Bible League: Living His Word "So you, by the help of your God, return,hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God." There was a time when you were close to the Lord. Just like Jacob at the Jabbok River, you strove with God and you prevailed. You met with Him and He spoke to you. You even wept before Him and sought His favor (Hosea 12:3-5). God did not seem distant or far away. Rather, He seemed close by and ready to help. He was so real to you that you couldn't imagine offending Him by disobeying His commandments. And you were ready for His instruction and you waited for His counsel. Things, however, changed. Reality happened. The trials and troubles of life did more to alienate you from God than draw you close to Him. The striving and wrestling with God ended. You were too busy to stop and listen to Him. There were no more tears before Him. God receded to the background of your conscious life and you started to go wobbly on some of His commandments. Waiting for the instruction and counsel of God wasn't the first thing on your mind either. If all this describes you, and at times it describes every Christian to one degree or another, then the message of Hosea for you today is that it's time to return. It's time to return to the way it was. You'll need the help of the Lord to do it, but it's time to do it. Return now, "before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was" (Ecclesiastes 12:6). Return, that is, before there is no time left to return. If you decide to return, then things will need to change. You shouldn't play fast and loose with the commandments of the Lord anymore. Once again you should love the Lord with all your heart and you should love your neighbor as yourself. Hosea specifically says to "hold fast to love and justice." That is, treat your neighbor like you would want to be treated. If you return, he also says to "wait continually for your God." Don't just follow the dictates of your sinful self. Instead, wait for the instruction and counsel of the Lord. Return! Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingLamentations 1, 2 Lamentations 1 -- How lonely lies Zion, that was once full of people! NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Lamentations 2 -- How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion with the cloud of his anger! NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Hebrews 7 Hebrews 7 -- Jesus' Priesthood Like Melchizedek's NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.Insight Thankful people can worship wholeheartedly. Gratitude opens our hearts to God's peace and enables us to put on love. Discontented people constantly calculate what's wrong with their lot in life. Challenge To increase your thankfulness, take an inventory of all you have (including your relationships, memories, abilities, and family, as well as material possessions). Use the inventory for prayers of gratitude. On Sunday, before worship, quit rushing around; instead, take time to reflect on reasons for thanks. Declare Sunday as your “thanks, faith, and hope” day. Celebrate God's goodness to you, and ask in prayer for all your needs for the week ahead. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Matthew 10:25 It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master.No one will dispute this statement, for it would be unseemly for the servant to be exalted above his Master. When our Lord was on earth, what was the treatment he received? Were his claims acknowledged, his instructions followed, his perfections worshipped, by those whom he came to bless? No; "He was despised and rejected of men." Outside the camp was his place: cross-bearing was his occupation. Did the world yield him solace and rest? "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." This inhospitable country afforded him no shelter: it cast him out and crucified him. Such--if you are a follower of Jesus, and maintain a consistent, Christ-like walk and conversation--you must expect to be the lot of that part of your spiritual life which, in its outward development, comes under the observation of men. They will treat it as they treated the Saviour--they will despise it. Dream not that worldlings will admire you, or that the more holy and the more Christ-like you are, the more peaceably people will act towards you. They prized not the polished gem, how should they value the jewel in the rough? "If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?" If we were more like Christ, we should be more hated by his enemies. It were a sad dishonor to a child of God to be the world's favorite. It is a very ill omen to hear a wicked world clap its hands and shout "Well done" to the Christian man. He may begin to look to his character, and wonder whether he has not been doing wrong, when the unrighteous give him their approbation. Let us be true to our Master, and have no friendship with a blind and base world which scorns and rejects him. Far be it from us to seek a crown of honor where our Lord found a coronet of thorn. Daily Light on the Daily Path Hosea 14:1,2 Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, For you have stumbled because of your iniquity. • Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to Him, "Take away all iniquity And receive us graciously, That we may present the fruit of our lips.James 1:13-17 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. • But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. • Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. • Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. • Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. Psalm 27:14 Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD. Lamentations 3:26 It is good that he waits silently For the salvation of the LORD. Luke 18:7 now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? Psalm 62:1,5 For the choir director; according to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. My soul waits in silence for God only; From Him is my salvation. • My soul, wait in silence for God only, For my hope is from Him. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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