Forgotten Books of the Bible - Hosea - 1

 

' “Yet the time will come when Israel’s people

will be like the sands of the seashore—too

many to count! Then, at the place where they

were told, ‘You are not my people,’ it will be said,

‘You are children of the living God.’ Then the

people of Judah and Israel will unite together.

They will choose one leader for themselves,

and they will return from exile together. What

a day that will be—the day of Jezreel —when

God will again plant his people in his land.' Hosea 1:10-11 https://my.bible.com/bible/116/HOS.1.10-11

This book is full of so many painful events. Hosea is told by God he will marry a prostitute and that she will be unfaithful to him Together, they have a son. There are another two children born and indications they are through the unfaithfulness of Gomer, Hosea's wife. These two children are given names meaning "Not Loved" and "Not my people."  Such sadness fills me to think of these children and the situation. It brings anger saying, 

Lord, HOW CAN YOU LET THIS HAPPEN?

Is this story any different than hundreds, maybe thousands of children in our communities? Is this any different than the stories of children born into homes where they are not loved, where they are rejected by either parent? Is this any different than the stories behind the children placed in foster homes, abused, sold into sex trafficking?

Our world is filled with such pain and injustice. Yes, we can cry out to God, but can we blame him? I say the answer is clearly NO! Our sinfulness, our poor choices, our desire to remove God from our lives is the story behind the pain. 

The Story of Hosea is in the Bible to show us the pain our sin has caused. Our desire to do things on our own, our desire to live for the moment, and our disregard for the lives of others, bring great pain to this world. But, more importantly, it brings pain to God. 

BUT, PRAISE GOD HE NEVER GIVES UP ON US!

God accepts our poor choices and desire to live without him with tears of deep sadness. Yet, he will NOT turn his back on us forever. Israel would eventually come to their knees asking for forgiveness. Then they would leave God again and again and again. These verses in the Hosea teach us about the mind of God. Even in the midst of all the pain of this world, he has not given up on us. He is for us and waiting for us to return to him, pure and ready to worship him and be with him. 

Please Lord help us in the midst of this evil, help us to seek you, your laws and your love. We need you so much! Amen!

Thank you Lord!

Forgotten Books of the Bible - Ezra - 10 - Hope

 

'Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, a descendant

of Elam, said to Ezra, “We have been unfaithful

to our God, for we have married these pagan

women of the land.

But in spite of this there is hope for Israel. '

Ezra 10:2. https://my.bible.com/bible/116/EZR.10.2

There are always consequences of sin, people are hurt, suffering is the result. For years, almost back to when Israel crossed the Jordan River to occupy the promised land, Israel had defied this key law of God. Even King Solomon violated this law. They intermarried with Pagans. In today's politically correct world, this shouldn't be such a big deal. The families in Israel were close. Father and Mother were highly revered. One of the first laws, commanded by God, through Moses, was to honor your Father and Mother. These two people are lifegivers. Honoring them is like honoring God. He is our Father and we honor him by loving him, listening to him, obeying him, and living life with him. We honor our parents in a similar way. If a man marries someone outside the faith, all of life is changed. We have to choose which to follow. 

It is a big deal.

In a marriage between a follower of Christ and a non-follower, the children are put in an impossible situation. They must choose between mother and father. Sin offers us the same choice. Sin makes us choose between God and man. We all know the right choice!

But, in verse two, Ezra pointed out THERE IS HOPE. Our sins cannot permanently separate us from God unless we want them to. God loves us so much that he sent his Son to die for us, that we might have HOPE through him. There is no sin to great. God is there waiting for us to seek his forgiveness. Yes, there will be consequences. The result of sin does not change with our confession and desire for forgiveness. But, if we seek God, and turn from our wicked ways, he promises us hope and a brighter tomorrow. 

Thank You, Lord for hope even when I mess things up by disobeying you!

Forgotten Books of the Bible - Ezra 9 - The Vicious Cycle

 

'I prayed, “O my God, I am utterly ashamed;

I blush to lift up my face to you. For our sins

are piled higher than our heads, and our guilt

has reached to the heavens. From the days of

our ancestors until now, we have been steeped

in sin. That is why we and our kings and our

priests have been at the mercy of the pagan

kings of the land. We have been killed, captured,

robbed, and disgraced, just as we are today.

Ezra 9:6-7. https://my.bible.com/bible/116/EZR.9.6-7

It is not easy to identify Christians in our communities. They look, act, and talk like all the rest of the people in our country. Ezra found out his people continued to accept and actively participate in the pagan culture surrounding them. 

'When I heard this, I tore my cloak and my shirt, pulled hair from my head and beard, and

sat down utterly shocked. 'Ezra 9:3 https://my.bible.com/bible/116/EZR.9.3

The vicious cycle of sin continued.

He then prayed!

How ashamed am I of my actions? Do I blush when God sees how I live a life of sin? Our sins are

are higher than the heavens. The only way out is through Jesus and exactly what he did for us on

the cross. The good news? Jesus has no limit in his forgiveness. He doesn't ever say, this is your

last chance. His grace and his mercy are forever. All we have to do is come to him.

Heavenly Father, forgive me for how I repeatedly sin, living a life that looks exactly like the world.

Please give me strength to stay focused on you, to fight accepting sin as being normal. Help me to

fight the urge to conform instead of being transformed. I cannot do it on my own. Lord we need you

every moment of every day. Help us the break the vicious cycle! Amen!

Forgotten Books of the Bible - Ezra 8 - Vaccination vs No Vaccination

 

'And there by the Ahava Canal, I gave orders

for all of us to fast and humble ourselves before

our God. We prayed that he would give us a safe

journey and protect us, our children, and our goods

as we traveled. For I was ashamed to ask the king

for soldiers and horsemen to accompany us and

protect us from enemies along the way. After all,

we had told the king, “Our God’s hand of protection

is on all who worship him, but his fierce anger

rages against those who abandon him.” So we

fasted and earnestly prayed that our God would

take care of us, and he heard our prayer. '

Ezra 8:21-23 https://my.bible.com/bible/116/EZR.8.21-23

It is fun to think about how often God has protected us in our lifetime and we have no idea! Stephanie and I spend a lot of time praying and definitely pray for God to protect us when we travel. I love this short message in Ezra. 

The fleshly part of Ezra wanted to guarantee his protection by asking the King for soldiers and horsemen. Yet, he knew to make the request would appear to be a lack of faith. So, he prayed and he had his people fast and humble themselves before the Lord instead. 

Do you REALLY believe God will protect you?  How do you demonstrate to the world that you REALLY trust in the Lord? 

It is so important to show the world you completely trust in the Lord. We live in a world that is a dangerous place. There is so much out there to harm us. 

God will protect us. 

I still have a hard time deciding if God wants me to take extra precautions or if he wants me to depend on him. This has been very real over the past two years with COVID. My debate was whether to take a vaccine or not. Am I being diligent to protect myself or do I leave it up to the Lord?  I have debated this in my heart quite often. But, my decision to get vaccinated was simple. I was not going to be able to serve the Lord like I wanted, traveling to Greece on a short-term mission trip and exploring Israel, if I was not vaccinated. So, my thought was  YES the Lord could protect me from COVID, but he could also protect me from the VACCINE. 

Ezra had great motives. He wanted to make sure Persia and the King knew that God would protect them as they traveled. It might have been smart to ask the King for help, but the example he set by relying upon the Lord was more important. 

We should all be more concerned about the way our faith is portrayed to others. Instead of making decisions like vaccination or no vaccination for political reasons, make the decisions based on your faith! I know some people made their decisions for the right reason. Others, I am not sure about! But there are other decisions. Do you carry a handgun for protection or not?  Do you install security systems at home or not? I am sure there are others. 

Take all your decisions to the Lord, ask his guidance, and consider what those decisions will say to those that DON'T know the Lord. 

Forgotten Books of the Bible - Ezra 7 - Bad Memory!

'For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the

law of the LORD , and to do it , and to teach

in Israel statutes and judgments. ' Ezra 7:10. https://my.bible.com/bible/1/EZR.7.10

My mentor gave me this verse to memorize. It is amazing that, unbeknownst to him, I was studying Ezra. I love how God works in small ways to let us know we are doing his will.  I kind of gave him a hard time about memorizing scripture. I asked him a question about where it says in the Bible we are to memorize scripture. I think I kind of stunned him by my question. Now don't get all your defenses up! I absolutely see value in memorizing God's word. I envy people that have verses they pull out of thin air at just the right moment. AND I know my resistance is because I don't want to put the effort to memorize scripture. 

So, I googled, "Does it say we should memorize scripture in the Bible?"

 

Although there are multiple reasons given to memorize scripture, backed up by scripture, each reference given talks more about the application and the command to make scripture a part of our life. Here is a link to one of the resources;

Ten Reasons to Memorize Scripture

More importantly, is the need for us to engrain scripture in our hearts. Does scripture impact how you live, what you say, and how you relate to other people? I am not against memorization of scripture. I just believe all MY efforts should be toward "preparing my heart to seek, and then to do it." I need to seek the Lord and all that he has for me today, or even in this specific moment! As I seek him and his law, I also need to be able to share all that I find teaching others.

So, in my opinion, (I could be wrong), we need to focus all our energy on embedding scripture into our hearts and then transfering that to our daily lives. With some people that may mean memorizing scripture. Some it will mean meditating on scripture, some will write about scripture, some will teach others. If we spend time in God's word, truly seeking his laws, understanding his statutes, and judgments, it will affect our life, even if we do not memorize those scriptures.

What are your thoughts?