Hosea is perhaps the most under-read, under-appreciated book among the prophets.  Yet, it is a powerful book that gives us a glimpse at the pain experienced when sinful people who have professed to love God, turn their back on him and love other things instead.

The Infidelity of Israel

Because of Israel’s unfaithfulness we read, “When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord” (1:2).

That is, frankly, amazing.  There is nothing else like it in the Scriptures.  Nevertheless, there it is—God calls the prophet Hosea to marry a prostitute, an adulteress because that is what Israel has become.  Hosea’s very life, then, is to be lived out as a dramatic retelling of the story of God’s relationship to Israel.  In every way, Israel was Hosea’s prostitute-wife, Gomer.  Despite incredible loving care from God, she rejected him and whored herself out to the false gods.  She didn’t remain faithful to the Lord who had always remained faithful to her.  Though God had showed great and deep love for Israel, she ultimately rejected him.

God’s people turned to other gods in worship, most notably the Canaanite fertility god, Baal.  Thus, Israel was spiritual unfaithful; as a nation she became an adulteress. In fact, Israel was so far removed from the Lord that he says she actually thought all the best things she had came from Baal and not him. “[Israel] said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink…. [and the Lord says, but] “she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal” (2:5,8).

Although the central metaphor in Hosea is of Israel as the unfaithful wife, even as Gomer was an unfaithful wife, there is also another image that runs throughout the book—the image of the Father-son relationship between the Lord and Israel. This even goes back to the naming of the children with Lo-ammi, “Not My Son” or “Not My People.”

And in chapter 11, the imagery comes into sharp focus.  The Lord says, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.  ²The more they were called, the more they went away; they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols.  ³Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them.  ⁴I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them.  ⁵They shall not return to the land of Egypt, but Assyria shall be their king, because they have refused to return to me.  ⁶The sword shall rage against their cities, consume the bars of their gates, and devour them because of their own counsels.  ⁷My people are bent on turning away from me, and though they call out to the Most High, he shall not raise them up at all.”

Who can be moved by God’s words here?  Here is the picture of God calling out Israel from Egypt, adopting the nation as his son.  But Israel was just a small child, almost like a newborn.  Like a loving Father, God held him by the hands and helped him along, teaching him to walk.  When Israel was hurt, God healed him. It’s one of the most tender pictures in the Bible, but Israel apparently could care less. He’s forgotten about all that the God the Father has done for him.  And though God has called him back from his sin in love, Israel refused to listen. Instead of being a faithful son who carries out his father’s wishes, Israel has rebelled over and over again.  In chapter 8, they refuse to trust God and put their confidence in wealth and military might.  They refuse to follow after God in loving things like justice, mercy, and righteousness.

Despite their sin and lack of faithfulness, God gives hope to his people through the prophet Hosea.  He promises that there will be a time when their infidelity will cease and they will again be faithful to the Lord: “And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ ¹⁷ For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more.. . . ¹⁹And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. ²⁰I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord….  And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’;  and he shall say, ‘You are my God’ ” (2:16-17,19-20, 23).

Christ the Faithful Son

When we get to the New Testament, we see this hope being fulfilled in Christ.  Christ comes in fulfillment of these promises first by being the faithful Son that Israel never was.  The Gospel of Matthew is clearest about this.  In chapter 1, Matthew shows Jesus is born Jewish, from the David himself.

And then in chapter 2, as Herod is killing Jewish children because he feels his throne is threatened, Jesus’ parents are warned by God to flee into Egypt to escape.  Afterward, as the young Jesus and his family return to Palestine, Matthew says this happened to fulfill “what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I called my son’” (2:15).  He’s quoting from Hosea 11.  But the Hosea 11 passage isn’t a prophecy!  God isn’t predicting anything.  So what’s going on?  What’s going on is an example of how to read the Bible.  Matthew is showing us that when Jesus came in fulfillment of the Old Testament, it’s not just direct prophecies, but a typological/spiritual fulfillment too.  Jesus is coming to be all that Israel should have been, but failed to be.

So, in the Matthew 3, Jesus goes through the waters of baptism, just as Israel went through the waters of the Red Sea during the Exodus.  Then, in chapter 4, Jesus is in the wilderness being tempted for 40 days just as Israel was in the wilderness being tempted for 40 years.  Unlike Israel, though, Jesus succeeds in the testing.  He doesn’t succumb to sin, but triumphs over it. And that is the pattern of his entire life.  Though enduring great temptation—being tempted in every way any person has ever been tempted, Jesus endures without sin.  He always obeys God the Father, he always seeks the glory of God the Father, he always trusts God the Father and lives by the strength he provides.  So, it’s no surprise that when we get to Matthew 17, the voice of God the Father booms out of heaven “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased” (17:5).

Christ the Faithful Husband

Christ was not only God’s faithful Son, he also became the faithful husband to God’s people.  In order to understand this, we need to go back to the story of Hosea and Gomer.  In chapter 3, God directs Hosea to do what he has promised he will one day—redeem his wife, Israel.  It has to be one of the most moving passages in all of the Bible:

‘And the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.” For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods. Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days’ (3:1-5).

To get the full weight of the passage, we have put ourselves in the culture of Hosea’s day.  At this point, Gomer was on the auction block.  Possibly because of debts, she’s being sold as a slave.  That meant she would have been led out onto the podium, her clothes stripped-off for people to inspect her before bidding. Here is Hosea, forced to bear the shame of Gomer being up for sale.  Men are staring at his wife, perhaps making crude jokes or leering.  Worse, he has to bid against other men for own wife!  Not to mention the indignity of people recognizing him as her husband saying things like, ‘What is he thinking!  This is the woman who has betrayed his trust and left him to sleep around the city.  Why does he even care?  How could pay so much to get her back when she may do the whole thing over again?’

In the same way, Jesus came to redeem his bride, the Church.  Though righteous in every way, Jesus had to bear the shame of his bride, the Church.  Jesus took upon himself the shame of their sin, even hanging naked on a Roman cross like some vile criminal.  More than that, he couldn’t just pay money to redeem his people from their sins.  Instead, he offered his own life as a ransom for them—to buy them out of their slavery to sin. Thus, the apostle Peter can say to the Church, “[know] that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (1:18-19).

What’s more, just as God promised that his people would be given new life to love the Lord—“After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him” (6:2)—so also would Jesus rise from the dead back to life on the third day after being crucified in place of his people.

Why did Christ redeem his sinful bride?  In Ephesians 5, Paul says: “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Eph 5:25-27).

This is why Jesus’ died for his people—because like Israel, we are sinful and in need of redemption.  Moreover, even in being redeemed from the penalty of our sins, we still remain a sinful people.  Yet, Christ does more than love his bride and die for her forgiveness—he has the power to actually transform her into a pure, sinless bride.

]]> http://kashow.wordpress.com/2009/11/21/sbl-update-3-sat-morning/ Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:24:32 +0000 Rob Kashow http://kashow.wordpress.com/2009/11/21/sbl-update-3-sat-morning/

Went to a paper by Paul Redditt this morning. In the words of the fellow who left with me after the paper, “sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.” Meaning, it was OK. The point of his paper was small but a good point, that the landscape (literal sense) of Hosea 2 is to be taken symbolically. This of course is not a ground breaking observation, but he did a nice job developing the exact meaning of the symbol (of course when one talks about symbols there is no exact, but you get my gist).

An interesting conversation took place stemming from the paper, of which I chimed in: Why does it seem like spacial realms in the Bible are personified by women? (e.g. also Zech and the city) Part of what I suggested and others seem to agree was that Hosea 2 is a polemic as God as the fertility God verses Baal as the fertility God, and thus perhaps the narrative necessitated a woman figure since a woman figure was used to portray fertility. I of course was more inquisitive here because I was dialoguing with what seemed to be one or two feminists (I didn’t want to come off degrading but was honestly interested in their assessment), and a delightful conversation it was for all three of us seemed to be in agreement here.

"Ó SENHOR, quem é como tu entre os deuses?" Ex 15:11

Antigo Testamento

Acabe | Adão | Eva | Caim | Abel | Seth | Enos | Cainan | Jared | Henoch | Metusala | Lamech | Noé | Sem | Cam | Jafeth | Irad | Meujael | Metusael) Gomer | Magog | Madai | Javan | Tubal | Mesech | Asquenaz |Tarsis | Dodanim | Cush | Mizraim | Canaan |Nimrod | Patrusim |Caftorim | Sidon |Eber | Elam | Assur | Arfachad | Lud | Aram | Uz | Peleg |Uzal | Ofir |Nephilim | Baal |Basemate | Maalate |Bila | Elifaz | Reuel |Raquel | Lea | Ruben | Simeão | Levi | Judá | Issacar | Zebulom | José | Benjamim | Dã | Naftali | Gade | Aser | Tema | Amaleque |Zerá | Samá |Jónatas | Davi |

Veja também
Os patriarcas e profetas de Israel, nossos pais na fé

While at Baptist Bible College it was common to have conversations with a friend about some gal that had captured their heart and now they were considering asker her to marry them. My standard reply was to imagine falling into a dark bottomless pit and all the way down you could see the words flashing in neon “Forever and Ever and Ever” It was a not so subtle reference to the bottomless pit that Satan will be cast into one day.

There would be an occasional chuckle, or nervous laugh, but the truth was in our minds that marriage was a serious undertaking that impacted the rest of your life. In 1870 a wife would be lucky if her husband lived past the time the youngest child left home. In 1911 the average marriage lasted 28 years. By 1967 that average had reached 42 years. Paul Harvey got to the point that he wouldn’t even mention your anniversary unless it was 60 and most of the time 70 years of marriage.

Now 70 years of marriage would seem like an eternity to most folks. But with medical care advancing, if a couple stays together, it is no big deal anymore to see at least their 50th anniversary. We have at least three folks in our church that have been married over 60 years.

What this means is that you have an opportunity to build a real history with each other. Now with digital cameras, you might be able to remember it all.

History as A Timeline

With our American brains we see time as a line with various dates and events marked on it. It is a linear view of history. Time is the determiner of when things happen. We got married on a certain day. We had children on such and such a date, we bought this house on a certain date, we sold and bought another house, etc. The kids went to this school at such and such a date, graduated from High School, College etc. Everything fits on the timeline of our life.

Biblical View of Time and History

To understand how marriages have the opportunity to enjoy “Sacred History” it would be helpful to understand a Biblical view of History.

This is where an understanding of ancient Jewish view of History comes into play. The ancient Hebrew perception of time was not abstract like our modern view; instead, it was connected to the idea of specific events, and because of this event specific orientation the people of Israel “found the idea of a time without a particular event quite inconceivable” [Von Rad, v. 2, page 100]. So, for the ancient Jews the concept of “time” was understood only in relation to particular events: There is a time of giving birth (Mic. 5:2), a time for animals to be gathered together (Gen. 29:7), a time when kings go forth to battle (II Sam. 11:1). The tree yields its fruit ‘in its time’ (Ps. 1:3), and God gives his creatures food ‘in due time’ (Ps. 104: 27); that is to say, every event has its definite place in the time-order; the event is inconceivable without its time… [Von Rad, v. 2, page 100].

Psalm 31:15 which reads, “My times are in thy hands” [KJV,RSV]. The Jews of David’s time did not think of time like we do, they viewed life as being made of many times, or a series of times.

Biblical Jews See God as the Lord of History

Specifically, the Jews saw time as a series of specific events initiated by God. Time did not exist as an independent reality, but existed only in relation to divinely initiated events. I will use my wife to illustrate how the Jews viewed history.

My wife views our history not by dates but by whom she was pregnant with at the time. I’ll mention a particular event and say when did that happen and she’ll say – well it had to be so and so year because she was pregnant with Tonya or somebody else. If it happened when she wasn’t pregnant with any one, she can’t remember it or can’t recall the year. Her concept of time is totally event related.

All of their festivals and observances celebrated a Redemptive Act of God. The exact time was not important, but their celebration and identifying with what God did was important.

I believe in heaven that time will cease to exist. We will simply live in events in happenings. We’ll be able to participate in the crossing of the Red Sea. We’ll be able to watch as Jesus feeds the multiture. We’ll watch as Peter walks and then falls into the Sea. We’ll watch as Jesus rescue him. It won’t be a movie, it will be the real thing. Time will cease to exist, and we will be totally event oriented. It will be totally about seeing how God has redeemed us and mde us trophies of His grace.

God’s Relationship with Israel

Karl Barth (a famous theologian) was challenged by an atheist to prove the existence of God. His reply was quite simple – the Jew. For over 4000 years the Jews have kept a separate identity while all the other races of man came and went. Yet the Jewish people with their worship of Yahweh has continued on in spite of losing their land, being persecuted in countless ways down through the centuries. Still, the Jews continue on, worshiping and following the same Yahweh that revealed himself to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

This relationship that God has with the Jewish people is nothing short of miraculous. The Old Testament reads like a Sacred History of His love for these people. That relationship has gone through so many phases it is nothing short of a miracle that God still call them “My People.”

Exodus 6:7 (ESV) I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

God calls them “My People” because He shows His redemptive Power and Love to the entire world through His relationship with them. The good, the bad, the ugly shows to all the world that there is a God who has the power to save you if you come to Him.

Joshua 4:23-24 (NIV) For the LORD your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The LORD your God did to the Jordan just what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God.”

Nehemiah’s Prayer (1:9):

Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your dispersed be under the farthest skies, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’

God’s History with His People is SACRED, because His Name Dwells With Them

Time after time He showed his steadfast love. He showed how He would persevere. God’s relationship with Israel has gone through various stages:

• Times of joy and celebration
  • Deliverance from Egypt, victory at Jericho, Esther, David, Solomon
• Seasons of frustration and anger
  • The judges, King Saul, the Jews in the wilderness
• Times of infidelity and apostasy
  • The golden calf, the Split of the Northern and Southern Kingdom, King Ahab Jezebel
• Times when God seemingly abandoned them
  • The Holocaust
  • Other times of persecution
• Seasons of silence
  • After Joseph’s death until Moses
  • The period between Malachi and Matthew

God’s relationship with Israel mirrors the relationship between husband and wife

Marriage CAN be a Sacred Journey

Marriage: A long journey that two people take—and a sacred one.

Sacred –  dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of God.

Marriage is the journey of two stumbling sinners falling toward God and each other and all the while experiencing events and experiences that can demonstrate the redemption of God to a lost and dying world. You simply have to see God as Lord of your History. You dedicate your TIMES to show forth God to a dying world!

We all have a history of ‘times’ with our spouse. There were moments of labor and delivery, struggles to conceive, financial pressures, financial success, problems failures, struggles, joy. What makes that History Sacred is whether or not we see God as Lord of our History, and devote our marriages exclusively to show the steadfast and persevering love of our Heavenly Father. The events of your life, good and bad, become a testimony to God’s working in your marriage.

With God the exact dates are not important, but the fact that you acknowledge Him as the Lord of your Marrige History is! Think to the darkest moment of your marriage – God was there. Think of the greatest moment of your marriage – God was there. Every high and every low demonstrates the redemptive Love of God. Our marriage is meant to reflect the Sacred History the Jews have had with God.

God called a young man and told him to marry a prostitute. So Hosea went and found Gomer. It wasn’t long before she left him to return to her lovers.

Hosea 1:2 (NLT) When the Lord first began speaking to Israel through Hosea, he said to him, “Go and marry a prostitute, so that some of her children will be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning against the Lord and worshiping other gods.”

You have heard the story. She leaves him, has chilren by her lovers, comes back, leaves, finally she comes back because her lovers have lost interest in her. Hosea says she will no more play the harlot. God points out the picture between marriage and His relationship with Israel:

Hosea 2:14-16 (NLT) “But then I will win her back once again. I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her there. I will return her vineyards to her and transform the Valley of Trouble into a gateway of hope. She will give herself to me there, as she did long ago when she was young, when I freed her from her captivity in Egypt. When that day comes,” says the Lord, “you will call me ‘my husband’ instead of ‘my master.’

Marriage is not always good, not always bad – sometimes it just is.

“Marriage is a long walk two people take together. Sometimes the terrain is very interesting, sometimes very dull. At time the walk is arduous for both or for one. Sometimes the conversation is lively, at other times, not much to say. The travelers do not know where they are going, nor exactly when they will arrive.”

Marriage must become good with living with routines.

To have a good marriage takes time. Working through problems, enjoying special occasions, coming together in times of setbacks. You must decide to see God in the routine of your marriage just as much as you do in the mountain top experiences. The same thing that will keep your marriage together through “sickness and health, for richer, for poorer, for better, for worse, in sadness and in joy, is the same thing that will keep you growing as Believer in Jesus Christ. It is a little thing we call perseverance.

The Spiritual Discipline of Perseverance

Perseverance is “steady persistence in adhering to a course of action, a belief, or a purpose; steadfastness.” Perseverance is different from endurance. Endurance can indicate “putting up with,” “bearing up under,” or merely “tolerating” a demanding circumstance, implying a definite passive quality. Perseverance or prokarteresis suggest more than mere toleration of a circumstance because they have definite proactive characteristics. It means “to be earnest or strong toward; to be constantly diligent; to adhere closely to; to continue instant in; to be steadfast with a person or thing.” The Greek verb proskartereo (Strong’s #4342) is most frequently translated into English as “continue in.” Its closest English synonym is “persistent.” Both contain a strong sense of continuous persistence toward achieving some activity.

This quality must be rediscovered in our marriages if we are to commit to seeing the History of our Marriage as: “Sacred”. Some experts say it takes 9 to 14 years for a couple to “create and form its being” (Oliver, Conjugal Spirituality, p 33) Becoming One in your marriage takes time. The problem in America and with such a high divorce rate is that we have become a nation of quitters:

• Job
• Marriage
• Family
• Political party
• Church
• Faith (1 Tim 4:1)

A young lady named Marti finally got married. Before marriage she brough all this luggage of failed dating relationships and failed family relationships. After the first year of marriage Marti and her husband were experiencing some hard times, complete with the fights and frustrations that often accompany adversity in a marriage. After one bad fight, Marti prepared herself for what she thought was inevitable: her husband would leave her, just like all the others before. Her husband was a Christian fimly committed to the idea of Covenant Marriage. While she was sulking in the other room, he came into her ans said these simple words: “I will never leave you.” I will stay with you and we will work through this problem.

The Necessity of Perseverance

Luke 8:11-15
Jesus told the parable of the different soils and how the seed reacts. The thing which determined whether you had a good crop is persevering:

“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.” (NIV)

James 1:4

James 1:2-4 (HCSB)Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. But endurance must do its complete work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.
James 1:2-4 (NIV) Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Our maturity with God is directly related to our perseverance, the way we stay active and seeking Him, even though we can’t see Him through the tears. Too many people quit God, quit the Church because of some little hurt, or because the feelings are not their. Faith in God is not about Feelings. Enjoying your Sacred History together will involve time when the feeling just aren’t there.

Romans 2:6-8

God “will give to each person according to what he has done.” To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.(NIV)

Perseverance through trials and difficulties creates beauty and meaning for your life. God will grant you glory and honor. If you are self-seeking in your marriage, and reject the truth of God’s Word, you will gain God’s wrath and anger.

• “You have to be happy in the moment” can’t sustain a relationship
• When couples go through normal downturns, Satan starts to whisper “you married the wrong one”

Preachers have played into Satan’s plan by bending the truth to fit the circumstances of the day. We make excuses for the Truth and open back doors of excuses and denial. Like the Christian pastor who wanted me to leave the word sublission out of my sermon to the couple i was marrying because “We ignore that Scripture in our church. We don’t see it as relevant”

Pulpits across America must stop excusing the Truth of God’s Word! We must preach the truth and the truth is that God hates divorce.

I believe the wrath of God may be upon America not necessarily because we have taken God out of the schools. God didn’t call the schools of America to preach the truth. God called His preachers and pastors and church leaders to proclaim His truth. He calls every Christian couple to be witnesses of the Gospel. That witness is the Love and Forgiveness of Jesus Christ as shown in a Marriage that is Life Long, because God’s Love is Life Long!

Preachers have stopped preaching the truth that God Hates Divorce. We excuse it, we tolerate it, we find more and more ways to make it OK. We’ve even have Divorced Pastors leading churches. If there is any wrath upon America it is because the church has become self-seeking and has rejected the truth of God’s Word.

To Reject the Truth is to Risk Gods Anger

Persistence makes no sense unless we have a keen sense of eternity. What is the focus of your heart? Is your focus on living a life that is preparation for Eternity? Perhaps God is using your difficult marriage to prepare you for your Eternity! So you have had a rough couple of years, even decades, what is that when compared with how you will spend ETERNITY?

The Bible doesn’t mention rewards for those Christians who are the happiest of have felt the least pain or experienced the least sorrow!

Priority of Sacred History is Eternal Priority.

2 Thess 3:5 May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christs perseverance.

Sacred History means being persistent in doing good! Marriage goes through many seasons. Sometimes you simply have to get through it. This is merely a season, and it is foolish to quit perservering during a time when any marriage would have to adapt.

Reject Self-Seeking Behavior

If there is no heaven, divorce makes sense. But if there is heaven and God and Judgment, does the cost of divorce (God’s wrath and anger) justify the jeopardizing your future?

Divorce is a failure of love, forgiveness, patience and at the very least a failure in judgment in choosing a difficult partner in the first place. But we must realize we are all failures at some point.

According to Matthew 5:28, I and virtually every other man must be considered an adulterer. One lustfull look and Boom! we have fallen. One angry outburst “You Fool!” and I’m in danger of hell fire. (Matt 5:22). While Jesus is certainly a picture of God’s Holiness and High standards, He is also a picture of Mercy and Forgiveness.

• He forgave the woman taken in adultery, even though she deserved to be stoned(John 8:11)
• He told his disciples that if anyone puts their hand to the plow and then turns back, is not worth of the Kingdom of God (Luke 9:62).
• Yet he forgave each of His disciples for running away, and especially forgave Peter who even denied knowing Him.)Mark 14:66-72)

If you have gone through the pain and heartache of divorce, you serve no one other than the devil by fixating on something that can not be undone. The Scriptures says humble yourself in the sight of God and He will lift you up. The is no exception clause for God grace against divorced people.

If you are in a difficult marriage, I exhort you as Jesus would to hang in there. Do more than hang, do all you can to follow Jesus commands for relationships. Most of those are contained in his sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, 6, 7. Divorce is not the same as denying Jesus or leaving your faith, but it is a dangerous decision spiritually. However, Even God’s word has allowed that there may be conditions in which it is a right choice.

• Matthew 19:9 records the exception for infidelity.
• 1 Corinthians 7:15 reveals the situation when an  unbelieving spouse abandons a believer.

Be AWARE of the ‘times’ of marriage that rock a couple’s intimacy

• New born babies
• Potty training
• Toddlers
• School Activities
• Strains at Work
• Debt and Stress
• Empty Nesters
• Dealing with Sick Inlaws
• Dealing with sickness later in life

To evaluate your marriage at that point is foolish and short-sighted. By quitting or looking elsewhere you will block God from the Sacred History of Redemption that He is building in your marriage. When we leave someone, don’t pretend there won’t be spiritual consequences. God is angry when we abuse his children.

SEE THE NEED FOR A SACRED HISTORY

In these “muddied” versions of Psalm 2. I have changed the nations and Kings to read Husbands and Wives. Instead of seeking your own way, God warns us to submit to God’s royal Son (or kiss the Son in KJV) lest He becomes angry. Our persevering in our marriage is SO important to God!

Psalms 2:1-3 (NLT) Why are you husbands and wives so angry? Why do you waste your time with selfish plans? You prepare for battle; you plot together against the Lord and against his anointed one. “Let us break their chains,” you cry, “and free ourselves from slavery to God.” But the one who rules in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at you. Then in anger he rebukes you, terrifying you with his fierce fury.
Psalms 2:10-12 (NLT) Now then, you husbands, act wisely! Be warned, you wives! Serve the Lord with reverent fear, and rejoice with trembling. Submit to God’s royal Son, or he will become angry, and you will be destroyed in the midst of all your activities— for his anger flares up in an instant. But what joy for all who take refuge in him!

Consider the Sacred History of Joseph

Consider Joseph and his response to his wicked brothers. As you consider it, imagine he was responding to a difficult spouse:

In Genesis 50:20 Joseph tells his brothers that they intended harm to him when they sold him into slavery. He also told them that God was active in all this “in order that” (i.e. to the intended and accomplished end) good might come to him.

Family solidarity takes hard work, much imagination and constant self-criticism on the part of all the members of the sacred circle. A successful marriage is not one in which two people, beautifully matched, find each other and get along happily ever after because of this initial matching. It is, instead, a system by means of which persons who are sinful and contentious are so caught by a dream bigger than themselves that they work throughout the years, in spite of repeated disappointment, to make the dream come true.—Elton Trueblood

What if the Spouse Wants Out?

We can’t see the consequences of our divorce. We can’t predict the chaos, the confusion, the hurt and the effect upon our children and their marriages. Marriage can produce tensions and hurts so intense that reconciliation would take more energy than either partner could possess in ten lifetimes. In many cases God can provide the energy; in some cases people are just not willing to accept it, or to do what God says is needed to do. Divorce is an easy alternative. Sometimes we have divorced forced upon us. Even so, our maturity before God must be considered and become our driving motivation. Even when we are sinned against, we can grow through the experience by the grace of God.

The message of Eternity and Pleasing God and bringing glory to God is this: We draw closer to God by honoring the history of our marriage, even when our spouse leaves and divorces us. God can use this to draw us closer into His heart.

The Whole Point of Having a Sacred History is “THAT MY NAME MAY DWELL THERE”

If you want God’s Name to dwell in the History of your marriage, then you would be wise to follow these steps:

1.Realize that God has a purpose for your “Times”
2.Thank God for all the “times”, even those when you thought He forgot you or left you.
3.Ask Him to bring healing to your heart for the “times” when you were hurt or disturbed by what God seemed to allow in your life.
4.Dedicate your remaining ‘times’ to show forth God’s Remptive Love to those around you.
5.Tell your spouse you are committed to building a Sacred History with them for the rest of your life.

Quest for the genuine message, God’s intention shown in the chap 2 of Hosea

I think I learn much more through the discussion time than any other time. The topic given to us made me deepen my thoughts of it. The topic assigned was to engage with content of chapter 2 of the book of Hosea, and draw out basic meanings of marriage we can find out from the voice of Hosea. After careful observation on the Chapter 2 of Hosea, I could not help questioning to God regarding his agreement with Hosea’s opinion about the premise and responsibilities of “marriage” he considered.

Interesting thing was that Gomer was not “harlotry” or “whoring.” The word “prostitute” (Hebr. zonah) was never used directly to her. Coogan explains that “promiscuity” is a better translation (Coogan, 263). I thought Gomer was a prostitute, but Hosea accepted and loved her regardless of her status. However, she did not necessarily have license as the prostitute or whoring who generally performs sexual acts or intercourse in return for money. In the history of Israel, a woman becomes a whoring status by being raped, then she was regarded as a person who is not ‘chaste’. In other words, she was not the chaste woman who lost her virginal purity, and not the prostitute who performs sexual acts like her job as well.

The prophet’s marriage to a promiscuous woman becomes an act symbolizing that “the land has been promiscuous away from Yahweh.” The land (people) has wantonly turned away from Yahweh to worship the Canaanite storm god Baal (2:8, 13, 17). The tragic human story of the prophet interconnects with the metaphorical tale of Yahweh and Israel, so that these two stories essentially become one. The prophet creates in this fusion the powerful marriage metaphor to articulate the special conventional relationship between God and Israel (Coogan 263-65).

Nevertheless, I found several serious theological problems for present women. These problems particularly presented in chap. 2. Ideas about marriage were about conventional relationship as a broken marriage, but Gomer looks like the property of her husband, and her husband has unmitigated control over her. Gomer was completely a dependant in this marriage. Having extremely big ownership, husband can do anything, can have special privilege to decide everything, and he can provide her with everything.

In order to curb his wife, the first thing he does is to segregate his wife from her lovers (2:6-7). The second thing is a series of physical and psychological punishments against his wife. He is saying about withholding food and clothing from her (9), humiliating her by exposing her genitalia before her lovers (10). Moreover, after the wife has been suitably punished and endured various forms of abuse, the husband is saying that he will seduce his wife, bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her (14).

I wonder, and I could not help questioning as well. “Does God agree with this husband’s role?, Does He really intend these problematic speaking? How can and how should I draw a message from this text when I preach?” I thought this idea of marriage in chap. 2 is not right, is not an ideal marriage, and lastly, this can never be love to each other!

After reading other materials about this chapter, and talking with TA, Suzanne I got some helpful understandings on this topic and some missing pieces are starting to come in together. The metaphor originates in a particular historical period. Also, it is totally affected by that period’s culture. The ideas of the Chap. 2 reflect the social methods of the patrilineal and honor/shame culture to control women’s sexuality (Newsom & Ringe, The Women’s Bible Commentary, 198-200).

We can discover that God is loving, forgiving, and compassionate, in spite of Israel’s sinfulness. However, we should see through a “social structure and value system of certain period and culture”, which privileged male over female. We should be aware of backgrounds of this marriage metaphor of chap 2, and the cultural setting is making its theological point at the expense of real women and children who were and still are victims of sexual violence. Without this previous understanding of the culture during that time, a husband’s physical abuse of his wife might come to be as justified as God’s retribution against Israel. The Hosea is constantly and passionately appealing to us for our “faithfulness” in “his context”. In order to make ‘the Message’ to be ‘the genuine message’, we should keep working on re-interpretation, re-writing with our own critical eyes, with compassionate heart of God toward the world.

once apon a time there was a boy
and once apon a time there was a girl
and God spoke to the boy and said “I want you to marry her”
this girl was pretty
and the boy said “YES!!!! Thank you”
so he walked over and said “hey my name is hosea”
She replied. “My name is Gomer he he he”
Homer- “you want to hang out?”
Gomer- “haha how much you got?”
all of a sudden hosea relises she wasn’t jokin
Gomer is a prostatute.
so hosea looks up to God and is like “hey hey hey. she’s pretty but dude, she been around. I mean around!”
and God’s like “she’s the one marry her”
Hosea-” Don’t you know what she does she’s a prostatute”
God- “i know”
so hosea goes back to Gomer and says to her “Gomer how much will this cost me”
she replys “how long we talking”
hosea- “um the rest of your life.”
and he bought her. Hosea bought her. Something like a bunch of shillings and goats or whatever.
Back then you had to raise anamils to buy stuff.
so they go and they get married.
God spoke to hosea and said “Hosea tell her she is yours and yours alone, no one else. no other man. just you.”
and then it happens. Hosea the profit would come in from a long day of proficying.
and he would walk into the bed room and he would see the dresser.
before he even got into the room he would smell the perfume.
he is thinking dude, she is dressed for me, she is smelling good for me.
and when he walked into the bedroom no one is there.
hosea would sit and he would stare at himself in the mirror and say this
” she decks her self with rings an jewlary and goes to meet her lover. but me she forgot.”
One night when he camew home and he was sitting there
he heard the door open and he heard. a women crying
and she was like “hosea hosea,”
he runs out to his wife and grabs her
she is bleeding out the corner of her mouth and her eye is black and swollen
he takes her in and he takes care of her.
for weeks everything is fine until he comes home and she is gone again.

i am here talking about the price you must pay to live this life. to be able to speak to him to be able to pull down to be able to rip apart and destroy for God…… it will cost you my question for you is what are you dressing for. who did you get dressed for today. where are you going were you have to leave jesus at home. who’s your lover. who’s your lover this evening.

let me ask you who you dressing yourself for are you dressing yourself for jesus, are you dressing yourself for the boy or the girl sitting right next beside you today. how many of you have something in your life you wish you’ve never done. something you never saw, How many of you when it comes to your relatinship with jesus christ your golmer and you dress yourself for someone else and you’ve gone to meet your lover and you put on perfume and jesus came to see you and he smelt the perfume, and he is like “yessss she’s here he’s here for me” and your gone with something else.

Now your thinking James You do not know what i have done you do not know where i have been. To be honest, I Do. i’ve been there i’ve done that. i Ran away from God so many times I have lost count. i Have turned him down for booze. for t.v., for friends, for sleep. I am not perfect. but i have been through it all. I still go through it. I’ve had it where i had a girlfriend and she left me for someone else she. cheated on me. she lied to me. she left me, and i stop and i think, Wow is this how God feels when i peace. when i disobay. when i run the other way!

No one should feel that pain. It sucks, it hurts, it is not fun. So why do we put God through that all the time.

Goooood lord. It is only like 3:45 and I swear it feels like 8:00! It’s not that I really feel tired, but it has definitely been a long day! Here we go.. start to finish! The St. Croix Valley Triathon:

I decided not to go out to Hudson last night. For some reason I had in my mind that it took like an hour and a half to get there.. but then I put it in googleMaps and it said it only took 40 minutes. So I nixed the plans with my mom’s friend (where I was planning on staying overnight) and decided I’d just drive out in the morning. It was a early morning! I haven’t seen 4:30am in a looong time. But it was well worth it – my mom’s friend has a dog, and I have allergies, and that wouldn’t have been a good idea the night before a race!

So I was out the door by 5:15, stopped for coffee (I had my coffee pot all set up to brew this morning.. but I set it for 5PM instead of 5am! doh!!) and was on my way! It was pitch black when I left, but I got to watch the sun rise as I was driving east to Hudson! SO PRETTY! Hhaha annnnd.. I swear the only people out on the roads at that time were people going to the tri! Every  car I saw had a racing bike on the back or a TriHarder bumper sticker… it made me smile every time!

 Got there, got my transition area all set up, got my packet, my “small” shirt (which goes down to my knees… who makes these!?) and got tatted…

and then had a while to wait for the start. I was nervous because my feet and hands were COLD. I’ve always had bad circulation.. but i was thinking if they’re cold now and I haven’t even touched the water yet.. then I’m in trouble! The water even looked cold!

The race started at 7:30, but since I was in wave 5 (women 29 and under) I didn’t start until like 7:45. There were some competitive looking girls out there.. but at this race they didn’t mark your age on your calf like they usually do, so I couldn’t tell who I was up against! Maybe a good thing… 

The gun went off and so did we. The water was actually not bad - I think it was probably about 70°.. so the water temperature was not the problem. Especially because I did this in more clothes than I did Green Lake… I was wearing a full length tri top and shorts. Little teeny shorts.. but shorts none the less. Honestly though.. I think I panicked a bit in the lake. Open water swimming is really different than swimming in a pool.. and the sighting thing just wasn’t working for me today. I had to breast stroke a bit in the beginning just to calm myself down, and by the time I reached the turn around bouey I was pretty much fine. It definitely slowed my swim time down though!

Thennnn the bike. I have two conflicting factors here when I try to compare to my last tri: 1. I was on a much better/faster bike. 2. I. was. FREEZING. I said the water temperature wasn’t a problem.. but the air temperature was. It was still too early for the sun to shine on the road, so the air temp was still like 55°. Take that, plus being soaking wet, plus going 22 mph = froze my ass off. Hahha I can’t wait to see the pictures from the professional photographer.. my face was like locked in one position that I’m sure was disgusting very attractive… I’ll have to wait and see. 

And then, my love – the run. This was a 4 mile run.. where as Green Lake was just a 5K. I actually like this run way better though. And finally my face and arms and core warmed up because the sun was finally peaking through! My legs from the knees down though were just numb.. it was ridiculous! But I knew they were still attached, and damnit, they had a job to do, so I got to it. I definitely started out slower than usual, but ended up picking it up a lot at the 2 mile turn around. My time out was 15:42 (!!! wtf) and coming back it was 13:44. All for a grand average pace of 7:21 (according to Gomer). Which for me.. is still ridiculously slow for a 4 mile run. But with frozen feet and being a newbie up and coming triathlete, I’ll take it. My friend Cyndi is the only other person I knew up there… she is from the Splashers team I train with (hard core name.. no?) and she is a great athlete! She says she is not a runner.. but I told her that is the great amazing thing about individual sports. You can be whatever you want to be. You can improve, and it’s easy to forget that sometimes! I love this lady’s attitude. She is definitely kick ass and will help remind you that you are too!

My total time was something along the lines of 1:20:xx… PickleEvents does the chip timing and they haven’t posted the results online yet. What I can say is that despite feeling like it wasn’t my best race.. it definitely wasn’t.. I took 2nd in my age group (and contradictory to my age-group-upgrade-fears, would have taken 2nd in the 20-25 devision too). I came home with an amazing medal engraved with St. Croix Valley Tri a .. stop watch? Mmm yep. Not kidding. Note to Race Director.. hopefully you’ll see this somehow – I LOVED your race. Everything. But a stop watch? Even Green Lake did medals.. they were just dog tags engraved but actually I like that the best! Then you can actually wear it without looking like you’re trying to be a show off. I can promise you that I wont be wearing my St. Croix Valley stop watch out to dinner tonight. My mom actually said she needs one for school, so…. !! 

The after celebration was nice – it was a Luau theme so they had leis and pineapple and what not.. but the main “event” for the food was pulled pork. I am not one of those PITA vegetarians, but I would have appreciated sommmme sort of meat-free option! I wasn’t kidding about the shirt being huge.. and I hate that because half the point of doing a race is to get free shirts.. and I like to be able to WEAR them! Here is me, trying to jump up on my couch before Photo Booth counts down…

Please ignore the crazed look on my face.. and I promise. I am completely G rated in posting this.. there are shorts on under there! And Chad.. this is all for you buddy – the shorts:

I was actually looking for racing buns.. but no where keeps them in stock! They’re mostly for team orders.. so this was the closest I could get. And I LOVE them. And bought two pairs.

I met my mom and some family friends at Dunn Bros on my way home. It was really nice to see them all.. and MAN was I ready for a cup of coffee!! That brings me to here.. all done with a triathlon before 9:30am and saying now what? for the rest of the day! I think I am meeting up with someone to buy the calc book I need for this year (craigslist – in case I go missing) (Kidding!! Sorta… =/ ) and then I think I am going to go spend the rest of the day helping my mom set up for our YARD SALE we are having in two weeks. So this my friends concludes my St Croix Valley Tri race report, and overall I’d say it was a success. If I’m in town, I’ll be back there next year!

I’m out!

See you soon love bugs. Race on Monday.. school starts Tuesday! YIKES! Live it up while you can!

Korea

Ja, Bae, Sun (M)

Hea, Hai

Thailand

Decha, Kovit, (M)

Isra, Jintana, Maili, Phailin, Solada. (F)

Laotian

Thea (F)

Arabic

Emir, Sakr, Taleb, Zaim (M)

Akilah, Inaya, Johara, Khalidah,

Maiza, Safiyyah, Samirah, Sahlah,

Takiyah, Zafirah (F)

Egypt

Jahi, Osiris, Sekani (M)

Cleopatra, Eshe, Ife, Isis, Omorose, Zaliki (F)

Georgia

Eliso, Ia, Mzia, (F)

Hebrew

Itzhakr, Namir, Reis, Reuben, (M)

Alea, Dafne, Elanah, Hanah, Kailah, Marnee (F)

Amiel, Amos, Asher, Avner, Beni, Elisha, Avi,

Boaz, Elazar, Eli, Elihu, Eyli, Ezer, Ezra, Gidyon,

Gomer, Kalev, Kheyn, Khever. (M)

Just the two of us we can make it if we try
Just the two of us just the two of us
Just the two of us building castles in the sky
Just the two of us you and I

         -Will Smith

So you all know Gomer… 

Let me introduce you to the QRoo:

A 2008 (I think?) Quintana Roo Kilo.. which I am from here forth calling Rilo. So creative. I know.

Let me tell you though.. these guys know their stuff. I’ve been contemplating buying a Quintana Roo wetsuit.. but man!! This is an expensive sport I’m tryna get into here. It’s not like you can get a wetsuit at Target.. (but God knows I lovvve my C9)

Miss Jenni doesn’t even have the slightest clue how happy she made me when she sold me this bike. I won’t tell you how much it retails for, or how much (or not much!!!!) I had to pay for it, but I can safely say that Jenni made my week month YEAR! THANK YOU JENNI! Please be watching your mail box!

I found this website with way more information than I needed to know, but it’s pretty damn cool. Because Rilo is pretty damn cool. Because OH MY GOD I want to just go ride it now!!

I’m going in tomorrow to my bike shop to get it fitted properly and pick up the cleats for my shoes. But you can bet your blisters that me and Rilo will be spending some good QT tomorrow! It’s supposed to rain.. but it can’t rain all day.. right? Wednesdays are my one day off at Job1 (the restaurant), so I only have to put in a couple hours at Job2 in the afternoon and then I’m done!

Tomorrow’s ToDos:

1. run with kid from tri team
2. bike fitting
3. job2
4. ride many many miles
5. pack/grocery shop for RAGNAR!!
6. dinner with the madre

Newwws time. You know you’re a runner when: you stay up just to watch the weather.

G’night
-E

The first Saturday evening after the honeymoon had ended, the groom approached their apartment for supper with his bride. He had been thinking of this all day and was anxiously awaiting the opportunity to again woo his bride, now his wife. As he opened the door, he was immediately sickened by the smell of liver & onions. His bride had prepared a heaping platter, presenting it splendidly … and causing him painful nausea. “Have I not told you the smell of liver and onions makes me ill? Come, come away. Let us go elsewhere and sup and later, after I am gone, please clean this away.” With this loving plea he called his bride to his side. Yet though they went elsewhere, still the scent of the liver and onions hung about her. Still, she was contrite and apologized sincerely, and he loved her dearly.

The second Saturday … yes, it happened again. Again, his bride was contrite and apologetic.

The third Saturday ... need I say it? This time, the bride excused herself with “It is a habit. I’m trying to break it. Be patient.“

The fourth Saturday … she explained, “In my father’s house, every Saturday night we make a platter of liver and onions and there is happiness and laughter. I want you to share in that pleasure.“

Thanks to Robert Kent Reed for this modern day parable of stubborn “pretend-love”. The original is here

I.  You Are the Bride

A.   Spiritual Mock Prison

1.  Unfortunately for many people, life seems like a long and painful prison experiment.  Though Christ has set believers free from the prison of sin, many Christians live as if they are in bondage to guilt.  Many Christians live defeated because they believe the lie that they are prisoners of sin.

2.  The reality is that Christ has set us free from sin.

3.  …there is an accuser who constantly bombards you with messages.  Satan is the accuser.  In fact, Satan’s name literally means accuser.  And day and night he hurls accusations about you (Rev. 12:10).  He knows that if he can cause you to believe you are a prisoner of sin, you will live that way.

4.  While the enemy hurls inaccurate insults your way, God reminds you of the truth of your new identity in His Word.  The accuser tells you that you are guilty; God says that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ (Rom. 8:1).  The enemy says you are nothing more than a sinner; Christ declares you are no longer a slave to sin (Rom. 6:6).

5.  While the accuser tells you that you are filthy and unclean, God says you have received His righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30).  The accuser points to prison walls; God says you have been set free (Gal. 5:1).  The accuser points to all your previous sin; God declares you righteous in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21).

6.  You have been set free from spiritual prison; so don’t live as if you are a prisoner (Note:  Please do not misread me.  I am not suggesting that thinking you are free makes you free.  If you are not spiritually free, no amount of thinking will alter the reality that you are a slave to sin, in spiritual bondage.  If you are still in spiritual bondage, your heart needs to be transformed, not your thinking.)

B.  The Bride

1.  When God first set the foundation for marriage in the book of Genesis, He said that “two people will become one flesh” (Gen. 2:24).  …God is describing the depth of a relationship where a man and woman become completely united physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

2.  Earthly marriage is a reflection of our eternal relationship with God.  Just as God made man in His own image, God created marriage in the image of His relationship to us.

a.  Ephesians 5:25-32

b.  The “profound mystery” of the passage is that you are now the body and bride of Christ.  When you became a Christian, you were united with Christ.  You are one with Him.  He cares for you as He cares for His own body because you are His body.  And His bride.

C.  Whose Am I?

1.  Much of our identity is wrapped up in our relationships.  Our relationships and our identity are inseparable.

2.  Whose are you?  …Jesus declares you are His bride.  He chose the highest expression of commitment between two people to express His commitment to you.  Your identity is wrapped up in the reality of your relationship with Christ.  …And because you are His, you are completely forgiven.

D.  Completely Forgiven

1.  God is light, and He exposes the sin in our lives.  When we press toward God, we realize how blemished and stained we are.  We frantically attempt to erase our own sin, but our attempts only reveal how incapable we are.  Ultimately our sin offends God; therefore, He is the one who must wipe the slate clean.  And He is the only one able to wipe the slate clean.

2.  As His bride, you are completely forgiven by Him because His death cleansed you wholly.  He erased every spot and blemish.

a.  Psalm 103:12

b.  Micah 7:19

c.  Isaiah 38:17

d.  Jeremiah 31:34

e.  Isaiah 1:18

E.  Wearing White

1.  Isaiah 61:10

a.  He has adorned you in a robe of righteousness.  He sees you as His perfect bride, and He looks upon you with joy.

2.   How am I His pure bride when I still sin?

a.  Since you have been united with Christ, all of His righteousness and purity was credited to your account.

b.  But Christ brings everything to the marriage.  We bring nothing but our sin and shame, yet we receive His righteousness.

c.  You are the bride of Christ not because you have chosen to be a good person or to live well.  You are the bride of Christ because Christ brought His righteousness into the relationship.

3.  Christ freely credits His righteousness to your eternal bank account.  The moment you said “I do” to an eternal relationship with God, you became His bride and received His righteousness.  And His righteousness cancels all your sin.

F.  A Crazy Story…Hosea

1.  Hosea 1:2-3

2.  Hosea 3:1-3

a.  God told Hosea to find Gomer, to show love…again.  God instructed Hosea to pursue Gomer to illustrate how God pursues His people, His bride.  God does not wait in a rocking chair for us to come to Him.  He is not a passive God.  He actively seeks us.  …Not only did Hosea pursue Gomer, but he also bought her.

II.  So How Should You Live As His Bride?

A.  Remember you are his bride

1.  As you live, remember you are the pure and forgiven bride of Christ.  Remembering your identity as a pure bride should lead you to live pure and blameless.  Purity is your new identity.

a.  Ephesians 4:22-24

B.  View sin as spiritual Adultery

1.  Sin is cheating on God.  …And cheating on God is never worth it.  Not only do we hurt God and harm our relationship with Him, but we also find ourselves empty.

a.  Jeremiah 2:13

2.  When we choose to seek satisfaction and pleasure in things or people other than God, we commit spiritual adultery by chasing other lovers.  And these other lovers cannot satisfy us because they are cracked cisterns.  They are incapable of curing our thirst.  …Only God can satisfy.

3.  While we will not eliminate sin in this lifetime, we should develop an intense hatred for it because of the harm it does to our relationship with God.  We should view sin as adultery that must be removed from our lives.

C.  Confess

1.  While we should seek to remove sin from our lives, we will still sin.  While Christ has declared us perfect, practically we still live in our old and fallen bodies.  While God’s righteousness has been credited to us, we will not be without sin until heaven.

a.  1 John 1:8 – 2:1

2.  So why do I need to confess if God has already forgiven me?

a.  While God has already forgiven you completely, confession restores your deep connection with Him.  Confessing sin to God is not informing God you blew it as if He missed it, as if He does not already know.  Confessing sin to God repairs the connection and allows Him to remove your guilt.

3.  2 Samuel 12

a.  David was passionate for God, yet he struggled with sin.  His most famous sin was scandalous and involved adultery and murder.

b.  …the physical and spiritual adultery harmed the deep connections and intimacy between David and God.  David’s guilt was eating away at his soul.  He even hurt physically because of the distance in his relationship with God (Ps. 32:3-4).  …So David approached God to restore the relationship.  And when David confessed his sin and begged God for forgiveness, God removed the guilt (Ps. 32:5).  The joy of David’s relationship with God was restored to him (Ps. 51:2).

c.  As His bride, continually seek His forgiveness so that you may enjoy the fullness of your relationship with God.  Confess so that your connection and intimacy with God will be restored.  And the sense of guilt taken away.

4.  Consistent Confession

a.  Don’t be misled into thinking that the more you confess the further away from God you must be.  The opposite is true.  As your relationship with God becomes more intimate, confession is more prevalent.

b.  Matthew 6:9-13

i.  Notice the progression in the prayer.  As you get closer to God…, the more you confess because you increasingly realize His holiness.  And the more you see Him for who He is, the more you realize how spiritually inadequate you are.

c.  An inaccurate view of God leads to little or no confession.  A reverent and accurate view of God leads to consistent confession.  Consistent confession reveals a heart that is sensitive to God.

d.  The person who consistently confesses sin is not the person who is far from God.  The person who never confessses sin is the person who is far from God.  His lack of pleas for forgiveness reveals he has a small view of God and a hardened heart toward sin.

i.  As C.S. Lewis pointed out in the Chronicles of Narnia, He is not safe.  He is a lion, and our legs should tremble as we approach Him.

e.  David begged for forgiveness in his prayers because David viewed God as holy.  David’s longing to enjoy a close and intimate relationship with God drove him to confession.  And God restored the intimacy between David and Himself.  …David learned from his nighttime mistake on the rooftop.  He later wrote to God, “On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night” (Ps. 63:6 NIV).  Instead of pursuing other lovers, David pursued God in the shadows of the night.  He remembered God.

The reality:  You are the bride of Christ.

The response:  Remember you are His bride.  View sin as adultery.  And consistently confess.

*This FOCUS University Ministry Bible Study is based Identity:  Who You Are in Christ by Eric Geiger.  All direct quotes are in italics above.

Floyd's owner, Russell Hiatt, stays busy cutting the hair of locals and tourists

I about keeled over when I peeked through the large window on Main Street into Floyd’s City Barber Shop. There was Floyd! OK, not really, but it looked enough like him that I thought I’d channeled myself into a 1960s television set. Black and white, of course.

Really it was 85-year-old owner Russell Hiatt, who has been cutting hair at his Mount Airy barbershop for more than 60 years. Oprah has been here, so you know it’s special.

Barney Fife, on duty 24 hours a day

Since moving to North Carolina six years ago, Wessel and I several times have been close to Mount Airy, Andy Griffith’s hometown and the inspiration for Mayberry, but never ventured “downtown.” We did last weekend, and what a treat it was. Wessel being Dutch, I’ve had to give him a Tarheel and American primer on “The Andy Griffith Show” and all things Mayberry. Over the years, I’ve taught him “The Fishin’ Hole” whistle, and a little about Opie, Barney, Goober and Gomer. And, now, Floyd. Finally he got to see that I wasn’t the only one waxing nostalgic over such things.

Pricey fridge magnet generates priceless memories

Mayberry, er, Mount Airy, has done a good job of keeping the Andy mania fairly tasteful. Main Street has as many cool vintage and antique shops in old department-store storefronts as it does stores full of tourist schlock. But I loved the schlock too. I even forked over an outrageous $7 for an Andy fridge magnet.

There are more attractions than I have time to enumerate here. The most popular one is The Snappy Lunch, credited as the only existing local business mentioned on the television show, which aired from 1960 to 1968 and was filmed in … LA of course!

You can catch a ride in a classic Ford Galaxie squad car

Another draw is The Squad Car Tour, where a carload of folks can ride in a restored 1962 Ford Galaxie squad car, the same as Andy’s and Barney’s. And I loved that Mount Airy’s “horse-drawn carriages” are instead powered by mules. Off in the distance, you can see the familiar knob of Pilot Mountain, called “Mount Pilot” on the show.

This year’s Mayberry Days is Sept. 24-27, when some 25,000 fans (and some of the show’s characters) descend on the town of 8,400 to celebrate the show, which first aired on Oct. 3, 1960.

One amusing ditty. Last fall, Griffith donned his Sheriff Andy Taylor persona and Ron Howard his Opie to endorse presidential candidate Barack Obama. That apparently did not sit well with the largely Republican county. It was all they could talk about at Floyd’s.

The Background stuff:
In the book of Hosea in the Old Testament God uses, as an example Hosea’s unfaithful wife to illustrate the unfaithfulness of Israel. It is quite a sad story in the beginning because it is all about Hosea rescuing his wife Gomer (what a name!) from a life of promiscuity and prostitution. Hosea gave Gomer everything she could ever want as far stability and her needs were concerned. Yet, she still returned to her promiscuity and became unfaithful to Hosea even after he fathered and raised her children.

The Good Stuff:
The good news is that the story does not end there and the illustration of God’s love for his people did not end there either. God said to Hosea, “Go and love your wife again, even though she commits adultery with another lover. This will illustrate that the Lord still loves Israel even though the people have turned to other gods and love to worship them” His words not mine… From a mere human perspective this would be hard for me to do. If I were Hosea and I had done all I had done to give Gomer a wonderful life and she did what she did…hit the road Gomer!!! But, the Lord told Hosea from the beginning this would happen and because Hosea knew that this relationship illustrated the love God has for his people he was willing to go through this heartache with his unfaithful wife.
The take away form this story for me comes from chapter 2, verse 15. Even after all I can do to be unfaithful to God, HE is still faithful and loves me even in the light of my unfaithfulness. The verse says (God speaking to Israel) “ I will return her vineyards to her and transform the Valley of Trouble into a gateway of hope.” Remarkable! It does not matter what I did in my past or how I have turned my back on God, HE still loves me and you and can transform even the darkest of valleys into gateways of HOPE!

Today I studied Titus 2;14.  It says that Jesus Christ “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”

As I meditated and prayed, I asked myself, “What would make this stick in my mind?  What will make this real?”  I think there’s a progressive relationship between the statements in Titus 2:14.  It goes from redemption to purification to zeal. That helps, but what does that look like?

Then I thought about Hosea.  You know, the prophet who married the hooker and then had to buy her back?

Here’s what made it stick for me:

Imagine that you are like Hosea and God tells you to marry a prostitute.  You get married in the courthouse because the family would be too ashamed to come to the wedding at a church.  You don’t get a honeymoon because before the weekend is over, she cheats on you and goes back to the strip club.

You go downtown to get your wife back.  She is up on stage waiting to be purchased by men who will have their way with her, abuse her, and give her but a few bucks for her services. She’s not going for much money tonight.  But you don’t say, “I deserve better.  She’s not worth it.”  Instead, you lay down a couple hundred and buy her for yourself.

You drive her home.  Other than the sound of her weeping, it’s quiet.  You don’t chastise her or accuse her.  Instead, you reach over to hold her hand as she covers her sobs with the other.

You sit down with her at the table.  You don’t revile her or hit her.  You don’t condemn her and say, “How could you, again?!”  Instead, you wash off her makeup and anoint her with oil.  You take off her dirty, immodest stripper outfit and give a her brand new elegant dress that you’ve been saving up for.  You kiss her forehead and forgive her and cleanse her conscience.

You look into her eyes and say, “My bride, I love you.  And I will love you until you stay with me.”  She is so comforted, so secure, so loved.  So much so, in fact, that over time, she becomes zealous to do good and doesn’t want to sell her body anymore.

We are the whore.  O how often we have cheated on our God and sold our bodies to our sin!  Jesus is our husband, and this is what God did for us through him.  He redeems us through his death.  He purifies us despite our constant failures.  He makes us zealous to do good and hate evil.

He lifts our dropping head and says, “I have redeemed you and I will love you until you obey.”

Will you have this love, or reject it?

*  *  *

Related Posts:

• God Loves Us Because He Loves Us
• Meditation on Hosea 3:1
  

When the Lord first spoke with and through Hosea, the Lord said to him, Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of [her] harlotry, for the land commits great whoredom by departing from the Lord.  So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she became pregnant and bore him a son.

Hosea 1:2-3

Hosea was asked to put aside his reputation and marry a woman who everyone knew was a prostitute, or as the King James Version puts it…a whore.  I can only imagine his thoughts when the Lord spoke to him, “You’ve got to be kidding, right?”  Not only was he told to marry her and have children with her, but he was to also raise the children that she already had and to love them as his own.  It’s interesting to think about the things that God will want us to do and the number of reasons why we resist. Even if Hosea did question this request from God, he didn’t hesitate for very long.  It doesn’t say, “Go take yourself an adulterous wife…and Hosea needed some time to process this request…then he went and took Gomer as his wife.”  It says, “So he went…”  Hosea was obedient.

So many times we will hear God telling us to do something and instead of acting immediately we rationalize the waiting by saying we are “processing all the information.” God’s timing is perfect.  When he tells us to do something, it’s probably because he needs it done right then. The question isn’t, “Has God really spoken to me?” It’s, “Have I obeyed what God has already spoken to me?”  I have realized that God is always speaking to the hearts of his believers. To those people who are seeking after him, he reveals himself. It may not be in a clear audible voice, but God is always revealing.

Hosea heard from God and he acted on it even though he was going to be humiliated and embarrassed.  None of that mattered to Hosea because he knew that God had a purpose.  Hosea didn’t falter; he obeyed for the purpose of God’s will to be done and to show the people God’s love and patience. God asked Hosea to love his unfaithful wife, to represent the love God had and still has for his unfaithful people.

God will only use those whom he can trust.  He knew that what he was asking Hosea to do was not going to be easy, but He also knew that Hosea would obey.  I want God to trust me; to see my heart and know that I will obey what he commands. It starts with being faithful with the little things before I will be given more. God knows that we might not always understand and/or be excited about certain things that he asks us to do, but our feelings are not as important as our commitment.

Obedience is the only way we will ever be satisfied. I pray that I would not put things off when I know God is asking me to do it now. I know that I am nothing apart from him.

What are you afraid of?

I don’t mean that as a mere rhetorical device.  I mean it quite seriously:

What are you afraid of?  What’s the worst thing that could possibly happen to you?  To your family?  To your nation?  To your workplace?  To your way of life?

I’m trying to put words to this truth about the things we fear.  It’s the flip side of the idea that perfect love drives away our fear.  It’s the reality that anything short of perfect love will be tinged by our fears.  And our fears are our undoing.

On some level, it’s impossible to fear something that is wholly outside of us.  On some level, fears don’t exist on the level of the abstract.  Whatever we fear, it’s really about how the feared thing will impact us.

I’d go even further.  We delude ourselves into thinking that problems are outside of us.  But they are not.  Not really.  Not ever.

It began with Eve, Adam, a garden and a snake.

And it’s easy to say “The garden was outside of them.  The snake was outside of them.”

But the garden and the snake weren’t the problem.  The reactions of Adam and Eve, these were the problem.

Left unchecked, fear drives us to become the very thing we so feared.  The Old Testament tells the story of Josea and Gomer.   It’s the story of a women who so feared being hemmed in and trapped that she embrarks on a journey that ends when she sells herself into slavery.

And consider Joseph’s brothers.  It was clear that the youngest brother was to have power within the family.  It was power that they didn’t want to share.  And so they set into motion a series of events which culminates in Joseph become one of the most powerful people in the world; it culuminates in the brothers being wholly and utterly under Joseph’s control.   It’s hard to imagine how Joseph could have ended up anywhere near as influential, if his brothers hadn’t feared his power.  They made Joseph that way.

And then: Consider the fear of the Romans that was had by the people at Jesus’ time.

I’m not casting stones, particularly here.  If I had lived at the time, I know I would have had good reasons to fear them as well.

But I can only imagine how it seemed to the people who were crucifying Jesus.  The Romans must have thought, “Yeah, these guys seem all gung-ho for Jesus as he enters into the city.  But that one guy, Judas, he turns Jesus over.  Pontius gives them a chance to set him free, but the crowd goes for the murderer instead.”

They began with this fear of the Romans.  And in selling Jesus out, they increased the power and sway the Romans had.  After the crucifiction of Jesus, the Romans must have rested easier.  Their consciences must have been assuaged.  There must have been a sense of “See?  We’re doing the right thing.  This rabble actually needs us.”

I think I have some more to say on this topic.  But not today.

What do you fear?  If left unchecked, what could this fear do to you?