Destroyed for Lack of Knowledge While Drowning in a Sea of Information: Thoughts from the Book of Hosea.

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Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Hosea 5-6

For I desire steadfast love
and not sacrifice,
the knowledge of God
rather than burnt offerings.

Hosea 6:6 ESV

We live in an age where anything you ever wanted to know is available at the click of a button. I hold in my hand a 12-square-inch device with free access to dozens of Bible translations as well as concordances of Greek and Hebrew words and even Matthew Henry’s complete commentary on the Old Testament and the New. All this information is available to you, too, FREE on BlueLetterBible, and yet Biblical illiteracy is at an unprecedented level. My fellow Americans don’t know God’s Word, but even scarier: they don’t know God. Most people in the USA have heard of the God of the Bible and His Son, Jesus. Most Americans know that Christmas and Easter are somehow related to Jesus. Most Americans have heard about some of the amazing things that God has done, but they don’t know Him.

There is no faithfulness
or steadfast love,
and no knowledge of God in the land….
My people are destroyed
for lack of knowledge.

Hosea 4:1b,6a ESV

My nation is being destroyed not for lack of access but for lack of interest.

My nation is being destroyed not for lack of information but for lack of knowledge.

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 1:7 ESV

“How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?” Proverbs 1:22 ESV

“For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;” Proverbs 2:6 ESV

“Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold,” Proverbs 8:10 ESV

“The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouths of fools feed on folly.” Proverbs 15:14 ESV

Heavenly Father, It grieves my heart to think of all those people in my own nation who are being destroyed by their own ignorance, those who are choosing to run from You rather than toward You. Father, I’m asking You to please bring revival to our nation, to our cities and states, to our families and churches. Break us that You may heal us. We need to be broken so that we might be healed. We need to know You so that we can love You. We need to fear You so that we can love You. You are worthy! In the Name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, we pray. Amen.

To know Him is to love Him. Do you know Him?

That’s my King … Do you know Him?

Loving the Unlovely. Brussel Sprouts, Ice Cream, Jesus, and Me. Thoughts from the Book of Hosea.

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Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Hosea 3-4

If I asked a class of third grade students, “Raise your hand if you love ice cream.” I bet every hand would shoot up. 🙋🏿‍♀️🙋🏻🙋🏽‍♂️🙋🏼‍♀️🙋🙋🏾‍♂️

But if I then said, “Raise your hand if you love Brussel sprouts,” I’m quite sure I’d get a very different response. Even if I followed it up with words like, “They are really good for you! They’re high in fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants.” Still, it’s a no. 🙅🏽‍♂️🙅🏼‍♀️🙅🏻🙅🏿‍♂️🙅🏻‍♀️🙅

It is only logical to love ice cream. It’s sweet and creamy and delicious.🍦😋 But Brussel sprouts … They are more of an acquired taste, suited for a more refined palate. 🥬 😝

I’m afraid that I sometimes think I’m naturally easy to love. I’m afraid sometimes I forget about all my prickly, hard to love spots. I’m afraid I see myself as ice cream, rather than Brussel sprouts.

When God tells the prophet Hosea to go love Gomer, a woman who chases after other men, refusing to remain faithful to her husband, I’m afraid that we all think we’re Hosea, not realizing that we’re actually Gomer. We are that adulteress, that whore, that woman who abandons her true love to pursue idols, and God is Hosea, the faithful One who again and again chases after His bride, pulling her out of the pig slop. 🥴🐖

In this is love,
not that we have loved God
but that He loved us and sent His Son
to be the propitiation for our sins.

1 John 4:10 ESV

Love covers a multitude of sins.

Love is not irritable or resentful or rude.

Love keeps no record of wrongs.

Love forgives.

Love never ends.

Love is steadfast and patient and faithful.

God loved us while we were sinners, and He calls us to go and do likewise.

Heavenly Father, Thank You for Your steadfast, patient, faithful love toward me. Thank You for pursuing me, though I didn’t deserve it, though I don’t deserve it still. I’m not worthy, but You are. You deserve better. You deserve chocolate, chocolate chip ice cream with whipped cream and sprinkles and a cherry on top. And yet You have demonstrated Your love by sending Your own Son to be the propitiation, the atoning sacrifice, the substitutionary offering, for my sin. Praise Your Name forevermore. Amen.

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

Marriage is Exclusive, and So Is Our Relationship with God: Hosea 1-2

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Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Hosea 1-2

  • How had the Israelites forsaken the Lord?
  • Had they stopped making sacrifices and offerings?
  • Had they stopped observing the feasts and Sabbaths?

They had forsaken Him by making Him one god on a buffet of gods. They had forsaken Him by worshipping both Him and Baal. They had forsaken Him by offering themselves to other lovers in addition to the Lord God.

Friends, we can have a dozen coworkers, a dozen children, and a dozen friends, but we can only have ONE husband and he can only have ONE bride.

A good husband refuses to share
his bride with other men,
and our good God refuses to share
His bride with other gods.

It is not enough for us to make God the biggest god in our life, or the most valuable idol that we have. He can’t be our “favorite” husband. He wants to be our ONLY husband. He wants ALL of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. He wants to be our everything. He is either Lord of all or He’s not Lord at all.

God despises adultery of all forms, especially adultery toward Him. God wants our whole heart. He is a jealous God. He will not share His glory with another.

  • Exodus 34:14 ESV — (for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),
  • Deuteronomy 4:24 ESV — For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
  • Isaiah 42:8 ESV — I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.

Heavenly Father, You are a good husband who loves His bride and refuses to share her with another. I pray that we would be a loving bride, rejecting all other things who vie for our attention. I pray that You would be the apple of our eye, the center of our attention, the singular focus of our lives. In the Name of Jesus Christ, our redeemer, Amen.

Come to the Lord and Be Saved: Thoughts from the Book of Amos.

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Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Amos 9

Come to the Lord and be saved.

Turn from your sin.

Turn to Him and be saved.

Chase after wickedness and selfishness no more.

Cease from your evil pursuits and do good.

Who am I to say such things?

Who am I?

Me?

I’m just a nobody, trying to tell everybody, about somebody, who can save anybody.

Like Amos I’m just a simple person crying out, warning people of the impending danger. ⚠️

Watch out! Watch out!

Danger ahead!

You’re heading the wrong way!

The bridge is out!

Take this turn here and get on the narrow path, the path over the scarred back of Jesus, the path that runs through His blood,

He’s the only way, friends.

Come to Him and be saved.

Oh, Heavenly Father, You made a way back to You, by the blood of Your only Son, Jesus Christ, who laid down His life for us. Make us Your messengers, Your ambassadors, Your heralds of good news. Let us not grow weary and weak. Strengthen us to stand at the crossroads and cry out again and again, “THIS IS THE WAY! COME THIS WAY!” By the power of Christ in us and for the glory of His Name we pray, Amen.

I’m Just a Nobody – The Williams Brothers

Would You Rather? Amos Edition.

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Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Amos 8.

“Behold, the days are coming,”
declares the Lord GOD,
“when I will send a famine on the land,
not a famine of bread,
nor a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the LORD.”

Amos 8:11 ESV

Would I rather worship or wander through Wally World?

Would I rather scroll through the truth of the Word or the foolishness of Facebook?

Would I rather skip my daily dose of carbs or the daily bread of the Lord’s presence?

Would I rather sit in a pew or sit on a couch?

Would I rather be in the front row of a church or the front row of a concert?

Would I rather listen to the correction of a wise counselor or the consolation of a foolish friend?

Would I rather miss a dinner date with my BFF or a breakfast date with my Heavenly Father?

Would I rather miss my morning cup of java or my morning cup of living water?

Would I rather have an empty belly or an empty mind?

“Sabbath days and sabbath work are a burden to carnal hearts, that are always afraid of doing too much for God and eternity.

Can we spend our time better than in communication with God?

And how much time do we spend pleasantly with the world? Will not the sabbath be gone before we have done the work of it and reaped the gains of it? Why then should we be in such haste to part with it?

They were fond of market-days: they longed to be selling corn and setting forth wheat. When they were employed in religious services they were thinking of their marketings …

Those are strangers to God, and enemies to themselves, that love market days better than sabbath days, that would rather be selling corn than worshipping God.”

Matthew Henry, Commentary on Amos 8

Heavenly Father, Align our hearts with Yours. Make us love what You love. Break our hearts for what breaks Yours. Give us a holy hunger. Make us hunger for what is healthy and right, what is pure and true. Make us sick over what makes You sick. Give us discernment to recognize what is truly lovely and what is a joy stealer. Help us spot the counterfeits, the deceptions, those things that masquerade as beautiful and give us hearts that hunger and thirst for righteousness for Your Name’s sake. In the Name of Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, the One who meets our every need, the well that never runs dry, the unending source of living water and the eternal bread of Your living presence, we pray. Amen.

God has a Plan and You have a Purpose: Thoughts from Amos 6-7

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Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Amos 6-7

Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I was no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. But the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’

Amos 7:14-15 ESV

God chose fishermen like Peter, Andrew, James, and John. God chose shepherds like David, Moses, and Amos. God chose tax collectors like Matthew and Zacchaeus.

It’s not what you do from 8 to 5 Monday through Friday, or what family you were born into, that matters. It doesn’t matter how educated you are, or how much money is in your bank account. God calls and chooses whom He will according to His own plan and purpose.

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

1 Corinthians 1:26-29 ESV

God chose Paul, a Hebrew of Hebrews, a prosecutor of Christians, to write these words,

“[God] saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness,
but according to his own mercy,
by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit”

Titus 3:5 ESV

And to the church at Ephesus,

“For we are his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand,
that we should walk in them.”

Ephesians 2:10 ESV

Heavenly Father, You didn’t choose me because I was rich or powerful or good. I wasn’t. I was a simple college student, a blasphemer and opponent of the gospel. I was Your enemy, slandering You and hurling insults at Your children, yet You plucked me out of the miry clay and planted my feet on the rock. You called me in spite of myself. Thank You. Thank You. Father, please, help me to love and pursue others like You loved and pursued me. Help me to love my neighbor as myself, loving them even while they’re drowning in sin. For the glory of Your Name and the growth of Your kingdom, in the name of Jesus Christ my Savior and Lord, Amen.

Seek Me and Live: A Prayer for the House of Israel from Amos 5

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Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Amos 5

For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel: “Seek me and live;”

Amos 5:4 ESV

Heavenly Father, I lift up the house of Israel to You. I pray that You would remove the veil from their eyes that they would recognize Messiah Jesus who came once to save and who is coming again to judge. Oh, Father, open their ears that they would hear clearly the gospel of peace. Soften their hearts that the seeds of truth would fall deep and take root. Use Your rod to chasten and reprove that they would return quickly to Your open arms. Please, Father, send out laborers into the harvest in Jerusalem and all over Israel and the Middle East. We want to see the olive tree bear fruit again for Your kingdom. In the Name of Jesus Christ, the Only Way to You, the Only Savior of the world, we pray. Amen.

Yet You Did Not Return to Me: Thoughts from Amos 3-4.

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Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Amos 3-4

As a mom, I want my discipline to bring my children to repentance. I want them to grieve their sin, see their error, and turn around.

But, all too often, that’s not the case. In fact, my discipline can end up making them more hard-hearted and rebellious. My words of gentle correction, or the natural consequences of their actions, can end up causing them to blame everyone but themselves.

  • Does that mean I’m wrong to discipline them?
  • Does that mean I should look the other way as they run headlong away from what is right?

My heart grieves with the Lord as He says five times in Amos 4, “yet you did not return to me.” He had withheld rain. He had struck their gardens with blights and locusts. He had even brought death upon some of their young men, yet they did not return to Him.

It reminds me of a line from one of Charles Spurgeon’s sermons.

The same sun which melts wax
hardens clay.
And the same Gospel which melts
some persons to repentance
hardens others in their sins.

C.H. Spurgeon

The Lord disciplines those He loves. That discipline will harden some and convict others. I wonder, which am I? Am I listening when the Lord is trying to get my attention? Am I willing to correct my course when the Lord is putting road blocks in my way?

How about you? How have you handled the Lord’s rod of correction? Where do you need to do an about-face and return to Him, your Creator?

Heavenly Father, We are indeed silly sheep who often go astray and wander into dangerous places. Forgive us, Father, for our foolishness, our rebellion, and our disobedience. Thank You for Your loving hand that seeks to bring Your children back into the fold. Your rod and Your staff are our comfort. Help us to listen to Your voice of corrections and change course, to RETURN to YOU, the lover of our souls. In the Name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.

God Disciplines His Children for Their Good. Thoughts from Amos 2.

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Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Amos 2

Sometimes it seems that professing Christians think they are immune from the consequences of their sin. Indeed Jesus has paid the price for our sin by His death on the cross, but we still must endure God’s discipline for our good.

In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

Hebrews 12:4-8 ESV

All too many American children are being left without discipline, and our nation is reaping the consequences of it.

God disciplined the Israelites and He disciplines Christians. Not because He hates us, but because He loves us.

Oh, Heavenly Father, what a blessing it is to call You, Father. What an honor to be Your daughter. Help me to endure Your discipline with humility and gratitude and trust, fully believing that You are working to conform me into the image of Your Son. You are good. Always. Help me to learn what you’re teaching me. In the Name of Jesus Christ, my Savior and Lord I pray. Amen.

God Looks at Cities and Nations as well as Individuals: Thoughts from Amos 1.

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Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Amos 1

I’ve never studied Amos for myself, though my pastor did spend several weeks teaching through it in August 2019. In fact he spent about a year teaching through all the minor prophets verse by verse. If you’re like me and need a quick overview of the Book of Amos, you might want to read Got Questions’s post here.

Today I took some time to learn a little about the locations of Amos 1: Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, and Edom. And that got me thinking about how God pronounced these judgments on the whole city-state, not merely on individuals or even the king.

So I started thinking about what kind of judgment God would have on my city, state, and nation. We have forsaken His Word. We have forgotten His commands. We have aborted babies in the name of choice. We have allowed criminals to run free while we have forbidden prayer and the Bible from our schools. We have set aside a month to celebrate men who pretend to be women and women who pretend to be men. We have bowed down to idols of all kinds: money, Mother Earth, and mortal men. We have hidden the gospel and turned a blind eye to our neighbor in need.

Heavenly Father, Forgive us, Lord. Forgive us. Please, Father, shed Your grace on us. We need You. Turn our nation back to You. Turn the hearts of fathers back to their children. Turn the hearts of mothers back to their homes. Turn us back to Your Word. For Your glory and honor I pray. Amen.