Genesis 20-21 Just How Faithful?

There’s something comforting about Abraham even though it wasn’t good:  He was just like us in that he, too, was susceptible to falling back into patterns of sin.  Once again, as he traveled into unknown territories, he feared for his own safety, thinking that others might kill him to take his wife.  That seems to me to show a lack of faith in God’s promise to protect and prosper him!

Abraham eventually had to face the consequences for one of his “lack of faith” moments.  His earlier attempt to “help God out” by agreeing with his wife to try to conceive the child of promise through her Egyptian handmaiden was now causing problems.  Ishmael was beginning to taunt Isaac, the son of the promise, and Sarah demanded that Abraham send Hagar and Ishmael away.  It’s hard to believe her attitude, since she was the one who suggested the solution in the first place!

The New Testament tells us that God credited Abraham’s faith to him as righteousness.  The part I stumble over is Abraham’s stumbling faith!  Yes, he had faith enough to go to the Promised Land.  But he was so human in seemingly forgetting that faith at times.  But God was more faithful and continued to watch over him and bless him and maintain the promised covenant.

That gives me hope!  I, too, have believed God and clung to what He’s told me, and I have found Him to be absolutely faithful.  I trust God and know He has His best planned for my life if I will simply believe and obey.  Yet I, too, find myself slipping into patterns of sin.  I get so put out with myself for my choices, willfully rebelling against the God who has done so much for me!  God does forgive me and He dusts me off and graciously allows me to start over.

Did Abraham feel that way?  I don’t believe it ever says.  But look how God still loved him and blessed him despite himself!  I suppose that’s where my hope comes from.

Father, thank You for showing the absolute truth about people in the Bible, so that they won’t appear better than they really were.  Help me to fully grasp that Your love for me is just as strong as Your love for them all those millennia ago.  You’re still in the business of making things new again!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Genesis 18&19 -- Yeah, He's A REAL Bargainer

Much is made of Abraham’s bargaining with God – getting God to agree not to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah if 50 righteous people were living there, then working God down to a bid of only 10 righteous people.  The point is:  God is absolutely sovereign and all-knowing.  He knew before He began to talk to Abraham that only 4 people in the city would be found righteous enough to merit saving, and He moved them out before carrying out the sentence He’d already pronounced.  Since He knew that already, it sure seems that He wasn’t really giving anything up as He negotiated with Abraham.  Abraham wasn’t the sharp trader that he thought he was.  And since the cities were destroyed, Abraham couldn’t go around bragging that he’d accomplished his task of getting God to relent.

Lot, one of the four God had elected to save, had placed himself in danger by his continued choices, as he continued to move away from God’s chosen patriarch, Abraham, and toward the sin and temptation of the area around Sodom and Gomorrah.  In fact, he was living right in the middle of it, and it was only by the skin of his teeth and by God’s love and grace that he survived his foolhardiness, but it cost him his wife.

Father, there are powerful lessons to remember here.  Anything You allow in my life has nothing to do with my bargaining with You.  Your sovereignty will always trump my supposed intellect.  I also know that I have to be on guard and keep myself away from areas of temptation to sin, for Your warnings are for good cause.  You know me better than I know myself and You use Your knowledge of me to save me not only from Satan’s arrows, but from myself as well.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Genesis 17 -- Children Of The Promise

Abram is now a 99-year old man, and God once again comes to him (Abram appears to be used to this happening) and says, “I am God Almighty.  Obey me and do what is right.”  I don’t know whether this indicates that God is just reinforcing what He’d always told him, knowing what He’s about to tell Abram, or whether Abram might have slipped a little in his obedience.  Perhaps God is subtly reminding him about how Abram tried to do things on his own to “help God out” by having a child with Hagar.  Or perhaps Abram has been minimally obedient as we talked about at youth last night.

God changed his name to “Abraham” to show him that He was about to start a new work in his life.  “New NATIONS will be born from YOU, and kings will come from you.  And I will make an agreement between Me and you and all your descendants from now on:  I will be Your God and the God of all your descendants … I will give you and your descendants all this land forever.  And I will be the God of your descendants.”  God also promised Abraham that He would bless Ishmael and his descendants even though Isaac, soon to be born, would be the son of the promise.

All of Abraham’s descendants includes both the Jews (through Isaac) and the Arabs (through Ishmael).  True to this prophecy and promise, the land has always been inhabited by all of Abraham’s descendants and always will be.  However, somewhere along the way, Ishmael’s descendants stopped worshiping God and bought into the teachings of a man.  God offers to be our God, but He will not force Himself on us.  In a similar way, Abraham’s descendants through the promised son, Isaac, failed to see God’s promised Messiah, Jesus Christ, when He appeared.  Both sets of descendants have therefore missed out on the greatest blessing of all time.

Father, over the past several weeks You’ve really shown me a lot about my relationship with You through David Platt’s book Radical:  Taking Back Your Faith From The American Dream.  I pray that You will guide me through what You’ve taught me in it to see You as clearly as Abraham did, but also guide me to have more faith than he had.  Help me to be always in Your will and to never doubt Your great wisdom and love for me.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Genesis 16 -- The Unintended Consequences Of Sin

“The restlessness of sin is seen here,” my commentary said.  “Instead of waiting on God, Sari persuaded Abram to obtain a child by her maid, Hagar..”

I’ll bet that when Abram left Ur years before at God’s command to go to the Promised Land, he never dreamed that he would by this point have compromised God’s plan by lying to the Egyptians about his relationship with Sarai and that a slave girl most likely obtained there would cause strife in his marriage.

What Sarai basically says in verse 2 is:  “The Lord has not allowed me to have children, so sin!”  She somehow believes that Hagar can be just a surrogate mother and still everything will be fine with the household.  Exactly the opposite happened, and we can expect that when we try to rush ahead of God’s timing.

When animosity arose between Sarai and the now-expectant Hagar, Sarai blamed Abram:  “This is your fault … Let the Lord decide who is right – you or me.”  They were both wrong and neither knew or admitted it.

Sarai finally ran Hagar out of the house, but as she headed back to Egypt, the angel of the Lord stopped her and told her to return and submit to her mistress.  He promised her countless descendants as He had Abram.

The unintended consequences of Abram’s trip to Egypt are amazing to see even today, for Hagar’s son would go on to father the Arab race, and true to what the angel said in this chapter, “He will be against everyone, and everyone will be against him.  He will attack all his brothers.”  At the time, he was an only child, and this probably meant little to Hagar, but now???  Not just his Arab brothers, with the fighting and killing done between the Sunni and Shia branches of Islam, but also his half-brother’s family as well – the Israelites.

It’s so easy to convince ourselves that a sin we desire to commit will not impact anyone – that it is harmless – but sin never is, and Satan loves to hide the price tags until we’ve already bought into it, hook, line, and sinker.  Abram would never have believed that a few minutes of pleasure would lead to the events of 9-11 and wars and riots in virtually every Arab country today.  We need to learn to see sin from God’s viewpoint and know that the real cost might remain hidden for decades or even centuries. 

Father, wake us up to sin’s true cost – Your Son’s death on the cross being the largest expense.  Let us ask to see the price tag before we commit the sin, and help us to believe that the cost will be that terrible.  Rebellion against You is never cheap, Father.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Genesis 14 & 15 That One Star!

God had blessed and protected Abram, despite Abram’s sins, yet Abram expressed nagging doubt about one thing – he wanted a son.  He doubted that he would ever be a father, and there would be no one to pass his legacy on to.  Without a son, Abram felt that everything else God had given him was worthless in the eyes of eternity.  God said, “You will have a son of your own.  He led him outside to the stars and said that his descendants would eventually be as impossible to count as the stars!  One of those stars had even been lit for me and one for each of my sons!

Verse 6 says:  “Abram believed the Lord.  And the Lord accepted Abram’s faith, and that faith made him right with God.”

God has also promised him that he’d own the Promised Land.  Although it seems Abram had firmly established his trust in God about his future son, for some reason he still doubted the promise about the land, it seems.  Out of a terrible darkness came fire and smoke, and it passed through the sacrificed halves of animals as a covenant between God and Abram, promising that one day (still future!) Abram and his descendants would own the land between the Nile and the Euphrates.  God is a Promisekeeper and I want to see this promise fulfilled just as Abram did.  As to the promise of a son, God’s promise has been fulfilled for both Abram and myself.  Just as I was feeling all was lost – that I would have no one to pass my heritage of faith down to, God picked me up and pointed me to Russia.  There He showed me a sign pointing to Kyiv, Ukraine.  He probably smiled as I missed the reference entirely that day, knowing I would look back on the photo I’d taken of that sign pointing me the “right” way.  God is faithful, and my two sons prove it.

Help me to never doubt Your promises, Father.  I can always take them to the bank!  Continue to watch over and bless us and keep us faithful to You.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Genesis 13 -- What God Does When We're In The Middle Of His Will

Wow, this short chapter has so much to say about staying in God’s will!  After Abram, Sarai, and Lot returned to the Promised Land from Egypt, they decided that splitting up was the only option, because their herds and flocks were so large.  Abram was so gracious, giving Lot the choice of where he would locate.  As the elder patriarch, Abram could have simply picked where he wanted to be.  Instead, he said, “If you go to the left, I will go the right.  If you go to the right, I will go to the left.”  Abram was that firm in his belief that God would bless him no matter where he was!

Lot could have deliberately chosen the less appealing land, giving honor to his uncle, but he’d been given the choice and went for what looked like the best.  Unfortunately, the best was right next to the most sinful cities in the area.  Lot chose to live near temptation instead of away from it, and it would cost him.

After Lot departed, God said to Abram:  “Look all around you … All this land that you see I will give to you and your descendants forever … Get up!  Walk through all this land because I am now giving it to you.”

God say it, and it happens!

Father, help me to believe, understand, and firmly hold in my heart to that truth that when I am right in the middle of Your will, I am right where You want me to be, and You will bless my obedience.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Genesis 12 -- Abram Trusted, Then Blinked

There were 18 generations between Adam and Abram, according to previous chapters, and Abram was born 1,018 years after Adam died.  According to the most likely location of the Garden of Eden, Abram’s family line hadn’t strayed too far away, located in Ur, just southeast of the Tower of Babel.

We’re not told whether God had kept up personal conversations with members of this bloodline over the 2000 years since Adam was created, but He sure knew all their names.  Was Abram then surprised when God personally told him to move to another country, or was he used to everyday conversations with God?

He showed great faith in the beginning, setting out for parts unknown under God’s guidance.  Even upon entering Canaan with its aggressive tribes, Abram routinely moved where he was directed and set up altars every time he did.  He trusted in God’s promise of protection and blessing.

But then the drought came and food became scarce.  It would seem this was a test of his faith in God, since God seemed to still routinely talk to him and could easily have told him to move to Egypt for food.  Abram apparently came up with this on his own.  The move indicates Abram may have doubted God’s ability or willingness to see him through the toughest times.  He came up with his own plan to protect his life from possible attempts to kill him and take his wife Sarai from him. 

My commentary nailed it:  “This incident reminds us that we should not wage a spiritual warfare with carnal weapons, that the end does not justify the means, and that we can’t sin and get away with it.”

Had he trusted God, Abram could simply have told the truth about Sarai being his wife and God would have taken care of the rest.  Instead, he was “publicly humbled and deported in disgrace.”

One thing about the Bible --  it doesn’t shirk from pointing out sin even in the patriarchs’ lives!  God’s not in the business of propaganda.  He’s the God of truth.  Wars and all, He helps us see how important obedience is, and what happens when we try to have tings our way rather than His way.

Father, remind me daily not to fight spiritual warfare with non-spiritual weapons.  Keep me from discouragement.  Help me to trust solely in You!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Genesis 10 & 11 -- What Are YOU Building?

God has commanded them to cover the earth.  He wanted man, created in His image, to spread His image worldwide.  But man was defiant and full of pride.  Instead of scattering, they congregated.  Instead of worshiping God, they worshiped their own intellect, and they began to build a monument to that intellect – the Tower of Babel.

They had ambition, described by Max Lucado as “that grit in the soul which creates disenchantment with the ordinary and puts the dare into dreams.”  Their ambition went unchecked.  It became blind ambition.  Max said, “God won’t tolerate it … With one sweep He painted the tower gray with confusion and sent workers babbling in all directions.  He took man’s greatest achievement and blew it into the winds like a child blows a dandelion.”  And he asked, “Are you building any towers?  Wealth?  Success?  Recognition?  Focus on what God wants you to build.  Simplify your life.  Surrender your desires to Him.  Let Him guide your efforts.”

Father, please tell me if you see towers in my life that I shouldn’t be building – towers that are drawing me away from You and Your will for my life.  Draw me away from them and draw me close to You.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Genesis 8-9 From God's Perspective

God seems to be telling me this morning to focus on Him in these chapters rather than on Noah and what he did.

“But God remembered Noah,” it starts out.  God never forgets us.  The water had covered the earth for 5 months, but God still had His eyes on that ark, floating all alone on a water-covered planet.

God finally said to Noah, “Go out of the boat.”  He had protected them while the planet endured massive changes caused by the Flood.  Course of rivers had been changed, yet this small family had been protected.

Then God made a covenant with us:  “The thoughts of humans are evil even when they are young, BUT I will never again destroy every living thing on the earth as I did this time ….”  Despite our worst, God still loves us.

“This is the sign … My rainbow.”

We see the large arc of the rainbow – a half circle of beautiful colors, and we’re to think of God and His promise to us.  What does God see?  Twice I’ve gotten to see a rainbow from His perspective, high above the clouds.  Just this summer He reminded me of it again – It doesn’t look anything like it does down here.  Up there, it’s an unbroken circle – a ring, just like a wedding ring.  What an awesome picture of God’s commitment to us.

Father, I’m so glad that I have a God who is a Promisekeeper – who doesn’t do anything on a whim or without thinking.  Instead, my God knows the plans He has for me, and everything He does works for the good of those who are in Christ Jesus.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Genesis 5-7 Something Neat To Ponder

It’s so tempting to simply gloss over the family tree information in chapter 5, but not long ago I took the time to make a bar graph showing the lives of everyone listed here, using the actual years given in that chapter.  Here’s what I found:

Methuselah, the oldest man who ever lived, seems to have died in the year the flood began.  He was Noah’s grandfather.  Every person listed as an ancestor of Methuselah was alive during Methuselah’s life, including Adam (who lived another 243 years after Methuselah was born).  So Noah had at least 500 years to listen to his grandfather’s stories before Methuselah died!

Not only that – Adam’s son Seth appears to have died the same year Noah was born.  Adam’s grandson Enosh was alive for the first 98 years of Noah’s life!  Talk about being able to hear stories!

God regretted the terrible sinfulness of mankind and decided to destroy them:  “But Noah pleased God.”  One man had decided that God’s laws were worth keeping, and God took notice.  God called him “the most innocent man of his time” and God walked with him.  God determined to make an agreement with him, to save Noah and his family.  In other words, Noah obeyed and God blessed.

Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives (there were no grandkids yet), trusting God to protect them, made it through the flood in the ark.  Their journey inside the ark, through the death and destruction of the rest of humanity is often likened to our own experience of being hidden in Christ, Who takes us through death, safely bringing us out the other side, too.

Humanity rebooted at God’s command.  God didn’t give up on us, and He still left us with free will, despite what we’d done with it the previous time.  His love was that great.

Father, I’m nowhere near the innocence Noah must have had.  I wouldn’t have made it onto the Ark, yet as You personally closed the door, You were thinking about me and all the rest of us who are alive today as a result of Your watchcare.  Please help me to live worthy of that solemn boat ride, knowing that my family is depending on me to be a man after Your own heart as well.

Your Brother In Christ

Genesis 4 -- A Good Place To Develop More Faith

One thing that changed had to do with God’s presence in relation to man.  He’d walked beside Adam and Eve in the Garden.  But now, Cain and Abel are going to a place to bring offerings to God.  They must have received instruction, my commentary said, in substitutionary sacrifice for sin.  This may have included learning about the importance of a blood sacrifice, which Abel presented but which Cain did not.  Is that why Abel and his offering were accepted but Cain and his offering were not?  Although God’s sovereignty allows Him to accept or reject whomever, He never seems to be capricious, deciding things solely on a whim.

God warned Cain that he was endangering himself with sin, yet despite the warning, Cain let his sin-nature rule him.

Around verse 9, God seems to be trying to get Cain to admit to his undisclosed sin without God having to bring it up first.  Of course, that’s the right way it should be done.  Yet Cain refuses to do so, deflecting the questions and trying to deflect the blame.  When God pronounces Cain’s judgment, Cain is more remorseful over the consequences of his sin than he ever was over the sin itself!

In verse 14, Cain mentions that anyone can kill him.  That presupposes many more people on the earth – perhaps even outside his own family, in that he feels a need for protection.  God agreed to mark him to prevent a revenge killing.

Amazingly, and perhaps as evidence of grace, God is still conversing with Cain despite the sin of murder.  “So Cain went away from the Lord,” indicates Cain’s refusal of His grace.

Regarding the presence of other people, Cain was building a city, which indicated a significant enough amount of people to necessitate one.  Also, six generations of wives come from somewhere. 

It could be that as verse 25 begins, the story is continuing from verse 15 on a separate path, rather than simply being given in sequential time order.

As the line of Seth begins, so does the line from which Eve’s promised seed that will take care of Satan – the Messiah.  People also began to pray to God.  Perhaps in the intervening time God stopped talking face-to-face with humans in general, and His absence brought about the development of prayer as a means of communicating with Him.

Father, I thank You that You do still warn us about our potential for sin through the Holy Spirit.  I thank You for Your wonderful grace.  And I’m so glad that, at a key point in my own life, You showed me a t-shirt that read, “Why Ask Why” on the front, and on the back, with a picture of a nail-scarred hang, were the words, “He Holds The Reason Why”.  It finally allowed me to stop letting what I couldn’t understand move me away from You.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Genesis 2 & 3 -- Wiser Than We Could Ever Be

Man didn’t exist until God breathed life into him – not just physical life, but spiritual life as well.  God placed him in a perfect environment, yet he was not perfectly happy.  God saw that it wasn’t good for him to be alone.

He gave Adam the opportunity to see that none of the animals on earth would fulfill his need for companionship by having Adam name them all.  Then God lovingly sedated Adam, removed a rib, and used it to create Eve.

While they were happy existing in this perfect place, they were also impressionable and susceptible to suggestion.  After all, they trusted God (until Satan came along and changed all that).  No one had ever given them cause not to trust Him, and once the question was asked, the seeds of doubt were planted.  That shadow of doubt has led to all the heartache in the world today.

Father, even when I don’t understand, I pray that You will help me never to doubt Your love for me.  I know You love me more than I even love myself.  I know You have Your best in mind for me if I’ll only trust and obey You.  I’d rather have blinders to help me do that than to walk away from You with eyes wide open.  Help me to remember that You are smarter than me and never to trust my own thoughts rather than Your commands.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Genesis 1 -- A New Look At The Beginning

I always love seeing God’s sovereignty beaming out in this chapter!  Over and over again we read, “God said … And it happened.”  There wasn’t a molecule or atom that was about to say no to Him.

I also love what’s left unsaid in this chapter.  For instance, God came up with the idea of grains with seeds exposed and fruits with seeds inside.  Not just one type of plant life, but two.  He didn’t start them in just one place and have them spread out from there on wind or water either.  The earth in its original creation form, uncorrupted by sin, produced plants and trees effortlessly.

Then God made the sun, moon, and stars.  His glory had been the primary source of light until that time.

It also appears that He filled the sea with creatures and the air with birds in an instant.  Again, it doesn’t sound like He created just two and they branched out from there.

He did the same with the land animals – “Let the earth be filled … and it happened.”  In one day.

I hadn’t thought about how that could play out with the creation of humans.  We always assume that verse 27 meant two:  “So God created human beings in His image … He created them male and female.  God blessed them and said, “Have many children and grow in number.  Fill the earth …”  I’ve never read any commentary that suggested multiple sets of males and females all over the world at once.

Also, God said, “Look, I have given you all the plants that have grain for seeds and all the trees whose fruits have seeds in them.  They will be food for you.”  Evidently, there were no poisonous foods in these two types of plants when the earth was created, since they were all available for food.

What an amazing place this world must have been – no thorns, no stickers, goatheads, careless weeds.  All lovingly created by God.  What a shame that our desire to be like Him would morph into selfishness and would corrupt all of creation.

Father, help me to remember how much You love us – creating heaven on earth for us out of nothing.  Yet remind me also of how quickly we can ruin what You do in love when we choose to sin.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Zephaniah 1-3 Hope In The Midst Of Despair

God promised terrible punishments on everyone for their sin:  “I will remove human beings from the earth … Be silent before the Lord God, because the Lord’s day of judging people is coming soon.”

Still, He strives to have us change:

“Before it’s too late, before the Lord’s terrible anger reaches you, before the day of the Lord’s anger comes to you, come to the Lord, all you who are not proud, who obey His laws.  Do what is right.  Learn to be humble.”

God promised punishment on Philistia, Moab, Ammon, Cush, Assyria, and even Jerusalem.  Yet in the end, He says, “Sing … shout for joy … be happy and rejoice with all your heart.  The Lord has stopped punishing you … The King of Israel, the Lord, is with you; you will never again be afraid of being harmed … The Lord you God is with you; the Mighty One will save you.  He will rejoice over you.  You will rest in His love; He will sing and be joyful about YOU… I will take away the sadness… I will save My people … and gather My people … I will give them praise and honor … I will gather you … I will bring you back home.  I will give you honor and praise … when I make things go well again for you, as you will see with your OWN EYES.”

Despite our sin – despite all our willful rebellion – He loves us and wants us back.  And He wants to bless us.  Why would we want any other god?

Father, thank You for Your indescribable love in spite of my sin.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Micah 3-7 What A God!

After the disheartening messages of the first two chapters and what I read in chapter 3 today, there is hope to be found in the last four chapters.  Even though they hear God saying, “Jerusalem will be plowed like a field.  The city will become a pile of rocks, and the hill on which the Temple stands will be covered with bushes,” they soon get to hear how God will rescue and restore them.  There are so many references to God in action for the Israelites, doing what only He can do to rescue them.

God gives us a reference to Jesus here, stating that He will come from Bethlehem and that “He comes from very old times, from days long ago … with the Lord’s strength, and with the power of the name of the Lord His God.”

It’s so sad to hear God lamenting over how we treat Him:  “My people, what did I do to you?  How did I make you tired of Me?  Tell Me.”  He then reminds the Israelites of His many saving acts.

Convinced of their sin, the Israelites worry about what they could possibly bring as a suitable offering.  God says, “The Lord has told you, human, what is good; He has told you what He wants from you:  to do what is right to other people, love being kind to others, and live humbly, obeying your God.”

He describes the futility of a life without Him – a life filled with intentional sin:  “”You will eat, but you won’t become full; you will still be hungry and empty.  You will store up, but save nothing, and what you store up, the sword will destroy.  You will plant, but you won’t harvest.”

Israel will one day be able to testify as we do now:  “I will look to the Lord for help.  I will wait for God to save me; my God will hear me … The Lord will be a light for me … He will defend my case in court.  He will bring about what is right for me.  Then He will bring me out into the light, and I will see Him set things right.”

Micah saw God as we see Him today, and described Him perfectly:  “There is no God like You.  You forgive those who are guilty of sin; You  don’t look at the sins of Your people … You will not stay angry forever, because You enjoy being kind.  You will have mercy on us again; You will conquer our sins.  You will throw away all our sins into the deepest part of the sea.”

Father, how can anyone worship any other god but You?  No other “god” can do what You can.  And Your compassion for us overwhelms me.  Help me to always see You as Micah did!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Micah 1 & 2 -- A Message That Fell On Deaf Ears

God had given Micah a message to deliver, and the people weren’t going to like it.  God was about to do something about their idolatry.  The northern capital would become a pile of ruins.  Jerusalem wasn’t going to fare much better.

The message caused Micah great personal sadness, because he knew it signaled the end of his country as he knew it.

The real problem was that Micah was delivering the message to an audience who could care less.  His message would fall on deaf ears at the time, but later Israel and the world would be able to look back and see that God did what He promised.  And hopefully they’d learn to heed God the next time.

It certainly seems like we’re on the edge of the abyss right now economically.  Spiritually our national culture appears to be far from God.  Will we listen to Micah’s words and see that they apply to us as well?  Will we turn America around and move our nation back to the principles on which it was founded – one nation under God?

Father, Micah’s words (and Yours) still shout out to us today.  Please open ears and eyes and hearts and minds.  Show us that it’s Your way or the highway.  Turn America around.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Hosea 12-14 Still He Waits For Us

“The Israelites made the Lord angry when they killed other people, and they deserve to die for their crimes.  The Lord will make them pay for the disgraceful things they have done.”

God says, “I, the Lord, have been your God since you were in the land of Egypt.  You should have known no other God except Me.  I am the only one who saves … they became too proud and forgot Me … The nation of Israel will be ruined, because it fought against God.”

Hosea then pleads, “Israel, return to the Lord your God, because your sins have made you fall.  Come back to the Lord.”

God predicts what will happen after they have gone into captivity:  “I will forgive them for leaving Me and will love them freely, because I am not angry with them anymore … the people of Israel will again live under My protection.  They will grow … They will bloom … I, the Lord, am the One who answers your prayers and watches over you.  I am like a green pine tree; your blessings come from Me.”

Sometimes we simply ignore everything God tells us and every warning He sends, and we do so to our peril.  When we do, He will let us bear the responsibility for our rebellion and sin.  But He doesn’t stop loving us.  We are His, and He desires to love us, bless us, and show us how to live in a way that is pleasing to Him.  It isn’t slavery, but freedom from the pain sin always brings.

Father, sin just doesn’t pay.  Whatever temporary feelings of joy or euphoria we might experience is far outweighed by the effect it has on our relationship with You.  When I am tempted to sin, remind me that Satan has his thumb on the scales, making sure that I’m getting a lot less than I think, and it’s costing me more that I could ever imagine.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Hosea 11 -- Just What I Needed To Hear

I think each of us should look at this chapter as being a hand-written note from God about ourselves:

“When ________ was a child, I loved him, and I called my son out of [the sinful state he was in].  But when I called, at first he went away from Me, even worshiping other things not of Me.  It was I who taught him to walk in My way, and I took him by the arms, but he didn’t understand that I had healed him – he still felt infected by his desire for things not of Me.  I led him with cords of human kindness [people I’d put in his path at just the right moments to move him onto My course], with “ropes” of love [not ropes of slavery].  I lifted the yoke [of sin’s awful burden and guilt] from his neck, and I bent down [though that’s not something humans imagine that a “god” would do] and fed him exactly what he needed when he needed it – My Word.”

“____________, how can I give you up [to Satan]?  How can I give you away?  I don’t want you to be like the others who I loved but who ended up turning from me, totally destroyed by sin.  My heart beats for you!  And My love for you stirs up My pity!  I won’t punish you in My anger, and I won’t destroy your life.  I am God and not a human; I am the Holy One, and I am right beside you.  I will not come against you in anger … I will settle you again in your home,” says the Lord.

I always find it hard to believe that You can love me that much, Father.  But You’ve shown me over and over that You do, despite my worst.  Thanks for being God and not a human.  You never fail me.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Hosea 9 & 10 -- A Downward Spiral

Hosea delivers the bad news that Israel will be paying for its sin.  My commentary said that the downward progression of their spiritual demise could be seen “by the successive forms of government they had rebelled against:

1)      God (theocracy)

2)      Moses (prophet/lawgiver)

3)      Joshua (spiritual/military general)

4)      Judges (judicial government)

5)      Kings (monarchy)

6)      No kings (anarchy/no government)

They had become ungovernable because they would not govern their own lives.  They’d rather sin that obey God.  When it gets that bad, the inevitable will occur.  God will not be mocked.

Father, the downward spiral of the people of Israel gives me a potent reason to guard my own heart against apostasy, ignorance, and apathy.  Please point out regularly where I’m failing to guard it, put me on the right path, and lead me back to You when I stray.  Hindsight is 20/20, but it requires that we open our spiritual eyes.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford