Praise the LORD! Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! His faithful love endures forever. – YET how quickly they forgot what he had done!
Psalm 106:1, 13a
Psalm 106:1; 107:1; 118:1; 1 Chronicles 16:34 and so many other passages call us to “give thanks to the LORD.” The passages site various reasons like His faithfulness, His goodness, His steadfast love and more. The problem is when we fail to be impressed with the Lord’s character and acts of kindness and when we fail to notice His miraculous works. There is great danger in forgetting to acknowledge Him with praise and thanksgiving. For look at the example of the Israelites in today’s passage who failed to be impressed with the works of God’s hand and then quickly forgot what He had done. May we never find ourselves in this place – but rather daily find time and reasons to sing His praises and give HIm thanks – even for the littlest of blessings or fingerprints –
Your turn
What is that impresses You about God? – Make sure to journal it or write it out somewhere or even tell someone – and don’t forget to give thanks to Him to whom the praise/thanks is due. We must be intentional about this discipline in our life – not being so captivate by the day or the moment or the person but fully captivated by God alone – and intent on remembering the works of His hands. 💜
We will remember, we will remember We will remember the works of Your hands We will stop and give you praise For great is Thy faithfulness We will remember, we will remember We will remember the works of Your hands We will stop and give you praise For great is Thy faithfulness You’re our creator, our life sustainer Deliverer, our comfort, our joy Throughout the ages You’ve been our shelter Our peace in the midst of the storm With signs and wonders You’ve shown Your power With precious blood You showed us Your grace You’ve been our helper, our liberator The giver of life with no end We will remember, we will remember We will remember the works of Your hands We will stop and give you praise For great is Thy faithfulness When we walk through life’s darkest valleys We will look back at all You have done And we will shout, our God is good And He is the faithful One … Hear the entire song at https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=AcUA7x9CVgs&feature=shared
Read: Hosea 14:4-9; 1 Corinthians 1:25 and James 3:17; SOAP: Hosea 14:9
Hosea 14:4-9
The Lord says, “Then I will heal you of your faithlessness; my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be gone forever. 5 I will be to Israel like a refreshing dew from heaven. Israel will blossom like the lily; it will send roots deep into the soil like the cedars in Lebanon. 6 Its branches will spread out like beautiful olive trees, as fragrant as the cedars of Lebanon. 7 My people will again live under my shade. They will flourish like grain and blossom like grapevines. They will be as fragrant as the wines of Lebanon. 8 “O Israel, stay away from idols! I am the one who answers your prayers and cares for you. I am like a tree that is always green; all your fruit comes from me.”9 Let those who are wise understand these things. Let those with discernment listen carefully. The paths of the Lord are true and right, and righteous people live by walking in them. But in those paths, sinners stumble and fall.
1 Corinthians 1:25
This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.
James 3:17
But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace-loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere.
I want to be a wise woman. And I know that the only way of being wise is through knowing and living God´s Word every single day.
READ: HOSEA 14:1-3, NEHEMIAH 1:9, and 2 PETER 3:9; SOAP: HOSEA 14:2
Hosea 14:1-3
Healing for the RepentantReturn, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for your sins have brought you down. 2 Bring your confessions, and return to the Lord. Say to him, “Forgive all our sins and graciously receive us, so that we may offer you our praises. 3 Assyria cannot save us, nor can our warhorses. Never again will we say to the idols we have made, ‘You are our gods.’ No, in you alone do the orphans find mercy.”
Nehemiah 1:9
9 But if you return to me and obey my commands and live by them, then even if you are exiled to the ends of the earth, I will bring you back to the place I have chosen for my name to be honored.’
2 Peter 3:9
9 The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.
He´s patiently waiting for every soul to reach repentance. –
Reflection Question: Hosea calls Israel once again to return to the Lord. This time he tells them to take words with them – what were the words or what was the point of the words?
Read: Hosea 13:15-16 and Jeremiah 4:11-12 and 51:36; SOAP: Jeremiah 51:36
Hosea 13:15-16
Ephraim was the most fruitful of all his brothers, but the east wind—a blast from the Lord— will arise in the desert. All their flowing springs will run dry, and all their wells will disappear. Every precious thing they own will be plundered and carried away. 16 The people of Samaria must bear the consequences of their guilt because they rebelled against their God. They will be killed by an invading army, their little ones dashed to death against the ground, their pregnant women ripped open by swords.”
Jeremiah 4:11-12
The time is coming when the Lord will say to the people of Jerusalem, “My dear people, a burning wind is blowing in from the desert, and it’s not a gentle breeze useful for winnowing grain. 12 It is a roaring blast sent by me! Now I will pronounce your destruction!”Read full chapter
Jeremiah 51:36 – The Lord’s Vengeance on Babylon
This is what the Lord says to Jerusalem: “I will be your lawyer to plead your case, and I will avenge you. I will dry up her river, as well as her springs,
We blame God for all our problems and struggles, but actually, we are the ones to blame
When the tribe of Ephraim spoke, the people shook with fear, for that tribe was important in Israel. But the people of Ephraim sinned by worshiping Baal and thus sealed their destruction. 2 Now they continue to sin by making silver idols, images shaped skillfully with human hands. “Sacrifice to these,” they cry, “and kiss the calf idols!” 3 Therefore, they will disappear like the morning mist, like dew in the morning sun, like chaff blown by the wind, like smoke from a chimney.
Psalm 1
1 Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. 2 But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. 3 They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.
4 But not the wicked! They are like worthless chaff, scattered by the wind. 5 They will be condemned at the time of judgment. Sinners will have no place among the godly. 6 For the Lord watches over the path of the godly, but the path of the wicked leads to destruction.
Instead of using what God had given them to do great things for His glory, they used their skills to make idols. Instead of investing their lives in eternity, they foolishly invested in the temporal.
Reflection question: What correlation do you see between our two passages today? (Specifically the events of Hosea 13:1-3 and the warning of Psalm 1.)
Gather with a group of friends this week for coffee (or tea, or cupcakes) and have an honest talk about what you think your gifts and talents are – and how you would use them for God if nothing stood in your way. Encourage one another to find one small way to take action and honor God with their gifts in the coming month. Then plan a date to get back together to check-in.
Weekly Challenge
Memory Verse: Hosea 14:9
Prayer Focus: Spend time praying for yourself this week. Feel free to share a request with us.
READ: HOSEA 8:1-14 AND ROMANS 9:22-24; SOAP: ROMANS 9:22-23
God Will Raise Up the Assyrians to Attack Israel
Sound the alarm! An eagle looms over the temple of the Lord! For they have broken their covenant with me and have rebelled against my law. 2 Israel cries out to me, “My God, we acknowledge you!” 3 But Israel has rejected what is morally good; so an enemy will pursue him.
The Political and Cultic Sin of Israel
4 They enthroned kings without my consent. They appointed princes without my approval. They made idols out of their silver and gold, but they will be destroyed! 5 O Samaria, he has rejected your calf idol. My anger burns against them! They will not survive much longer without being punished, even though they are Israelites! 6 That idol was made by a workman—it is not God! The calf idol of Samaria will be broken to bits.
The Fertility Cultists Will Become Infertile
7 They sow the wind, and so they will reap the whirlwind! The stalk does not have any standing grain; it will not produce any flour. Even if it were to yield grain, foreigners would swallow it all up. 8 Israel will be swallowed up among the nations; they will be like a worthless piece of pottery.
Israel’s Hired Lovers
9 They have gone up to Assyria, like a wild donkey that wanders off. Ephraim has hired prostitutes as lovers. 10 Even though they have hired lovers among the nations, I will soon gather them together for judgment. Then they will begin to waste away under the oppression of a mighty king.
Sacrifices Ineffective without Moral Obedience
11 Although Ephraim has built many altars for sin offerings, these have become altars for sinning. 12 I spelled out my law for him in great detail, but they regard it as something totally unknown to them. 13 They offer up sacrificial gifts to me and eat the meat, but the Lord does not accept their sacrifices. Soon he will remember their wrongdoing, he will punish their sins, and they will return to Egypt. 14 Israel has forgotten his Maker and built royal palaces, and Judah has built many fortified cities. But I will send fire on their cities; it will consume their royal citadels.
SOAP: Romans 9:22
But what if God, willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects of wrath prepared for destruction? 23 And what if he is willing to make known the wealth of his glory on the objects of mercy that he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us, whom he has called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?
With their silver and gold, they made idols for their own destruction.” (Hosea 8:4) The people of Israel were experts in living an independent life apart from God. Read the full devotional
“Come, return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces; now He will heal us. He has injured us; now He will bandage our wounds. In just a short time He will restore us, so that we may live in His presence. Oh, that we might know the LORD! Let us press on to know Him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of the dawn or the coming of rains in early spring.” 💜
Hosea 6:1-3
I’m currently doing a Bible study called Faithful Love which focuses on the book of Hosea. Hosea is actually one of my favorite books of the Old Testament and I have read and studied it often. However, perhaps because it’s been a while since I’ve studied it or maybe because I’m using the SOAP method, this time things are hitting me differently. One of these things is Hosea’s prayer in chapter 6. I don’t remember noticing before what great words of wisdom Hosea prayed over the people in verses1-3. Over the past three weeks, as I’ve read and studied through the first five chapters which describe God’s people chasing after other gods, God’s anger with His people for their idolatry, and their refusal to return to Him – it has been quite easy, or at least tempting, to convince myself that I do not have idols or practice idolatry. Of course, according to the definition of idolatry, this would mean that I never devote myself to anything more than God.
The definition of idolatry, according to Webster, is “the worship of idols or excessive devotion to, or reverence for some person or thing.” An idol is anything that replaces the one, true God.
However, in reality, I have felt the Holy Spirit nudging me to at least consider a few things – people, pleasures, foods, time, etc.. – that I sometimes, if not often or regularly, tend to place before God. So, on the day when my Bible Study time included this passage from Hosea along with Lamentations 3:22-24, and 1 Peter 5:6-7, it was a heads-up, an eye-opening reminder to not be fooled. Just because we’ve dressed our idols up in the 21st century, allowing them to become commonplace – so much so that many are widely accepted in homes and communities and even churches – doesn’t mean they are any less of an idol. Maybe this doesn’t hit you the same way that it hits me – maybe you have all possibilities of idolatry under control – but if I’m honest – I don’t. I have – through the 58 years of my life -struggled from time to time with the issue. So, I find myself thankful that, like Israel, even when I have turned to other “gods” – I am, by God’s grace and mercy, invited to return to the Lord with the assurance that He will respond. James said it like this in chapter 4, verse 8 – “Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.”
The testimony of Scripture is that God alone is worthy of worship. Idol worship robs God of the glory that is rightfully His, and that is something He will not tolerate (Isaiah 42:8). Idolatry extends beyond the worship of idols and images and false gods. Our modern idols are many and varied. Even for those who do not bow physically before a statue, idolatry is a matter of the heart—pride, self-centeredness, greed, gluttony, a love for possessions, and ultimately rebellion against God. Is it any wonder that God hates it?
“Whoring after other gods” seems like a harsh and awful statement – but it is nonetheless what God said His people were doing in Hosea’s day, what James warned against in the New Testament, and sadly what I know I have been guilty of at times. However, as the author of Lamentations pointed out, God’s love is Faithful and His mercies are new every morning. This has been one of my life verses since I was 28 years old and I’m still clinging to it today. The thought of it fills me with hope – for I know because of God’s great love I am not consumed! Instead, I am invited into His presence. I’m given the gift of His Word and His Spirit and entreated to know Him more, and I have learned that knowledge is power – in this case – power against sin, as indicated by David in Psalm 119:11 where he wrote, “I have hidden Your Word in my heart, that I might not sin against You.”
One thing I have realized in my fight against idolatry,if I am busy pressing forward to know God more, I am less likely to turn away to other ‘gods’.
fromtheNsideout
His Word isn’t just power against sin though, it is also the knowledge of what pleases God and it offers us the power to see sin, turn from it, and do what is right. Consider the words of Paul to Timothy, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17
Oh, how I pray for faithfulness to Him – a faithfulness that imitates His faithful love to me, leads me closer to Him, keeps me mindful of what is right to do, and quickly repentant of any sin. May I heed the words of Hosea and be quick and faithful to turn back to God and press on to know Him more and more. Why? Because of Hosea’s words in chapter four –
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge … and a people without understanding will come to ruin”.
7 “I want to heal Israel, but its sins are too great. Samaria is filled with liars. Thieves are on the inside and bandits on the outside! 2 Its people don’t realize that I am watching them. Their sinful deeds are all around them, and I see them all.
Psalm 9:15-16
The nations have fallen into the pit they dug for others. Their own feet have been caught in the trap they set. 16 The Lord is known for his justice. The wicked are trapped by their own deeds.
Proverbs 5:22
An evil man is held captive by his own sins; they are ropes that catch and hold him.
The problem among the people and leaders of Israel was they forgot that the LORD saw and remembered their sin. Read the rest of today’s blog
Reflection Question: In our reading from Hosea today, what did the people fail to consider? Is it important to remember that the Lord sees and knows and sees all that we do and think? Why or why not?
Read: Hosea 6:4-11; Galatians 6:14-16; and SOAP: Hosea 6:6
Hosea 6:4-11
“O Israel and Judah, what should I do with you?” asks the Lord. “For your love vanishes like the morning mist and disappears like dew in the sunlight. 5 I sent my prophets to cut you to pieces— to slaughter you with my words, with judgments as inescapable as light. 6 I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings. 7 But like Adam, you broke my covenant and betrayed my trust.
8 “Gilead is a city of sinners, tracked with footprints of blood. 9 Priests form bands of robbers, waiting in ambush for their victims. They murder travelers along the road to Shechem and practice every kind of sin. 10 Yes, I have seen something horrible in Ephraim and Israel: My people are defiled by prostituting themselves with other gods!
11 “O Judah, a harvest of punishment is also waiting for you, though I wanted to restore the fortunes of my people.
Galatians 6:14-16
14 As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died. 15 It doesn’t matter whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation. 16 May God’s peace and mercy be upon all who live by this principle; they are the new people of God.
One day, while I was praying – and complaining abundantly to the Lord for the many hardships I had to go through – I asked Him: “What else do You want from me?”
REFLECTION QUESTION: WHAT DOES GOD DESIRE FROM HIS PEOPLE MORE THAN SACRIFICES? HOW CAN YOU ALIGN NOT JUST YOUR ACTIONS TOWARD HIM, BUT YOUR HEART AS WELL?
15 “Though you, Israel, are a prostitute, may Judah not be guilty of such things. Do not join the false worship at Gilgal or Beth-aven, and do not take oaths there in the Lord’s name. 16 Israel is stubborn, like a stubborn heifer. So should the Lord feed her like a lamb in a lush pasture? 17 Leave Israel alone because she is married to idolatry. 18 When the rulers of Israel finish their drinking, off they go to find some prostitutes. They love shame more than honor. 19 So a mighty wind will sweep them away. Their sacrifices to idols will bring them shame.
Hosea 4:15-19 New Living Translation
For the choir director: A psalm of the descendants of Korah.
1 Come, everyone! Clap your hands! Shout to God with joyful praise! 2 For the Lord Most High is awesome. He is the great King of all the earth. 3 He subdues the nations before us, putting our enemies beneath our feet. 4 He chose the Promised Land as our inheritance, the proud possession of Jacob’s descendants, whom he loves. Interlude5 God has ascended with a mighty shout. The Lord has ascended with trumpets blaring. 6 Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises! 7 For God is the King over all the earth. Praise him with a psalm. 8 God reigns above the nations, sitting on his holy throne. 9 The rulers of the world have gathered together with the people of the God of Abraham. For all the kings of the earth belong to God. He is highly honored everywhere.
Psalm 47
In today’s verses, Hosea gives Judah a warning, similar to that of 1 Corinthians 15:33 that says “Do not be deceived: Bad company ruins good morals.”
Me From the Inside Out 