Hosea 10

12 Sow righteousness for yourselves,
    reap the fruit of unfailing love,
and break up your unplowed ground;
    for it is time to seek the Lord,
until he come;
  and showers his righteousness on you. 
13 But you have planted wickedness,
    you have reaped evil,
    you have eaten the fruit of deception.
Because you have depended on your own strength
    and on your many warriors,


Basically reap what you sow.  I don't feel so bad about this unit I read the last line--If I'm honest I probably tend to rely on myself rather than seeking the Lord which wasn't a good plan for Israel and isnt a good plan for me.

I heard you guys suffered major water damage.  I really feel for you and wish I could be closer to be a grunt to help ease your work load.  Well its the second year in a row of no Michigan on Labor Day which really bums me out.  I miss the fun on the water, the mornings reflecting about life with a cup of coffee on deck and just hanging with you and Scott.  First football games on TV throughout the day, good food, some games of cribbage on the floor some Xbox, time at the go-carts, trying to land the big fish, relieving Scotts boat trailer driving....the list goes on.

We really really need to find a way to make another weekend work.  it is so hard life is too busy.

miss you guys
knut

Hosea 9

17 My God will reject them
    because they have not obeyed him;
    they will be wanderers among the nations.

No major take today just interesting that Israel continues to be in the news today, currently with the fighting in Hamas.  I checked in on Tom's post which he made 9/5/12 almost exactly 2 years ago and he is talking about the headlines of the WSJ that morning talking about controversy in Jerusalem.  

I just find the continued importance of this area of the world a couple thousand years later to be interesting.  Here I sit 6am at my computer on my couch with my coffee over 2,000 years later and its still a center of world importance and activity.  

God's plan has a much longer timeline than my little mind can comprehend.

knut

Hosea 8

12 I wrote for them the many things of my law,
    but they regarded them as something foreign.


Its true, he has written it all down for us but apparently I often consider his direction for us as optional.  Why would I not follow his rules to a tee?  I think I follow work rules pretty well, I wouldn't cross my parents and yet for God I seem to fall down on meeting his expectations.  

I am supposed to have a personal relationship with the maker of the universe and yet I am able to comfortably ignore his direction on a given day and ask for forgiveness later.  seems laughable really.

not sure this is the point of the chapter but just a thought it sparked.
knut

Hoesa 7

2 but they do not realize
    that I remember all their evil deeds.
Their sins engulf them;
    they are always before me.


Its always a bit sobering to be reminded He sees everything I do and knows all that I think and his memory is pretty good too.  

I read this and think how dumb is Israel, then I pull the plank out of my eye.  I'm not much better in many ways.

I am more than fortunate He forgives me and that Jesus wiped the slate clean for me.

knut

Hosea 6

Tom V. finds nuggets and meaning where sometimes I just read words--

knut

I want you to show love,
    not offer sacrifices.
I want you to know me
    more than I want burnt offerings.
Hosea 6:6 (NLT)

Intimacy has been a recurring topic in my life conversations of late. How interesting that it relates both to human relationships, namely marriage, but also to our relationship (or lack thereof) with God. Time and time again, God’s message makes a direct parallel between the two. Jesus used the metaphor of marriage to describe our relationship with Him on a continual basis.

Many struggle with intimacy in marriage. Having going through divorce after a 17 year marriage, I know that struggle. Instead of the deep experience of truly knowing and being known, two people spiritually, emotionally, and even physically hide themselves from one another. The relationship becomes contractual and platonic. Sex becomes a physical exercise (“Well, I guess we should”) rather than a spiritual and emotional experience of bodies and souls intertwining and finding oneness.

The same can be true of our relationship with God. Instead of the experience of truly knowing and being known, we spiritually and emotionally hide ourselves from God. The relationship becomes contractual and Lifeless. Relationship becomes rigid religious exercise rather than a spiritual and emotional experience of God and me in intertwining oneness.

I love the way God said it through Hosea the way a spouse would say it to his or her mate: I want your love – not your obligatory duty. I don’t want you to live with me as much as I want you to live within me.

Today, I’m continuing to pursue my relationship with God just as I pursue my relationship with Wendy. I want to relate to each in such a way that I experience it growing organically deeper and more fruitfully life-giving instead of going through rote daily ritual like a cog and a wheel in an inanimate machine.

Hosea 5

¹³ “When Ephraim saw his sickness,
and Judah his sores,
then Ephraim turned to Assyria,
and sent to the great king for help.
But he is not able to cure you,
not able to heal your sores.
There wasn't a lot that stood out to me this morning.  There was a couple of small things.

1.  The name Ephraim was ringing bells in the back of my head as I was reading the chapter.  Remember him from the Ephraim and Mennasah (sp) fame?  These are the 2 sons of Joseph that Jacob blessed.  Well, even a blessed person (or lineage) can lose their way.  That's what we are reading here.  We see that the people have lost their way.  Its a reminder to me that I need to be ever repentence to God, and continue to seek him.  Everyday re-dedicating myself to him.

2. The verse above me stuck out telling me to take my issues to the only place that is capable of effecting my situation.  Going to Doctors for a cold is ok, and going to the grocery store for food is good,.....but it ALL is a blessing from God.  I just had a long talk with the boys this weekend about how we treat our stuff.  The minute you start to think of it all as yours, that's when you get into trouble.  I need to remember to pray to God with all my issues and my concerns.  Ultimately, he is the only one that is powerful enough to do something about it.  (even if he is working thru other secondary sources)

tp out

Hosea 4

6    my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.

“Because you have rejected knowledge,
    I also reject you as my priests;
because you have ignored the law of your God,
    I also will ignore your children.

God gives us his word in the bible, its up to us to get into it.  No one to blame but me if I lack knowledge.  There is nothing between me and knowledge but making it a priority to read his word.  And if for some reason I can't do it for my own benefit maybe I should always keep Luke and Katelyn in mind.  I don't like the consequences of lacking knowledge.

short and sweet today have a great weekend!

Hosea 3

Below is Tom's thoughts on chapter 3.  His knowledge of history and God's word helps bring these chapters to life in a way that I am not able to discern.  I do desire this kind of knowledge, our chapter a day is important to me and still the best I've ever done at consistently getting into the word and I love that it keeps us connected in spite of miles of distance.

But I see what he is able to glean when I get little and I think I need to also invest in more concentrated study to build my knowledge base.   We did this with another couple through a Beth Moore study--but I need to continue this on a regular basis not just once every few months.

knut


http://tomvanderwell.wordpress.com/2012/08/28/chapter-a-day-hosea-3/

Hosea was a prophet and his book is part of the Hebrew books of prophecy. It is impossible to read them and not think about their message in the context of history, time, and events. This morning, these two verses caught my eye for their prophetic nature.

Israel will go a long time without a king or prince… Indeed, Hoshea was the last king of Israel and he finished his reign in 712 B.C. Even if we count Zedekiah who was the last king of the southern nation of Judah, we only make it to 586 B.C. So, we’re now at roughly 2500 years Israel has been without a king.

without sacrifices, sacred pillars, priests, or even idols!…  When Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans just 40 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, all of the Hebrews’ extensive genealogical records were destroyed along with the temple. Because God’s law specifically requires that the priestly and sacrificial systems be carried out by sons of Aaron and Levi, the sacking of Rome made it impossible for these systems to continue. It’s been nearly 2000 years.

But afterward the people will return…. Israel’s statehood in 1948 has resulted in millions returning to their native land.

and devote themselves to the Lord their God and to David’s descendant, their king…. What’s interesting about this is that the destruction of the genealogical records in 70 A.D.  make it nearly impossible to determine who is a direct descendant of King David. Yet Jesus’ family tree exists. The line through both his mother and his earthly father is recorded in the gospels and traced back to David.

In the last days, they will tremble in awe of the Lord and of his goodness. Today, I feel like I’m living out this prophecy as I ponder in wonder. I’m amazed at God’s story, His plan, and His prophets. I’m grateful to be living in such amazing times and witnessing so much from  a man walking on the moon to the ability of holding more information than all the ancient libraries combined in the palm of my hand. At the same time, I’m reminded that it is all part of a larger plan and story that God is telling through human history. It was foretold through the ancient prophets, has been working itself out and is yet coming to be.

Hosea 2

8 She has not acknowledged that I was the one
    who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil,
who lavished on her the silver and gold—
    which they used for Baal.


Hopefully my life doesn't resemble the life of a prostitute and at first I was reading this thinking about the obvious errors of her ways and not seeing any connection to myself.  But one thing to remember is that all the resources I have are a gift from God and not earned, I have no right to the tremendous blessings he has given me.  I think my effort at work is positive but I should be careful not to use the word 'my' too much in regards to all of the gifts and resources He has given me.

knut

Hosea 1

Thought we could go through the 'Minor prophets', it might make us feel like we are covering some ground.

2 When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.”

I'm not sure what to make of this, but it sure isn't anything I was expecting to read.  I bet his friends and family were like, sure He told you to find a whore for a wife, mmhhhmm.

Maybe its just a demonstration on a micro level through this marriage that God can do great things in spite of the quality of the raw material or situation.

knut

Reading List

well we didn't exactly fly through Job--started it in May!

Book:	Completed
Written by Moses
1. Genesis	Oct-13
2. Exodus	Dec-13
3. Leviticus	Mar-14
4. Numbers
5. Deuteronomy	Oct-11
OT Narratives
6. Joshua	Oct-11
7. Judges	Dec-11
8. Ruth	Dec-11
9. 1 Samuel	Feb-12
10. 2 Samuel	Mar-12
11. 1 Kings
12. 2 Kings
13. 1 Chronicles
14. 2 Chronicles
15. Ezra	Apr-14
16. Nehemiah	Apr-14
17. Esther	May-14
Wisdom Literature
18. Job	Aug-14
19. Psalms	Ch 1-32, Jan 2013
20. Proverbs	Mar-13
21. Ecclesiastes	Apr-13
22. Song of Songs	Apr-13
Major Prophets
23. Isaiah	Isaiah 1-35 Jun-13
24. Jeremiah
25. Lamentations
26. Ezekiel
27. Daniel
Minor Prophets
28. Hosea
29. Joel
30. Amos
31. Obadiah
32. Jonah
33. Micah
34. Nahum
35. Habakkuk
36. Zephaniah
37. Haggai
38. Zechariah
39. Malachi
NT Narratives
40. Matthew	Feb-14
41. Mark
42. Luke	Jan-13
43. John
44. Acts	Aug-13
Epistles by Paul
45. Romans	May-12
46. 1 Corinthians	May-12
47. 2 Corinthians	Jul-12
48. Galatians	Jul-12
49. Ephesians	Jul-12
50. Philippians	Aug-12
51. Colossians	Aug-12
52. 1 Thessalonians	Sep-12
53. 2 Thessalonians	Sep-12
54. 1 Timothy	Sep-12
55. 2 Timothy	Sep-12
56. Titus	Sep-12
57. Philemon	Sep-12
General Epistles
58. Hebrews	Oct-12
59. James	Apr-12
60. 1 Peter	Nov-12
61. 2 Peter	Nov-12
62. 1 John	Nov-12
63. 2 John	Nov-12
64. 3 John	Nov-12
65. Jude	Nov-12
Apocalyptic Epistle by John
66. Revelation