hosea

The Lord Lion’s Share, Hosea 11

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God loves us, He really does!!!

The Lord walks with us and reels us in, and “reals us in” to reality too. Realigned with God is how we are to live our lives. In reality, God gets the “Lion’s Share” and more.

God is surrounding us and instilled in our Spirit and us in Him. God loves us like no other. Even to wandering people, like Israelites and Judah-ites in Hosea’s time, God said and says: I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them.

This March, for the “Roaring in like a Lion”, there is no bigger nor better Lion than our Lion of the Lord. GOD MEANS BUSINESS and PROTECTS and HOLDS His people, as a Lion would for cubs. This is for the wandering of old and the wondering of new. This is for us, we can not deny God as love pulling us in.

For I am God, and not a man – the Holy One among you… 

They will follow the Lord; He will roar like a Lion. When He roars, His children will come trembling… 

The Lord Almighty LOVES, He will Roar and implore His people to come to Him. 

Let us be His. Let us walk in His Way. 

Amen 

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Hosea 11:1-11

“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. But the more they were called, the more they went away from me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images. It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them.

“Will they not return to Egypt and will not Assyria rule over them because they refuse to repent? A sword will flash in their cities; it will devour their false prophets and put an end to their plans. My people are determined to turn from me. Even though they call me God Most High, I will by no means exalt them.

“How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboyim? My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused. I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I devastate Ephraim again. 

For I am God, and not a man – the Holy One among you. I will not come against their cities. They will follow the Lord; he will roar like a lion. When he roars, his children will come trembling from the west. They will come from Egypt, trembling like sparrows, from Assyria, fluttering like doves. I will settle them in their homes,” declares the Lord.

The Walking Led, Hosea 12

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“So you, by the help of your God, return; observe mercy and justice, and wait on your God continually.“

I’m stretching my left leg these days, it’s a small hamstring thing, it WILL get better I am assured.  No worries. I tested my right leg in the same stretching exercises yesterday to see if it’s general old age or specific issue – but it’s specific, the right leg is fine. I’ve got the hamstring and also some hip pain, but it’s not something to stop walking, if anything I need to be walking more, good for every part of my body.

I joked that the Lord touched my hip, like Jacob, to get my attention. To both Jacob and me, we had to keep walking, be the “walking led” rather than “the walking dead”.

Jacob is so crucial in Bible history and fulfilling prophecy, he is the one whom God rename Israel, and his 12 sons, 12 tribes of Israel brought forth the tribe families. Sure, they were much trouble too, from the Joseph situation down the well, to the continued lack of following the Lord. Many times corrected and still in need of rescue. 

Hosea spoke of Jacob in the prophet-way of their people needing directions and correction. Spoke of Jacob struggling (touching his brother’s heal, finding how to steal a birthright, and in getting the wife he wanted) and spoke concerning Jacob struggling until he found God. And then these words of Jacob getting his spouse: “Jacob fled to the country of Syria; Israel served for a spouse, And for a wife he tended sheep. By a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, And by a prophet he was preserved.” 

Wow, doesn’t that sound like Jesus too? Serving for tending sheep (us), searching for a wife (us the church as His Bride), a time in Egypt, and a preservation (Jacob and sons by Joseph’s generosity and forgiveness and US as Gentiles and Israelites saved by Jesus fulfillment of prophesy)… wow…

Yes, old testament Hosea wrote of the time and the struggles. We can read in the salvation and the Savior… we can know to reach for God rather than struggle. 

Thank You Lord for us being YOUR “walking led”… Keep walking my friends. 

Amen

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Hosea 12

“Ephraim feeds on the wind,

And pursues the east wind;

He daily increases lies and desolation.

Also they make a covenant with the Assyrians,

And oil is carried to Egypt.

“The Lord also brings a charge against Judah,

And will punish Jacob according to his ways;

According to his deeds He will recompense him.

He took his brother by the heel in the womb,

And in his strength he struggled with God.

Yes, he struggled with the Angel and prevailed;

He wept, and sought favor from Him.

He found Him in Bethel,

And there He spoke to us—

That is, the Lord God of hosts.

The Lord is His memorable name.

So you, by the help of your God, return;

Observe mercy and justice,

And wait on your God continually.

“A cunning Canaanite!

Deceitful scales are in his hand;

He loves to oppress.

And Ephraim said,

‘Surely I have become rich,

I have found wealth for myself;

In all my labors

They shall find in me no iniquity that is sin.’

“But I am the Lord your God,

Ever since the land of Egypt;

I will again make you dwell in tents,

As in the days of the appointed feast.

I have also spoken by the prophets,

And have multiplied visions;

I have given symbols through the witness of the prophets.”

Though Gilead has idols—

Surely they are vanity—

Though they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal,

Indeed their altars shall be heaps in the furrows of the field.

Jacob fled to the country of Syria;

Israel served for a spouse,

And for a wife he tended sheep.

By a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt,

And by a prophet he was preserved.

Ephraim provoked Him to anger most bitterly;

Therefore his Lord will leave the guilt of his bloodshed upon him,

And return his reproach upon him.

People being People, Corruption, Hosea 10-11

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For it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you.

Love the person, hate the sin. Know the Lord loves each person. 

Know that each person sins and whole peoples go off the deep end at times. But the Lord loves them. 

I woke up with the name Voltaire on the brain. I don’t know why, I don’t know his writing in the 1700s, but a quick Wikipedia search tells me his writings stirred up controversy. I’m not going to dig too deep, just knew he was commenting on his time… There were corruptions in the monarchy and the close connection between government and church was fraught with abuse of power…

Yes, life history tells us that’s a theme… 2000 years earlier, Israel and Judah and corruption are the forefront of Hosea’s writing. Clearly the Lord calls out the corruption and of course the false worship. The Lord’s warning to Samuel, prophet, early on, was that kings will divert attention from worshiping the Lord.  As Saul was corruptable, so was the long line of kings… Even as the lineage of Jesus was brought forth from the appointed David, after the Lord tapped him to lead, corruption marred the moments that could have been lived better by listening to the Lord. 

Hosea wrote:

Their heart is deceitful, and now they must bear their guilt. The Lord will demolish their altars and destroy their sacred stones. Then they will say, “We have no king because we did not revere the Lord. But even if we had a king, what could he do for us?” They make many promises, take false oaths and make agreements; therefore lawsuits spring up like poisonous weeds in a plowed field.

CORRUPTION… a continuous issue… The Lord who raised His people (then and now) saw and sees corruption: “My people are determined to turn from me. Even though they call me God Most High, I will by no means exalt them.” 

Love the people, hate the sin. 

Jesus spoke in John 3:19-20: “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”

We know history,  we know sin, we know evil at a certain level. The Lord knows that the cure is His righteousness. He will bring forth His people and corruption will put on incorruptible Jesus as our Light and Leader to replace all earthly kings.

Thank You Lord for the Light!

Amen 

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1 Corinthians 15:53-55 KJV

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

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Hosea 10-11 NIV

Israel was a spreading vine;

    he brought forth fruit for himself.

As his fruit increased,

    he built more altars;

as his land prospered,

    he adorned his sacred stones.

Their heart is deceitful,

    and now they must bear their guilt.

The Lord will demolish their altars

    and destroy their sacred stones.

Then they will say, “We have no king

    because we did not revere the Lord.

But even if we had a king,

    what could he do for us?”

They make many promises,

    take false oaths

    and make agreements;

therefore lawsuits spring up

    like poisonous weeds in a plowed field.

The people who live in Samaria fear

    for the calf-idol of Beth Aven.

Its people will mourn over it,

    and so will its idolatrous priests,

those who had rejoiced over its splendor,

    because it is taken from them into exile.

It will be carried to Assyria

    as tribute for the great king.

Ephraim will be disgraced;

    Israel will be ashamed of its foreign alliances.

Samaria’s king will be destroyed,

    swept away like a twig on the surface of the waters.

The high places of wickedness will be destroyed—

    it is the sin of Israel.

Thorns and thistles will grow up

    and cover their altars.

Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!”

    and to the hills, “Fall on us!”

“Since the days of Gibeah, you have sinned, Israel,

    and there you have remained.

Will not war again overtake

    the evildoers in Gibeah?

When I please, I will punish them;

    nations will be gathered against them

    to put them in bonds for their double sin.

Ephraim is a trained heifer

    that loves to thresh;

so I will put a yoke

    on her fair neck.

I will drive Ephraim,

    Judah must plow,

    and Jacob must break up the ground.

Sow righteousness for yourselves,

    reap the fruit of unfailing love,

and break up your unplowed ground;

    for it is time to seek the Lord,

until he comes

    and showers his righteousness on you.

But you have planted wickedness,

    you have reaped evil,

    you have eaten the fruit of deception.

Because you have depended on your own strength

    and on your many warriors,

the roar of battle will rise against your people,

    so that all your fortresses will be devastated—

as Shalman devastated Beth Arbel on the day of battle,

    when mothers were dashed to the ground with their children.

So will it happen to you, Bethel,

    because your wickedness is great.

When that day dawns,

    the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.

God’s Love for Israel

“When Israel was a child, I loved him,

    and out of Egypt I called my son.

But the more they were called,

    the more they went away from me.

They sacrificed to the Baals

    and they burned incense to images.

It was I who taught Ephraim to walk,

    taking them by the arms;

but they did not realize

    it was I who healed them.

I led them with cords of human kindness,

    with ties of love.

To them I was like one who lifts

    a little child to the cheek,

    and I bent down to feed them.

“Will they not return to Egypt

    and will not Assyria rule over them

    because they refuse to repent?

A sword will flash in their cities;

    it will devour their false prophets

    and put an end to their plans.

My people are determined to turn from me.

    Even though they call me God Most High,

    I will by no means exalt them.

“How can I give you up, Ephraim?

    How can I hand you over, Israel?

How can I treat you like Admah?

    How can I make you like Zeboyim?

My heart is changed within me;

    all my compassion is aroused.

I will not carry out my fierce anger,

    nor will I devastate Ephraim again.

For I am God, and not a man—

    the Holy One among you.

    I will not come against their cities.

They will follow the Lord;

    he will roar like a lion.

When he roars,

    his children will come trembling from the west.

They will come from Egypt,

    trembling like sparrows,

    from Assyria, fluttering like doves.

I will settle them in their homes,”

    declares the Lord.

Israel’s Sin

Ephraim has surrounded me with lies,

    Israel with deceit.

And Judah is unruly against God,

    even against the faithful Holy One.

A Stretch Job for God, Hosea 4-5

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Then they will seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”

Thank God I have an option for Physical Therapy – I can’t wait to stretch my muscles, I’m not sure what would damage and what is good for my hamstring pull and I have not been babying it much, healing on the go. It takes time. It’s not an alignment issue but an attachment one. That attachment restores alignment. 

I can’t complain, it will heal but need Physical Therapy to help to know which way to go. I’m looking forward to that. I joke a little bit of God touching Jacob’s hip as he struggled with God, and got Jacob’s attention. I was grumbling some last week about discomfort then drove by a one-legged man, oh, stop my grumbling… Similarly knowing past damage to my shoulder is completely healed – and so last week when I walked by a man with one arm, it was like seeing a child with one arm while mine was on the mend years ago, I again told myself to stop grumbling… Start stretching… 

I see in my reading about grumbling forgetful people who lived into generations of grumbling, and God knows they would have been better to count blessings and stretch. I feel like I have been reading a broken record in these chapters of Hosea, about Israel northern kingdom called Ephraim, the son of amazing Joseph, with the dreamcoat and amazing story going to Egypt and giving life-saving food for his brothers, father Jacob in a famine, and giving forgiveness to brothers who abandoned him. This now next few generations repeats the grumbling and eventually healing: Idolatry, abandonment, restoration. It’s both an attachment and alignment issue. They choose idols over God. 

Hosea writes of the long drift. “Ephraim” the son of Joseph’s name, is used for identifying the northern kingdom of Israel which drifted. With Judah not far behind, “Judah” (a brother of Joseph) being the identifier for the southern split kingdom. After Solomon’s line, it all fractured and yet a small remnant remained for God’s purpose of bringing Jesus through the line of David  who came from the line of Jacob, renamed Israel for the people of God. 

Maybe these people didn’t have the hip pain like Jacob to remind them to rely upon God, worship Him. Maybe our aches and pains are that too, not God inflicted but used for a God-convicted focused view to remember to rely upon Him. REATTACHMENT and RESTORATION.

WE ALL NEED OUR PHYSICAL THERAPIST IN JESUS… STRETCH US LORD, STRETCH OUT LOVE. 

AMEN 

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Hosea 4 and 5 NKJV

God’s Charge Against Israel

Hear the word of the Lord, You children of Israel, For the Lord brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land:

“There is no truth or mercy Or knowledge of God in the land. By swearing and lying, Killing and stealing and committing adultery, They break all restraint, With bloodshed upon bloodshed. Therefore the land will mourn; And everyone who dwells there will waste away With the beasts of the field And the birds of the air; Even the fish of the sea will be taken away.

“Now let no man contend, or rebuke another; For your people are like those who contend with the priest. Therefore you shall stumble in the day; The prophet also shall stumble with you in the night; And I will destroy your mother. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

“The more they increased, The more they sinned against Me; I will change their glory into shame. They eat up the sin of My people; They set their heart on their iniquity. And it shall be: like people, like priest. So I will punish them for their ways, And reward them for their deeds. For they shall eat, but not have enough; They shall commit harlotry, but not increase; Because they have ceased obeying the Lord.

The Idolatry of Israel

“Harlotry, wine, and new wine enslave the heart. My people ask counsel from their wooden idols, And their staff informs them. For the spirit of harlotry has caused them to stray, And they have played the harlot against their God. They offer sacrifices on the mountaintops, And burn incense on the hills, Under oaks, poplars, and terebinths, Because their shade is good. Therefore your daughters commit harlotry, And your brides commit adultery. 

“I will not punish your daughters when they commit harlotry, Nor your brides when they commit adultery; For the men themselves go apart with harlots, and offer sacrifices with a ritual harlot. Therefore people who do not understand will be trampled.

“Though you, Israel, play the harlot, Let not Judah offend. Do not come up to Gilgal, Nor go up to Beth Aven, Nor swear an oath, saying, ‘As the Lord lives’— “For Israel is stubborn Like a stubborn calf; Now the Lord will let them forage Like a lamb in open country.

“Ephraim is joined to idols, Let him alone. Their drink is rebellion, They commit harlotry continually. Her rulers dearly love dishonor. The wind has wrapped her up in its wings, And they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

Impending Judgment on Israel and Judah

“Hear this, O priests! Take heed, O house of Israel! Give ear, O house of the king! For yours is the judgment, Because you have been a snare to Mizpah And a net spread on Tabor. The revolters are deeply involved in slaughter, Though I rebuke them all. I know Ephraim, And Israel is not hidden from Me; For now, O Ephraim, you commit harlotry; Israel is defiled.

“They do not direct their deeds Toward turning to their God, For the spirit of harlotry is in their midst, And they do not know the Lord. The pride of Israel testifies to his face; Therefore Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity; Judah also stumbles with them.

“With their flocks and herds They shall go to seek the Lord, But they will not find Him; He has withdrawn Himself from them. They have dealt treacherously with the Lord, For they have begotten pagan children. Now a New Moon shall devour them and their heritage.

“Blow the ram’s horn in Gibeah, The trumpet in Ramah! Cry aloud at Beth Aven, ‘Look behind you, O Benjamin!’ Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke; Among the tribes of Israel I make known what is sure.

“The princes of Judah are like those who remove a landmark; I will pour out My wrath on them like water. Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, Because he willingly walked by human precept. Therefore I will be to Ephraim like a moth, And to the house of Judah like rottenness.

“When Ephraim saw his sickness, And Judah saw his wound, Then Ephraim went to Assyria And sent to King Jareb; Yet he cannot cure you, Nor heal you of your wound. For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, And like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear them and go away; I will take them away, and no one shall rescue. I will return again to My place Till they acknowledge their offense. Then they will seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”

Raisin Cakes? Hosea 3

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I ate an oatmeal raisin cookie yesterday, was so good, was left at my work kitchen counter in a bag of half a dozen. Yum. And it reminded me of the days at work that we had less and shared more, especially our time and comradery as a whole group and not a pocket here or there. This moment was late on a Friday and I was hanging signs for the festive fall “do something different” week we are planning for some old time fun, from dress up to wackiness and of course costumes on the day of 10/31… I hope we are bringing old-fashioned joy and the spark of spirit into work. I hope people participate! I try to remind folks that now “these are the good ole days” for our future. 

Clinging to “it used to be this way” should not prevent us from “let’s try this new thing”… Most of all, we long-timers must be aware of how fast thing move and how changes are inevitable – don’t cling to the world – cling to God and His Hope.

If I have the hope of rekindling the feelings of old, I can’t even imagine God’s feelings for His children of Israel, those of the time of writing in Hosea, the prophet, and of the whole of His children to return to looking towards Him, like a return of the commitment between a husband and wife, where the husband already knew before marriage (portrayed in the Hosea 1-2 scenarios) of the unfaithfulness that wife would have. This is Hosea portrayed as the Lord, on purpose for the writing and teaching, as a faithful one bringing her back for a price, forgiving and forever-ing the relationship. 

Look, the pagan worship gave raisin cakes, such an unusual tidbit to point out,  but surely God will give (and did give) the whole vineyard! God gave it and then took it back at great price. I didn’t read the scholars, I just like sitting in my mind and fingers writing with the idea of Jesus, the vine being God’s payment to buy us back from sin and death as a price unfathomable. Jesus the Vine, us the branches, God the Vinedresser trimming and making stronger – and the fruit that is fresh and alive always coming from His growth of spiritual fruit on us. 

And now is still of course the time to think about the FUTURE goodness, God-promised goodness, the goodness of His Name, the realness of His Truth, the Wholeness of realizing the Oneness with God. We should stay loyal to God in these growingly “later” days.

The children of Israel, and us too, a blessing to turn from the world and refocus upon Him, upon what we can do, how we can live. A focus to focus on Him.

A raisin cookie or raisin cake? Nothing compares to the fruitful life with the Lord.

Amen

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Hosea 3 NKJV

Israel Will Return to God

Then the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the Lord for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans.”

So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and one and one-half homers of barley. And I said to her, “You shall stay with me many days; you shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man—so, too, will I be toward you.”

For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim. Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days.

It’s All About Devotion, Hosea 2

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 ‘Mercy is shown.’

Life, what is the meaning of life?

Surely living knowing God’s Love and Devotion to God because of God’s Devotion to us, with us, for us. Trusting God is from seeing and believing in His Faithfulness – and from thousands of years of unfaithfulness by people, God STILL wants not just a civil relationship but a SACRED one. He looks to us as a bride for a husband and more than that, in Hosea the prophet’s writing, a husband taking back a very adulterous wife, a people who worshipped fake made up Gods with the real stuff God gave them. GOD HAS MERCY IN ORDER TO RESTORE THEN RESTART THE RELATIONSHIP. 

God IS Love. When people (us too) have love that is misdirected, squandered elsewhere, and start chasing after second best that is a falsehood and does not even exist, that is not devotion. The meaning of life is devotion to the Life-Giver not the life style. 

I was watching cats yesterday morning,  they are more comfortable with me now after a week and two cats came up for pets even, the reserved one only came for the food, she and they are devoted to their owner more than me, good, and yet interesting as they share thankfulness, but you know their loyalty is reserved. The dog at my neighbors, I went to see yesterday evening, was at first apprehensive until he heard my voice and when I saw him recognizing me, I even got a tail wag. Immediately I let him outside to do his business. He had refused to acknowledge another neighbor earlier in the day, shaking and too freaked out to trust, he was not comfortable for someone he didn’t know well. I fed him and waited around to give company, the dog however immediately was pining for his owners, glued to the windows, loyal, wanting, waiting. And oh the political canvasser knocking on the door got an earful! Protective, knowledgeable, devoted. Imagine if we were to be that devoted to God and shook off anyone and anything that was not our real devotion. 

God Almighty provides. A people provided for in old testament times, you would expect, would be the people to acknowledge that He DOES provide. And God asks this. Yet they (and we) get distracted and lose touch. And Hosea’s writing about the unfaithfulness of the people of Israel and Judah worshiping Baal, a false god, could ALSO mean all our unfaithfulness to what we cling to besides the One True God. We thank things and people before God, whereas we should thank God for people, provisions, and hope.

When fear begets falseness, steady devotion keeps us connected. Wisdom helps us wait on God, and be wandering less than we would if we did not already know God provides.

And we DO know God provides.

Devotion is a way of life, devotion with meaning, let us acknowledge and recognize God’s blessings and correction.  Devotion, a way of life, because God stays devoted to us.

Amen

“… In lovingkindness and mercy; I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, And you shall know the Lord.”

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Hosea 2 NKJV – The Lord’s Love for His Unfaithful People

Say to your brethren, ‘My people,’ And to your sisters, ‘Mercy is shown.’

God’s Unfaithful People – “Bring charges against your mother, bring charges; For she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband! Let her put away her harlotries from her sight, And her adulteries from between her breasts; Lest I strip her naked And expose her, as in the day she was born, And make her like a wilderness, And set her like a dry land, And slay her with thirst.

“I will not have mercy on her children, For they are the children of harlotry. For their mother has played the harlot; She who conceived them has behaved shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, Who give me my bread and my water, My wool and my linen, My oil and my drink.’

“Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, And wall her in, So that she cannot find her paths. She will chase her lovers, But not overtake them; Yes, she will seek them, but not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, For then it was better for me than now.’ For she did not know That I gave her grain, new wine, and oil, And multiplied her silver and gold — Which they prepared for Baal.

“Therefore I will return and take away My grain in its time And My new wine in its season, And will take back My wool and My linen, Given to cover her nakedness. Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, And no one shall deliver her from My hand. I will also cause all her mirth to cease, Her feast days, Her New Moons, Her Sabbaths — All her appointed feasts.

“And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, of which she has said, ‘These are my wages that my lovers have given me.’ So I will make them a forest, And the beasts of the field shall eat them. I will punish her For the days of the Baals to which she burned incense. She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry. And went after her lovers; But Me she forgot,” says the Lord.

God’s Mercy on His People

“Therefore, behold, I will allure her, Will bring her into the wilderness, And speak comfort to her. I will give her her vineyards from there, And the Valley of Achor as a door of hope; She shall sing there, As in the days of her youth, As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.

“And it shall be, in that day,” Says the Lord, “That you will call Me ‘My Husband,’ And no longer call Me ‘My Master,’ For I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals, And they shall be remembered by their name no more. In that day I will make a covenant for them With the beasts of the field, With the birds of the air, And with the creeping things of the ground. Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth, To make them lie down safely.

“I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me In righteousness and justice, In lovingkindness and mercy; I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, And you shall know the Lord.

“It shall come to pass in that day That I will answer,” says the Lord;

“I will answer the heavens, And they shall answer the earth. The earth shall answer With grain, With new wine, And with oil; They shall answer Jezreel. Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; Then I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they shall say, ‘You are my God!’ ”

Spiritual Rift needs a Lift, Hosea 1

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It’s not that I wanted to find a “connection” (disconnection) between my doctor visit and the the rift of Israel from God in divided kingdom times of the old testament, but I did. 

As I stopped myself from falling last week, I caught myself, putting full force body weight upon my left leg, felt a small but real pop. It hurt and made it initially hard to bend or squat, yet it felt increasingly better over the weekend, it didn’t slow me down too much and I did take it “easier” plus massive ibuprofen.  When engaged in conversation or thought, I didn’t notice it at all.

When I arrived at the doctors office Monday, I purposefully had not taken any morning ibuprofen so that I might gauge my status. The orthopedic doctor was excellent in diagnosis even without a scan. Hamstring pull, attachment tendon small tear, not full, and completely heal-able with physical therapy.  It was when I rolled to my stomach on the table and tried to lift my left leg up in back, like a superman pose, that it wouldn’t lift. It was very telltale for the diagnosis, I could lift my right but could not engage my left leg to behave normal. No lift. A rift. (And somewhere in this adventure there is a gift, to be determined) …

Ah, Hosea, the prophet of Israel to teach via demonstration, God chose Him to talk about that RIFT between the long bickering non-listening people of the divided kingdoms and God. Ah Hosea… In what could have been a good life, this was the time of northern and southern kingdoms Israel and Judah knowing separation by rift – after Solomon’s son’s  line fractured communities – times of separation from God by rift of not worshipping Him. Like a wandering on the map like in Moses’s time, this was fully a Spiritual wandering that included bad kings who did not lead their people in devotion to the One true God. The RIFT was real. God knew He would have to heal and how. God bless the repair.

I was totally engaged with the doctor’s diagnosis for my RIFT, and grateful he was teaching an intern so I could also learn, and I heard the small talk of “hamstring” which I already knew I at least minimally strained with a pulled muscle, soreness down the back of my leg. Not my back, not my hip, but my leg attachment to my pelvic bones. A specific moment of rift, a missing part of completeness that WILL be repaired and needs strength and stretching. I will be fine, thank God, even going back to my favorite PT people. 

Rifts are to be dealt with. That’s another reason God sent the prophets, urging repairable reconnecting to God. Spiritual rifts require repair. God kept His line through King David alive for Jesus to come out of Bethlehem in the land of Judah. They and we needed/need Him.

Now we must know even with our injuries and illnesses and strife seemingly non-repairable-on-earth that there will be healing in Heaven as gifts of reconstruction. Like God calling us His, the children of God will come together. The people will rejoice again. Jesus our Savior saver. And like my leg will raise again, the spiritual rift needs a lift.

Come Jesus come.

Amen

—

Hosea 1

New King James Version

The word of the Lord that came to Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

The Family of Hosea

When the Lord began to speak by Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea: “Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry And children of harlotry, For the land has committed great [spiritual adultery] harlotry By departing from the Lord.”

So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. Then the Lord said to him: “Call his name Jezreel, For in a little while I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, And bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. It shall come to pass in that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”

And she conceived again and bore a daughter. Then God said to him: “Call her name Lo-Ruhamah, For I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, But I will utterly take them away. Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah, Will save them by the Lord their God, And will not save them by bow, nor by sword or battle, horses or horsemen.”

Now when she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. Then God said: “Call his name Lo-Ammi, For you are not My people, And I will not be your God.

The Restoration of Israel

“Yet the number of the children of Israel Shall be as the sand of the sea, Which cannot be measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ There it shall be said to them, ‘You are sons of the living God.’ Then the children of Judah and the children of Israel Shall be gathered together, And appoint for themselves one head; And they shall come up out of the land, For great will be the day of Jezreel!