Hosea 3-4 What Was Causing The Drought?

What was Israel doing to incur God’s judgment?  Perhaps it would be better to ask what they’d not been doing!  They’d not been true or loyal to God.  They were cursing, lying, killing, stealing, and committing adultery.  As a result, they were experiencing severe drought.  In 4:4, God said, “No one should accuse or blame another person.”  In other words, “It’s your own fault.  Take responsibility for it!”

The people had strayed for so long that they’d lost their knowledge of God.  They’d forgotten His teachings  and refused to learn them.

God wants to use Hosea as an object lesson to the people of Israel about His love for them and the way in which they desecrated that love.  His command to Hosea was this:  “Go, show your love to a woman loved by someone else, who has been unfaithful to you.”  Why??  “In the same way the Lord loves the people of Israel, even though they worship other gods and love to eat raisin cakes (a food normally used in idol worship).”

God summarized Israel’s behavior this way:  “They love these disgraceful ways.”

The sidebar in my Bible by Charles Colson said this about how we can relate to Israel’s problems:  “If I had to pick one thing that has caused the most failure in obeying God, it would be that we figure God’s time is our Bible study, our prayer time, and our church time.  That’s just not true.  God’s time is every moment of our lives … We don’t put Him on and take Him off like a suit of clothes … If we would ‘wear’ Him all day long, we would discover obedience becoming a reflex action.”

Father, help me not to put You on and take You off during my days.  Remind me every moment and with every circumstance that You want be Boss of every single second of my life.  Set off alarm bells in my heart when I try to disconnect from You.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Hosea 1-2 You Want Me To Do WHAT?

“What was it You just said, God?”

“Go marry a prostitute.  She’s still going to do her thing, and the kids you’ll have (yes, there will be kids) are not going to be the best, either, but I’m using your life to build a living illustration to your nation of what I see in their relationship with Me.”

“Wow …. okay.  One more question … am I also supposed to love her?”

God was looking upon His people, seeing the nation of Israel as a prostitute because they were selling themselves out to the idol Baal.  Instead of reacting as most men would, divorcing her and removing themselves from the whole mess, God instructs Hosea in the amazing way He loves His children.  Despite everything we do to disrupt our relationship with Him by our sin, He pursues us with fervor.  He doesn’t want to leave us where we are in our sin.  Instead, He changes our circumstances, even at times withdrawing the blessings He’s given, to grab our attention once again and focus us on what our sin has done to our relationship with Him.  And though we are unfaithful, He is not.

Father, I’ve witnessed such love from You for me.  It’s unexplainable and unfathomable.  I was just damaged goods, but You loved me and drew me back when I least deserved it.  In the process, You showed me that You forgive, You forget, and You are more concerned with our availability than our ability.  Such love is hard to imagine, but it’s also exactly what You want me to practice.  Forgive me when I fail to love as You have loved me, warts and all.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Ecclesiastes 9-12 A Little Knowledge Can Be A Dangerous Thing

I am always so glad when I finish Ecclesiastes!  It sure shows how futile the desire for wisdom can become apart from God.  Solomon ends up contradicting himself, changing his mind, and flat out wrong at times. 

I think back to the humble prayer he prayed when he was about to become king and knew he wasn’t prepared for it.  He didn’t know how to lead and knew that he lacked wisdom.  He wanted so badly a heart that beat for God.

But the wisdom he asked for brought with it pride and this first of all sins began to erode his need for God and His commandments.  Intellectual haughtiness developed, and before long his pursuit of more and more wisdom led him down paths he might never have traveled had he not sought it.

“A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing” might certainly apply to Solomon.  Far better to simply trust God to have all the answers than to lose God in trying to find them.

Father, our so-called wisdom fools us into thinking we know better than You.  Thank You for helping me to see the lie in that.  Guide me to seek You and to let You show me what You want me to know and believe.  Satan can have the rest.  It’s not important.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Ecclesiastes 7-8 Be Careful What You Hear

Of all the “under the sun” philosophies Solomon mentions here, the one that seemed to stand out this morning was this:

“Don’t listen to everything people say, or you might hear your servant insulting you.  You know that many times you have insulted others.”

My commentary said, “A healthy sense of our own imperfection will help us to take criticisms in stride.  If we hear a servant cursing us, though he is much lower on the social ladder, we can always be glad he doesn’t know us BETTER, because then he would have more to curse! … And we should always remember that we have been guilty of the same thing.  Many times we have cursed others in our heart.  We can scarcely expect others to be perfect when we are so far from perfect ourselves.  That is one of the frustrations of a perfectionist.  He wants everything and everyone else to be perfect, but he lives in a world of imperfection, and he himself cannot reach the goal he sets for others.”

I think these verses go a long way in helping us shrug off comments made by others, especially in the church, where I find myself hurt more by the words of others than I do out in the world.

Father, I want God-sent constructive criticism.  Help me to be willing to listen to it.  But also guard my ears from small talk and unfounded criticisms that the devil might try to use to take me off the field.  Keep me in the game and on Your side.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Ecclesiastes 5-6 Wealth Words From The Wealthiest Man Ever

The richest man who ever lived talks about wealth.  He said, “God gives some people the ability to enjoy the wealth and property He gives them, as well as the ability to accept their state in life and enjoy their work.  They don’t worry about how short life is, because God keeps them busy with what they love to do.”

The Bible also says that God fearfully and wonderfully creates us, He knows us completely, and He gives us the desires of our hearts (meaning that He’s the One who plants the desires within us that lead us to the life He has for us).  So ideally, if we are pursuing Him and doing those things which He’s uniquely created us to do, we should be happy.  It goes along with the old adage, “Find a job you like and you’ll never work a day in your life.”

Yet Solomon also warns against falling into the trap of ceaselessly chasing more riches.  God doesn’t want us worshiping materialism, but Himself.  He blesses us with resources in order that we can bless others and spread His glory, not so we can hoard those resources.  In Malachi, He challenges us to test him in this and see if He won’t open the windows of heaven and pour out even more blessings.  I know that I’ve learned that I can never OUTGIVE God.  If I will listen and see Him at work and join Him in that work, sharing what He’s given me, He will insure that my basic needs are met and then give me additional resources to give away again.

Father, thank You for teaching me to trust You.  Help me not to hoard Your blessings, but instead help me to help others with them.  You are so faithful and I’m thrilled that You asked me to trust You and then showed me why I can.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Ecclesiastes 3-4 Normally Sad Times Could Be GLAD Times

Reading through all of those “there is a time to …” comparisons and contrasts, God seemed to be showing me that these don’t have to be seen as contrasts between good things and undesirable things.  There are indeed times when what we might at first blush consider undesirable would instead, because of present circumstances, be considered the right and appropriate and desirable thing to happen.  For instance, “There is a time to plant and a time to pull up plants .. a time to destroy and a time to build.” – The natural end to a crop season is the harvest, and pulling beets or potatoes or carrots out of the ground is a time of celebration of that harvest.  Yet often we view these verses as the scene outside my window – a plant didn’t survive the drought despite watering, and it lies dead in the flower bed.  While I might “mourn” the death of the plant, pulling it up will lead me to planting another in its place, expecting rain and future growth.

“ …. A time to keep things and a time to throw things away” reminds me of the flood we had 4 years ago.  What I might have otherwise cherished or simply kept just in case, I was ready to simply throw away once it had been soaked by the muddy water.  But we could also look at these verses as representing a time of prosperity and even charity as we pull out our clothing or household goods we never use and donate them to others in need, as many were during that flood.

Perspective seems to be the key here.  Solomon’s perspective had been one of someone under the sun – a worldly view.  Ours is to be the perspective of one under the SON, seeing things from His point of view, including God’s provision for us and for others through us, even in the toughest times.

Father, thank You for revealing to me that I need to watch for Your provision for me even during the toughest times.  Give me strength to endure them and a spirit of hope.  What would I do without You?

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Ecclesiastes 2 -- What We REALLY Want

Solomon wanted answers.  It seems that the prayer he’d prayed for wisdom had led him to actually believe that he would find ultimate pleasure on this earth.  The list of what didn’t work grew longer by the day:  gratification of his personal desires, wild fun, wine, grand architectural projects, the accumulation of “stuff”, being served, music, sex, prestige, and intellectual pursuits to name a few.

In the end, this illusive treasure hunt galled him because he’d amassed so much only to realize that whoever inherited it couldn’t possibly find enjoyment in it all and would likely squander it!

He found that “true pleasure comes from noble renunciations rather than from frenzied accumulations,” my commentary said.  It added, “I can discover within me no power of perception which is not glutted with its proper pleasures … Man has surely some latent sense for which this place affords no gratification.”

A former athlete was quoted in my commentary, after having tried the same tactics Solomon had:  “I knew in my heart that no one could meet my need but God Himself.  Soon after, I found in Christ what I could never find in the world.”

Solomon discovered that satisfaction comes from honest work, and that man does not have the power of enjoyment UNLESS it is given to him by God, my commentary also stated.

Father, I agree that You created me with a God-shaped hole in my heart, and my heart will NOT rest until it finds rest in You.  Keep me from looking anywhere else for what only You can give.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford