color is sin?  We usually think of it as black.  God (speaking through Isaiah) describes it as red.  From eternity, God has known that sin would require the death of His Son.  Not something we easily understand–how an infinite God can see all options and outcomes before they happen.  Even so, the Bible calls Jesus “the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world”.  The sins of men look red to God.   He never looks our rebellion without remembering the cost that would be required to redeem us.  Amazing love!  Even as He sees our sin, He is remembering the way that we may be saved.  This is the way for sinners to become white again.  “The blood of Jesus His son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7)

RE Verse reading–Isaiah 1:1-20 (day one)  “encourage the oppressed, defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.”  (vs 17)  Part of God’s assignment for the church (and for Israel before us) is to care for the helpless poor.  It is not an option for us, it is an assignment.  In Matthew 25, Jesus chides those who “saw Him hungry, thirsty, a stranger or naked” and did not care. (vs 44)  Isaiah is equally direct.  In this week’s reading, Isaiah connects the ideas of  “doing wrong” and “learning to do right”  with “the oppressed, the fatherless and the widows”.  Honest answer.  Do most Christians you know consider it part of God’s call to effectively and concretely assist people who are helpless and poor?  Do you consider it part of your own personal mission and responsibility?  Sunday night we will study When Helping Hurts–How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor and Yourself.  Please come.  It is our assignment from God.

RE Verse reading–Hosea 11:1-11, 14:1-2 (day seven)  “Jesus said, ‘Simon, son of John, do you truly love me?’ ”  (John 21:16)  One of the life changing realities of the resurrection is the possiblity it gives us for meaningful repentance.  When Jesus questioned Peter, it was his opportunity to be restored to full guilt-free friendship after a shameful denial.  I can relate! What a gift it is to be able to talk with the person we have offended–to hear the forgiveness, to see the friendship return to their eyes.  It is something I never want to take for granted.  He “ever liveth to make intercession for us”, says the writer of Hebrews.  Perhaps He also “ever liveth to hear intercession from us”–particularly regarding our failures.  When Hosea tells the people of Israel to “take words and return” (14:2) he was predicting the very privilege we now have.  He is alive.  We can talk with Him and be restored.  Happy Easter, dear friends!  He is risen!

RE Verse reading–Hosea 11:1-11, 14:1-2 (day six)  “Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God.  Your sins have been your downfall.”  (14:1)  Most of us don’t drive in reverse very well.  It is awkward and uncomfortable.  In the same way, many believers are unfamiliar with the powerful possibilities of going backwards in life.  The very idea seems impossible.  No one can start over with God (or with anyone else for that matter)  Too much water under the bridge.  God declares a different truth.  Beginning again is possible!  Like prodigals we are invited to come home to our “first love” and a fresh chapter of God’s blessing.  The evidence is overwhelming that we should do so.  Our sins have been our downfall.  In 1980 Ronald Reagan asked Americans, “Are you better off than you were 4 years ago?”  What would the honest answer be if God asked us the same question? To get forward we must go backward.  It is time to return to God.

RE Verse reading–Hosea 11:1-11, 14:1-2 (day five)  “How can I give you up, Ephraim?. . .my heart is changed within me”  (vs. 8)  Parenting is hard work.  There are many hard choices.  Is punishment required?  If so, what kind and how long?  Is leniency better?  For me, the hardest part was often my own inner conflict re. what was best.  It is a strange consolation that God knows this same inner turmoil.  In Hosea 11:8, He says that His heart is “changed” which translates the word haphak or “overturned, upset”.  While I don’t know how an infinitely wise God can experience inner turmoil, I do know that my willingness to embrace the discomfort, the inner conflict, even the risk of making the wrong choice was part of what it meant to love my sons.  We deserve rebuke.  He prefers to bless.  We do not make it easy for Him but He does not give up.  He loves us enough to do the hard work.

RE Verse reading–Hosea 11:1-11, 14:1-2 (day four)  “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.  But the more I called Israel, the further they went from me.”  (vs 1)  Words are inadequate for the tender memories I have of my sons and their early years.  First steps. . .songs and sounds. . .baseball games. . .it is a blur of gratitude.  I can only imagine what I would feel if those early memories were shattered later by a broken relationship.  Many parents face this heart ache. It is what God feels when we drift.  Hosea 11 speaks of the early years of Israel’s salvation.  God remembers the days of their tender trust and liberation.  Later, sadly, they rebelled and ignored His calls. A reminder to us.  Our early experiences of God’s goodness should teach us a lifelong loyalty.  His love never changes.  Neither should our trust.  It is both sin and sorrow to walk away from such love.

RE Verse reading–Hosea 11:1-11, 14:1-2 (day three)  “They did not realize it was I who healed them” (vs 3)  Growing up, my Dad was not very exciting in my opinion.  He was good and generous and faithful, just not very cool. (As a Dad myself now, I realize how easy it is to fall by this terrible sword)  Anyway, it was easy for me to drift from his influence, wishing for something else.  One reason that God commands us to honor our parents (5th Commandment) is that we owe them a debt of gratitude.  Even imperfect parents were used by God to give us life and protection. It is how we survived.  The root of virtue is gratitude.  Not dissatisfaction.   Even more true with our Heavenly Father!  He has been generous.  We have not noticed.  The real story is not my uncool Dad, it is my ungrateful heart. “They did not honor Him as God, or give thanks”  (Romans 1:21)  Time to change!

RE Verse reading–Hosea 11:1-11, 14:1-2 (day two)  “He will roar like a lion. . .his children will come trembling from the west”  (11:10)  I don’t believe that everyone will be saved.  I do believe that some will be.  Given the deep illness of our sin, it will be a glory to God that any are.  I believe that He wants everyone to be saved (2 Peter 3:9) but hard hearts can and do refuse His grace. (John 1:10)  In Hosea 11, God reveals His inner conflict and reason for partial mercy on Israel.  He cannot give up on His son. (vs 8).  Deciding not to carry out His “fierce anger” (the full and deserved destruction of the nation), God expresses confidence that on another day and in another time some will still come.  Disciplined and humbled,  they will come trembling from the west (probably an image of Egypt and new slavery).  Great hope! He will not give up the dream.  His children WILL come.  Some will be saved.

RE Verse reading–Hosea 11:1-11, 14:1-2 (day one) “How can I give you up, Ephraim?. . .I will not carry out my fierce anger” (11:8,9)  For 10 chapters, Hosea has compared God’s relationship with the church to a broken marriage.  In chapter 11, he compares us to an equally familiar and tender human situation–a prodigal son.  It is one of the most beautiful stories in Scripture or literature.  (Luke 15)  An ungrateful and foolish son walks away from His father’s home and values.  The father sees tragedy coming but doesn’t force him to stay.  Eventually, in brokenness, the son comes home to discover the true miracle–the father has not changed! Not His love.  Not His loyalty.  God is the only constant in our stormy and disappointing relationship. We drift.  He doesn’t. Not that He would have been unjustified to do so, but He does not give up on us.  Even in our worst, most ungrateful moments, He is the unprodigal father. What wondrous love is this?

RE Verse reading–Hosea 4:1-13b (day seven)  “But let no man bring a charge, let no man accuse another”  (vs 4)  It is a mistake I have made many times (too many).  Rather than face my own guilt (with all the responsibility for change/repentance it implies) I blame other people in an obvious, if unconscious, attempt to shift the attention off of me.  It is a foolish move.  Remember the Pharisee in Luke 18?  The one who was so aware of the failure of the tax collector that he had no awareness of his own?  I am that Pharisee.  In Hosea’s day and ours, the lesson is clear.  Don’t blame others for your spiritual condition.  Remember the log in your own eye.  Focus there.  Other people are not the cause of my failure.  They are not the cure, either.  May the Lord give us freedom from this common and destructive trap.  It is Sunday!  I will see you in a few hours–Don