Passion

In my daily reading I’ve just finished Hosea, and it’s interesting to keep it in perspective with the rest of the reading that we have done this far. It’s much easier to figure out just what’s going on when you’re immersed daily in a chronological type style.

In Hosea, we’re near the end of the
Israel’s existence as its own nation. God is trying to display His love for His people, and he uses a man’s love for his wife to do it. In case you’re not familiar with the story, God tells Hosea to marry a woman that will cheat on him, and eventually end up in prostitution. He does, and has a child, and then there’s some question if the next two children are his or by some other man. Each are given a name with a meaning. Eventually God tells Hosea to go find “Gomer” his wife and buy her back.

Here we have an interesting set of circumstances and things to learn about God:

It’s amazing that when marriage is now made up of “love”, we fail to realize that true love bought back a wayward wife and redeemed her. In the age of no-fault divorce, and even Christians believing that God blesses certain divorces, God takes the ultimate case and says, I love you even more– and we’re to be like Him.

Think on these things.

There’s a heart breaking story a woman is kept alive to save unborn baby.  It turns out that this couple was expecting their second baby when the mother started having some nausea, etc, that she shrugged off as normal morning sickness. One night during dinner, she seemed to stop functioning. The husband restarted her breathing, and they found a cancerous tumor in her brain. Now she’s being kept alive because the unborn baby inside her seems to still be thriving. The woman’s body has fought off pneumonia and a high fever, and the doctors think that if she can stay functioning through artificial means for another month, the baby may be able to be born prematurely and fine.I can’t imagine what the husband is going through. He has to explain to his oldest (I think they said he was 3) why mommy is still in the hospital. He said that he hates using his wife’s body for no more than a husk, but believes that life is precious. It’s interesting, because we always hear in the debates– abortion is ok to save the life of the mother, and I’ve been personally wrestling with this one for a while. Here’s a case where the baby is being kept alive by the mother’s brain dead body.The sad part is that, the husband/wife don’t seem to have the grounding required to survive this. The best they can do is some kind of talk about good being poured out other places because of this thing happening! The response would probably be the same as mine– could you write down those other people or places that are benefiting?! As born again believers, we know that God is in control of everything, that our sin is the source cause of all the bad things that are happening in this world, and that God works all things together for good for those who are the called according to His purpose. Doesn’t mean bad things don’t happen, but it does mean that we have a God who is in control.

In reading through the beginning of Leviticus, you find an interesting set of sacrifices.  They’re interesting for a number of different reasons:

For starters, can you imagine bringing a sacrifice in where you had to kill the animal you brought because you sinned?  The ceremonies surrounding the beginning of the sacrifices had blood all through it.  It was placed on the priests, it was placed on the altar, and it was poured out at the base of the altar.  This wasn’t just any ‘ole lamb from the flock either, it was the best.

Then there are all the different rules about how to offer, what to offer, what sex of what to offer, who participated in the offering, and what you were offering for: peace, sin, wave, heave, etc…  If Moses had Microsoft Word, there would no doubt have been a handy table to index all these things; instead we have it in prose.

What struck me most in reading through was the fact that there were sacrifices there for sins that a person committed in ignorance.  Whether it was because no person could
remember to keep all the law, or that we all sin no matter if we know it or not, there was a sacrifice for it.

That begs the question, how are we doing at confessing the sins we don’t even know we
do to God?  How are we at responding to sin that is exposed by the Holy Spirit.  God does not have an ex post facto provision on sin.  Whether you committed it and knew it was wrong or not, it’s the same thing.

If you need, take time today to thank God for His forgiveness, and thank Him that He forgives even the sin you are not aware that you’ve committed!

The first is that the desire for Israel to have a king is not unique,
but predicted in the law.  To me, it seems obvious that they should not
want to go this direction because of the warning in Deuteronomy about
it.  I keep trying to remind myself that the Scriptures were not as
available to the people of Israel as it is to you and I.  Still, you
would think they would know what they were getting into.

It is interesting to try to put yourself in the position of the children
of Israel with the judges and then the kings.  They were lead with a
mighty hand to Canaan, but then they started to neglect God and He
stopped talking to them directly.  This linked into my mind how we are
so zealous when we are first saved, and seem to gradually get more
“mature” so that we aren’t taking as many controversial positions.
Hence why God also has to get us back into place through trials and
suffering– ouch!  I wish we learned through easier means.

When Saul is first chosen, he doesn’t feel worthy.  He hides with the
baggage!  Yet it doesn’t take long for the position to go to his head.
It seems that all these leaders start by not asking God for direction.
In a telling episode, it’s not that Saul doesn’t ask, but that he
doesn’t wait for the answer.  First, in waiting for Samuel to come and
do the sacrifices, and then about when to attack his enemies.

Saul was victorious over his enemies, but his distance from God grew
greater.  It goes to show that we can do things in God’s name or what
we think God would want us to do and end up farther away than we were
if we just waited on God’s timing.  It brings back to mind the phrase
often used in the New Testament– “In the fullness of time.”  God waits
until time is full, and then acts.  How about us?

I’ve been pretty busy getting this past few weeks, and don’t know how long until I get settled enough to get regular at posting again.  In the mean time, I thought you’d enjoy this:

The commentary I’m reading in Psalms brought a point home again as I read it last night– one that we need to continue to hit as we try to be on God’s side. The Author was saying that in Psalm 25 David really wanted God’s leading. It was a time in his life that Absolom had usurped authority and David knew that his sin with Bathsheba was taking its toll on the rest of the kingdom. David begged for God’s leading.The commentary author went on to say that it wasn’t the way we usually ask for God’s will– which wants His will to bend to ours. We need to take the next step– not to be content with knowing and it being empty, but walk into doing and having the heart attitude that will take us to the next step. Through prayer and a change of life we will know God’s leading– if that’s what we truly want.David knew that he was lost without God’s leading. He saw what happened when God’s plan wasn’t followed. He was desperate to follow God’s will.We’re only as filled with the Spirit as we truly want to be.

This morning in Sunday School, our pastor touched on 2 Peter 1:4-9  and how that God has given us great promises and that as Christians we’re to be building on that saving faith different aspects– each one more difficult than the first! He then concluded with verse 8 where it states that if we have those things in our life, we will not be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of Christ, but it was the next verse that struck me as interesting.Our pastor then went on to say that verse 9 shows that those that do not have these things in their lives are like a near sighted person– they cannot see afar off. It reminded me of those that look for signs and miracles or the fact that one of the biggest things people want help finding is God’s will. Do they need to have books and sermons on it because they cannot see it because they are not in the Word?Certainly that must be part of it– because if we were in the Word we would know whether we were headed the right, and we would know God’s mind about a given topic. Another part of it might be that we want to know things now and we want things our way.

There is a lot in the Scripture to tell you how you can know you’re in God’s will if you’re willing to take time to find it. 

The greatest lessons in life can often be learned by listening. It is what comes into our minds and hearts that influences what we are and what we will become. The things that we read, watch, and listen to effect our lives more than we could possibly ever imagine. A lot of who we are is made up of what we take or let come into ourselves.

In the stillness of a quite farm, a lot of things can be learned. Lots more, sometimes, than studying endless numbers of books or being up on the latest events. It is here, in the quietness of nature that all things complex become simple, and the simple things of this world become complex.

In nature, we begin to see all the wonder and handiwork of the Creator and begin to marvel at all that He has made. We begin to see a bit of the nature of Him. We see His thoughtful and loving care, not even letting a sparrow fall without His notice. We see the purity and amazing design and we begin to be entranced in that we cannot fully comprehend, His love for us.

I’d like to take you on a journey with me through the thoughts and beauty of the nature that He has created. In it, He shows the principles that He has ordained, and shows Himself through it.

Water is an interesting substance. Known mostly for the basic needs it fulfills, it also is neat to look at it in ponds. One of my favorite places to go on my trip to visit a friend this past summer was their pond. Call it a pond or a lake, it still has the same idea: a body of water that you could swim, play, boat, or marvel in.

I found that the time that I liked the pond the most was in the morning. When first the sun came up, it started to evaporate the water and cause a mist or fog coming off of it. I can remember the first time that I saw it. I’m not quite sure how to describe the translucent vapors coming off of it into the air, and thinking of how incredible the whole process of evaporation was. You could study and know all about the water cycle, but the Author of it is much more incredible than even it.

One morning, while out at the pond, I was dangling my feet over the edge of the dock. It was something my friend had me do, and my feet could just touch the water. That morning, the water was still. It looked almost as glass, and as my feet touched the water it caused ripples. As my two feet moved back and forth, the ripples that came from them grew. I could see that they went forward a long ways, and back to the shore.

As I sat there, thinking to myself, I began to think of the world in which we live. I thought about how it is easy to become content in just letting things be the way they are. I began to see the two feet as those that would stand for Him and be willing to make waves. The two feet, though they were size ten and a half, caused ripples that had much wider an impact because they were willing to stand for Him.

The next morning, I went out, but the pond was quite different. The wind, which Christ likens to the Spirit in His talk with Nicodemus in John’s Gospel, was blowing steadily across the water. I looked at it and thought of how the Spirit is the one really at work in the world today. Beyond our comprehension, He is at work preparing lives, making intercession for us, and comforting us. I saw that He was really the one doing the work, as we stood. His power was far reaching, covering the whole world. I stood in awe, wondering why we were so hesitant to serve Him when He was in control.