Thursday, December 11, 2014

HOSEA 9-11:

Hosea continues to speak on Israel's rebellion from God.  He tracks it all the way back to coming out of Egypt.  "When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the desert; when I saw your fathers, it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree...they consecrated themselves to that shameful idol and became as vile as the thing they loved."(9:10)  The more success Israel had them more they turned from God. "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."(10:1-2)

Hosea gets right to the source..."But you have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil, you have eaten the fruit of deception.  Because you have depended on your own strength..."(10:13)

REVELATION 1:

Written by John, son of Zebedee, around 90 A.D.  Generally accepted that it was during the reign of Domitian (A.D.81-96).  John as a prisoner on the island of Patmos is writing the the seven churches in the province of Asia.  He is writing of a vision he has received from God.      

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.  Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid.  I am the First and the Last.  I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever!  And I hold the keys of death and Hades. Write, therefore what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. (1:17-19)

JOURNAL:

Success breeds arrogance and rebellion.  That seems to be the summary of Israel.  The more blessings they received the more they came to depend on their own strength and worship the fruits of that success.  This seems to be the story that constantly plays out through the entire Bible.  God saves from terrible suffering and then the people get comfortable and forget God.  Then as I begin to read Revelation it is only in imprisonment and suffering that the vision of Revelation is written.  

Why is this?  Why do we run from God the more he blesses us?  Why does comfort seem to produce laziness and arrogance instead of gratitude and worship?  And yet I find that what I consistently crave and desire is comfort and success.  My only conclusion is that it is my desire to be independent from God.  It is my desire to have my own way, and not have to be obedient.

I in no way think that success is evil.  It is our hearts that are stained in selfishness and deceit.  Yet for some reason I think that I will be different.  I harbor this "noble" thought that "the more you bless me God, the more I will do...".  I think that is only possible if my desire is only in obedience and not the spoils of success.  Therefore, it is only a result of God transforming our desire to him.  This is tough, it is humbling, yet it does bring a calmness and peace.

"God loves you! So do I! Make it a great day!"

"The Relief of Jesus' Life"

Before we go any farther in our search, I need to make the offer of Christianity clear: There is a way to be good again. The hope of Christianity is that we get to live life like Jesus. That beautiful goodness can be ours. He can heal what has gone wrong deep inside each of us. The way he does this is to give us his goodness; impart it to us, almost like a blood transfusion or mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. We get to live his life—that is, live each day by the power of his life within us. That’s the hope: you get to live that life. “But there is a reality of being in which all things are easy and plain,” wrote George MacDonald, “oneness, that is, with the Lord of life.” He makes us whole by making us holy. He makes us holy by making us whole.

Think of how you feel when you commit some offense—yell at your kids, lie to someone or hide the full truth, harbor resentment or bitterness toward a friend, indulge sexual or romantic fantasies over someone at work or their spouse; maybe you’ve been acting on those fantasies for three years now and it is tearing you apart. Whatever your regrets may be, think of how you feel when you commit these acts repeatedly, when you vow never to do it again and find yourself doing it moments later. And think of what an utter relief it would be to be free from the whole entangled nightmare. I mean to be so free that you’re not even disciplining yourself not to do these things anymore; you just don’t do them. You simply don’t struggle with whatever it is that haunts you; it’s not an issue.

That’s the utter relief of holiness. That’s what happens when the life of Jesus invades your life.

John Eldredge

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

HOSEA 5-8:

In these chapters Daniel is ranting on and on all the ways that Israel has rebelled against God.  "Israel cries out to me, 'O our God, we acknowledge you!' But Israel has rejected what is good; an enemy will pursue him.  They set up kings without my consent; they choose princes without my approval. With their silver and gold they make idols for themselves to their own destruction."(8:2-4)  Daniel then forecasts their future.  "They will begin to waste away under the oppression of the mighty king."(8:10)

JUDE:

Written 70-80 A.D. Jude was the half-brother of Jesus.  He begins the book, stating that he wanted to write encouraging them in the "salvation we share"(3), yet he has to deal with warning them about men who are false-teachers.  "They are godless men, who change the grace of God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord."(4)  He goes on to discuss the doom of those who have rebelled against God...from the angels to Sodom and Gomorrah.  The false-teachers are described as "...grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage."(16).  "These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and don not have the Spirit."(19)

He then gives instruction, "Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear..."(22)

JOURNAL:

Reading through 4 chapters of all the ways Israel rebelled against God feels very redundant.  I sometimes wonder if I have actually read the same words over and over.  I guess in many ways I have. Then in Jude it is the same thing these are people who call themselves believers.  It is interesting that from the old testament to the new the greatest threat comes from within.  All comes from a lack of faith and a refusal to obey God.  Jesus' most harsh words came to those who called themselves believers yet did not trust in God and used their position for personal gain.  

How often have I become comfortable in my own ways, and had false hope in my position in life?  Way too often.  I realize that it is when I struggle that I seek God.  It is when I have become complacent in seeking that my thoughts turn to "idols".  

There is the reason for the rants and the warnings and pages and pages of descriptions of those who call themselves God's children, rebelling and running from him.  Our greatest enemy then is our own flesh and our own selfishness.  

"God loves you! So do I! Make it a great day!

The Darkness

   

It sometimes comes out of nowhere.  Unseen, at the most seemingly random moments.  The darkness of shame, failure, bitterness, heartbreak emerge.  It seems to resists all goodness and turns the past into an indictment against the future.  It spins the appearances of others into accusations.  It takes the good in life and poisons it with doubt and jealousy.  It belittles obedience to God as some trite hope in a fairy tale as it heaps truckloads of anger and sorrow onto any feeling of hope and love.......

Yet....a whisper, a flicker of light, a calling that cannot be refused.  The darkness screams that it is a dirty trick, heaps more accusations, more anger, more disappointment.  The light grows faint but persists, calls...steady as a heartbeat.

Why the darkness God?  Why such resistance?  Why such hopelessness?

"because I love you...without the darkness you would not understand the chasm, you would not understand the loneliness, you would become dependent on others...in short you wouldn't know my love."

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

HOSEA 1-4:

Hosea was a prophet in Israel around 710 B.C.  This was during the reign of Jeroboam II.  The first 4 chapters deal with both the adultery of Israel and its people and the adultery of Hosea's wife Gomer.  The intent seems to parallel the absolute rebellion of Gomer in adultery to the rebellion of Israel from God.  "...because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the Lord."  Hosea is commanded by God to continue to seek after Gomer, to buy her back from her life as a prostitute and restore her as his wife.  "Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods...".  

3 JOHN: 

This letter is a personal one, written 90 A.D., sent to Gaius in rebuke of Diotrephes regarding his refusal to accept them as traveling teachers.  He commends Gaius for being a refuge for those that are traveling, loving them as brothers even though they are strangers. "Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, even though they are strangers to you.  They have told the church about your love.  You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God." (5-6) He ends the letter telling him that he has far more to discuss but will wait to do it face to face.

JOURNAL:

The grace and love of God is overwhelming.  Hosea being instructed to buy back Gomer is beyond human capacity to love.  This kind of love only comes from God.  It is not romantic, it doesn't have nice background music as two separated lovers embrace.  It is heartbreaking and messy.  It is the same love demonstrated as Jesus is betrayed, abandoned, whipped, spit on, ridiculed and finally killed.  Homer paid money to buy back his wife.  Jesus paid with his life to buy us.

It is hard to read this...it is hard to face many things in life.  I find often that I want the fairy tale.  I want the ideal and tend to get discouraged when life doesn't look that way.  It is in reading of Homer and the lives of all the prophets that I realize that the fairy tale is something far different than what is played out on a disney movie.  Yet it is a fairy tale...Frederick Buechner says it well...

“It is a world of magic and mystery, of deep darkness and flickering starlight. It is a world where terrible things happen and wonderful things too. It is a world where goodness is pitted against evil, love against hate, order against chaos, in a great struggle where often it is hard to be sure who belongs to which side because appearances are endlessly deceptive. Yet for all its confusion and wildness, it is a world where the battle goes ultimately to the good, who live happily ever after, and where in the long run everybody, good and evil alike, becomes known by his true name....That is the fairy tale of the Gospel with, of course, one crucial difference from all other fairy tales, which is that the claim made for it is that it is true, that it not only happened once upon a time but has kept on happening ever since and is happening still.” 
― Frederick Buechner, Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale

"God loves you! So do I! Make it a great day!"