Category: Rescue & Redemption

Re:Verse reading–Hosea 1, 3, 14 (day five)  Then the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the sons of Israel.”

Praise God for Again!!  His persistent, gracious, and faithful love has pursued and found me countless times in rebellion, disobedience, dismay, brokenness, hopelessness, and apathy.  Yet, He never stops loving.  Never stops reminding.  Never stops encouraging.  Never stops forgiving and restoring.  Again and again and again.  How many times is that?   Certainly more than I deserve.

It is a humbling reminder of our own struggle with sin to think how many times He has done that (again and again) for each of us.  Yet, also a prompt for worship and praise of a God who is rich (endless) in mercy and grace.

Maybe a time of reflection and repentance for the “agains” in our lives would be helpful today.  Follow that with a time of praise, thanksgiving, and worship.

Re:Verse reading–Hosea 1, 3, 14 (day four)

V.7 – “I will…deliver them by the Lord their God.”

Israel had long looked for the promised Messiah.  They were looking for a political, military leader who would deliver them from their oppressors.  They completely misunderstood the work of redemption that would come through the messiah.  God had foretold the spiritual nature of the messiah, but they could not see clearly God’s plan.  As a result, they missed Jesus as God’s promised redeemer.

How often do we have an expectation for the way God will work in a given situation?  We lay out all the ‘facts’ so God will understand that our plan is best.  Then…when His way is different, we are baffled as to what went wrong.  We must seek to listen to God rather than dictate to Him what we think is best.  God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, nor are His ways our ways…as high as the heavens are above the earth, so are His ways higher than ours.  (Isaiah 55:8-9)

Re:Verse reading–Hosea 1, 3, 14 (day three)

Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness.

Nothing ever hurts like family.  Family can nurture and encourage and teach and give.  But family can also strip-mine your soul until your life is a wasteland of scarred earth.  With family possessing that kind of potential for joy and sorrow, it’s no wonder that the Lord would point to Hosea’s family story in order to reveal the depth of sorrow, anger, and betrayal that arises within God himself when those whom he loves turn their devotion and allegiance and attention away from him.  The resulting woundedness did not spare even God from desertion and death.  And still he longs for a home with human beings.  Those who turn toward him seeking reconciliation will find all is not lost.  There is a family to come home to after all.

Re:Verse reading–Hosea 1, 3, 14 (day two) For the ways of the Lord are right,
And the righteous will walk in them, But transgressors will stumble in them. 14:9b

You, through your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; for they are ever with me. Psalm 119:98

One of the ways that we use the Word of God and his statutes is as a diviner between good and sin. It will always point out where we have fallen short, but it is constant. Trying to perfectly keep the law is daunting, to say the least, but it is in its constancy that we find hope. We have a perfect example, a Father who has made provision for us to be redeemed, and the Spirit to continually encourage and guide. The way of the Lord should be your delight, for through it is the hope of salvation. Those who do not receive this will only find disappointment.

Re:Verse reading–Hosea 1, 3, 14 (day one)

“Take words with you and return to the Lord”–14:2

If you have ever had a broken relationship, you know.  Words matter.  They heal or cause further harm.  Bridges or barricades.

Hosea prophesied a time when Israel would return to God.  His harsh discipline having accomplished its purpose, they would realize how foolish and unfaithful they had been and would come back to Him, seeking restoration.

“Take words with you”, says the prophet.  Consider and prepare what you will say.  No easy or irresponsible “sorry” will be accepted.  Own what you have done.  If you don’t know what to say, you are not ready.  The way back is paved with words.

Read Psalm 51.  (David)  Read the Prodigal Son.  Honest, pride-discarding words.  Words of apology.  Words that accept guilt and ask for forgiveness.

“Let the words of my mouth be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord” (Psalm 19:14)  Especially when I have been unfaithful and foolish.

Re:Verse reading–Daniel 6 (day seven)

Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously.Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and supplication before his God.  Daniel 6:10-11

Daniel marked his life with unbending obedience to God praying three times a day.  His adversaries knew if there was anything they could count on they could count on Daniel to submit to his God like clockwork.

If someone had been following you this summer how many moments of unbending obedience to God did they note?  Showing love to a neighbor? Witnessing? Mornings on your knees in prayer?  You do not necessarily need to pray three times a day like Daniel, but you should have your regular appointments with God scheduled throughout your week.  The day, time, duration, etc. are between you and God, but anyone seeking God with all their heart is going to spend time with God no matter what else is going on around them.

Re:Verse reading–Daniel 6 (day six)  

As I write this, Anna and I are wrapping up a few days of respite in the Hill Country (that’s the reason for the delayed posting). It was needed. Getting away, waking up in the morning to deer in the field in front of you, with hills rolling in distance, reading God’s Word, prayer, all of it has been refreshing to our souls. Daniel’s respite was his upper chamber in his house with the windows opened facing Jerusalem; there he would pray three times a day. When he faced new pressures from the state, he would go pray. When he faced jealous colleagues, he would go pray in his upper chamber. When his day was easy, he would go pray. Prayer was his respite on good and bad days; it was a part of his everyday rhythm.

You don’t have to go to the Hill Country for respite, but you need it daily like Daniel. Where you do you go pray? Where do you go to refresh your soul when the pressures mount? Find a time and a place; go pray. Your soul needs it.

Re:Verse reading–Daniel 6 (day five)  

For He is the living God and enduring forever, And His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed,
And His dominion will be forever.

When and how did Darius learn about the Living God?  Certainly the culmination was after the lions den. Could he have been both watching and listening prior to the lions den?  Daniel’s custom (see vs 10) communicated God’s character and nature. I suspect there was more to it than that.  The king’s words sound like they came from someone else. And now that Daniel has come through the lions den unharmed, those words made sense and now have significant meaning to the king. Could those words be Daniel’s?  Could Daniel have been not only living a faithful example, but also talking and teaching about the Living God he was following. Daniel’s influence was due to his faithfulness to AND his testimony about the Living God.  Are we consistent and faithful in both our actions and our words?

1 Peter 3;15  But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. 

Re:Verse reading–Daniel 6 (day four)

Daniel was in exile in Babylon, but God had commanded His people to prosper and serve their enemies. Daniel had served Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar faithfully…now he is serving Darius. Even as he served, Daniel faithfully worshiped God and gave witness His glory.

So when Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den, did God deliver him because he was such a good man and it was unfair the way he was being treated? No. God saved Daniel so the Babylonians would see His glory and worship Him. In verses 26-27, Darius proclaims God as the eternal, living God. Daniel was the recipient of redemption to bring glory to God. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8)

When God brings redemption to your life, do you give glory to God? It is not our goodness…it is His grace.

Re:Verse reading–Daniel 6 (day three)

We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.

In a world in which the faces of out groups—be they religious minorities or other socially or economically marginalized factions—change with the ebb and flow of revolutions and empires, the prohibition against religious tests for public life has loomed large in the formation and development of our nation.  The Founders recognized that to view a human being through the prism of a belief system you do not share is to discount his character, or at the very least to fail to examine it.  That wisdom came directly from the influence of Christian thought.  Are you holding this truth to be self-evident?  Treat that out group like you are one of them, because one day, you will be.  It has always been so for Christians.