Meditate on it

“Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her." Hosea 2:14 I knew there was more to Hosea that I needed to dwell in. The diction alone casts a holy spell, "behold, allure, wilderness, speak tenderly." It feels like a gentle embrace, a soft blanket, a warm fire to relax beside. Proportionally, the majority of the text of Hosea (and the prophets in general) is devoted to detailing the sins of the people and justifying God's necessary judgement. But oh, for the culmination of His days and plans.  He gives us mere wisps of this proportionally, but they are grand, worth savoring, rich. When I want to explore the corners of a passage, and the feelings they inspire in me, I often turn to the Biblical Illustrator Commentary.  It's a compendium of old school commentary, hit or miss, but faithful to expound and expand the conversation. This morning, the commentators there chatted back and forth about the nature of the w

 My time in Hosea has been quick, less than a week or so. Honestly, it's one of those prophetic books that feel like a long lecture from a parent--not that the parent doesn't need to lecture--but it's hard to hear all the same.  Hosea is best known as the prophet whose marriage becomes an object lesson. His wife is unfaithful as Israel has been unfaithful to God, whoring around with pagan idols.  The particulars beyond this I've studied, but seem less the point. Context  (from Jack Abeelen) Speaker: Hosea, a prophet to the Northern Kingdom for 50 years beginning in 755 BC. For 33 years he preached to the North before the fall to Assyria. For the last 17 years, he spoke to a scattered people. His contemporaries were Amos (North), Isaiah (South), and Micah Jack Abeelen's sermon focused on this verse, the idea that we sow what we reap: Hos 8:7  For they sow the wind,. and they shall reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; it shall yield no flour; if it wer

This morning begins with an interesting overlap of concepts between Hosea and Luke; some of my most quietly compelling convictions come from such synergies. Yesterday's truth was we are urged to seek greater knowledge of God and that one day this knowledge will be undisputed and universal: "Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.” Hosea 6:3 A piece of my frustration in this world is the lack of knowledge of and respect for God---any god, never mind the true God. Those outside of traditional faiths diminish evidence or absolute understanding of anything outside of that which can be empirically quantified. Or they seem drawn to the other extreme--throwing off all reason in faith-based areas and embracing pseudo-scientific spiritual conceptions: crystals, energy waves, things that seem super regressive.  Those inside these faith systems often choose their faith

"Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.” Hosea 6:3 One of my favorite characteristics of the Lord is that He solicits mankind's active pursuit and participation in seeking Him.  He welcomes engagement instead of passive subservience. He's in it with us, even within us--Emmanuel.  Ultimately, in the end times, this knowledge of God will become universal: "They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea." Isaiah 11:9 "But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase. ” Daniel 12:4 "And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest , declares th