weeds that choke the vine

Posted on September 2, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

20160216-02

devotional post # 2127

Hosea 10:1-4

Hos 10:1 Israel is a growing climbing vine that produces fruit for him. The more his fruit increased, the more altars he built; as his country improved, he improved his memorial stones.
Hos 10:2 Their heart is false; now they must bear their guilt. The LORD will break down their altars and destroy their memorial stones.
Hos 10:3 Because now they will say: “We have no king, because we do not fear Yahveh; and a king– what could he do for us?”
Hos 10:4 They utter only words; with empty oaths they make covenants; so judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.

weeds that choke the vine

Hosea uses the word Israel here for the land, and is still talking about Ephraim as the people. They have used the growing climbing vine to improve the country economically, but they have responded to this blessing by making their nation more idolatrous. So, God will send weeds to choke the vine. Such is the case for anyone who responds to God’s blessings by turning them against him.

LORD, thank you for your blessings. Show us how to respond with gratitude, not to do our own thing with them.

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trashed treasure

Posted on September 1, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

20160216-01

devotional post # 2126

Hosea 9:16-17

Hos 9:16 Ephraim has been struck down; their root is dried up; they will produce no fruit. Even if they give birth, I will put their beloved children to death.
Hos 9:17 My God will trash them because they have not listened to him; they will be wanderers among the nations.

trashed treasure

Hosea’s description of God’s judgment of Israel keeps getting more intense. He says now that they have been struck down, and rendered fruitless (just like the fig tree that Jesus cursed). Then he says that they have been trashed because they had refused to listen to his rebuke from the prophets. He would throw them in the trash can of the nations. And that is where they went — until he decided to pick them out and restore them to their land by his grace.

LORD, we want to listen to you. You did not give up on your treasure, which you had to trash. We trust you not to give up on us.

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evil on display

Posted on August 31, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

marmsky devotions pics (of Hamilton NZ) August 2017 (31)

devotional post # 2125

Hosea 9:13-15

Hos 9:13 Ephraim, as I remember seeing him, was like a young palm transplanted in a meadow; but Ephraim now has to lead his children out to slaughter.
Hos 9:14 Give them, O LORD– what will you give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.
Hos 9:15 Every evil of theirs is displayed in Gilgal; there I began to hate them. Because of the wickedness of their actions I will drive them out of my house. I will not love them any more; all their princes are rebels.

evil on display

God described his judgment upon Israel as displaying the evil of their own rejection back upon the land. He still remembers the Ephraim of the past. But now he also sees the calamity they will face in the future, at his own hand. The evil on display is God’s work of judgment and reprisal. Such is the case for everyone who betrays the LORD and does not repent.

LORD, restore us to the beauty that you saw when you first drew us to yourself.

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sour grapes

Posted on August 30, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

marmsky devotions pics (of Hamilton NZ) August 2017 (30)

devotional post # 2124

Hosea 9:9-12

Hos 9:9 They have deeply corrupted themselves like in the days of Gibeah: he will remember their violation; he will punish their mistakes.
Hos 9:10 Like grapes in the wilderness, that is how I found Israel. Like the first fruit on the fig tree in its first season, that is how I saw your fathers. But then they came to Baal-peor and consecrated themselves to that dishonorable thing, and became vulgar like the thing they loved.
Hos 9:11 Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird– no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!
Hos 9:12 Even if they bring up children, I will deprive them till no man is left. Tragedy will also come to them when I back away from them!

sour grapes

The image of the rejected fruit tree or grave vine is used by several prophets in the Old Testament (Jeremiah 8:13; Micah 7:1). Jesus cursed a fig tree for a similar reason (Matthew 21; Mark 11). In Hosea’s description, the LORD talks about his initial love of Israel, as if he came upon them as a fruitful grapevine and fig tree in the wilderness. But then he saw that their idolatry turned them into something vulgar and disgusting, just like the other nations. The result: God chooses to back away and make them unfruitful.

LORD, remove from us the vulgarity that we have sought. Restore us to the refreshing fruitfulness that pleases you.

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turning against the divine

Posted on August 29, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

marmsky devotions pics (of Hamilton NZ) August 2017 (29)

devotional post # 2123

Hosea 9:5-8

Hos 9:5 What will you do on the day of the appointed meeting, and on the day of the feast of Yahveh?
Hos 9:6 Because notice, they are trying to escape destruction; but Egypt will gather them; Memphis will bury them. Nettles will possess their precious silver things; thorns will invade their tents.
Hos 9:7 The days of punishment have come; the days of recompense have come; Israel will know it. The prophet is thought a fool; the man of the spirit is mad, because of your great iniquity and great animosity.
Hos 9:8 The prophet is the watchman of Ephraim on behalf of my God; yet he faces a fowler’s snare on all his roads, and animosity in the house of his God.

turning against the divine

Hosea describes the degradation of his society as a result of the people’s betrayal and sin. The focal points of religion have been hit by the betrayal as well. There are no priests left for the assembly, and no prophets left to proclaim the word. The days of punishment have come because the society has turned against its God.

LORD, turn us back, before it is too late. Restore in us a respect for your holy times, holy places, and dedicated servants.

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church is canceled

Posted on August 28, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

marmsky devotions pics (of Hamilton NZ) August 2017 (28)

devotional post # 2122

Hosea 9:1-4

Hos 9:1 Do not plan to celebrate, O Israel! Do not keep rejoicing like the other people; because you have cheated, betraying your God. You have loved a prostitute’s pay on all threshing floors.
Hos 9:2 Threshing floor and wine vat will not feed them, and the new wine will fail them.
Hos 9:3 They will not stay in the land of Yahveh, but Ephraim will return to Egypt, and they will eat impure food in Assyria.
Hos 9:4 They will not pour drink offerings of wine to Yahveh, and their sacrifices will not please him. It will be like mourners’ bread to them; all who eat it will be defiled; because their bread will be for their hunger only; it will not come to the house of Yahveh.

church is canceled

The Israelite’s worship was a celebration of God’s grace and rescue from slavery and sin. But Hosea told them that church is canceled. The people had cheated on God, and he was kicking them out of paradise. They need not put on any outward shows of worship any more. They should save their sacrifices for their own hunger, because there was not going to be a temple where they are going.

LORD, restore us. We want to worship you in Spirit and truth.

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sin, sacrifice, repeat

Posted on August 27, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

marmsky devotions pics (of Hamilton NZ) August 2017 (27)

devotional post # 2121

Hosea 8:11-14

Hos 8:11 Since Ephraim has made more altars because of sinning, they have become to him altars to promote sinning.
Hos 8:12 If I had written my law for him ten thousand times, they would be regarded as a foreign thing.
Hos 8:13 As for my sacrificial offerings, they sacrifice meat and eat it, but Yahveh does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins; they will return to Egypt.
Hos 8:14 Because Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces, and Judah has made more fortified cities; so I will send a fire upon his cities, and it will consume her fortresses.

sin, sacrifice, repeat

The sacrificial system had been designed as a demonstration of God’s grace, and a promise of his forgiveness of a repentant people. But in Hosea’s time, it had become an empty religious practice that promoted sinning. The Israelites did not trust God; they trusted in their own power to defend themselves. God’s law was a foreign thing to them. As a result, God will not consume the sacrifices. He will consume their fortress cities instead, and send them back to captivity in Egypt.

LORD, destroy our empty altars and deceptive fortresses and teach us to trust you again.

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the cheap stuff

Posted on August 26, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

marmsky devotions pics (of Hamilton NZ) August 2017 (26)

devotional post # 2120

Hosea 8:8-10

Hos 8:8 Israel is consumed; already they are distributed among the nations like cheap pottery that noone wants.
Hos 8:9 Because they have gone up to Assyria, a wild donkey going off on its own; Ephraim has been paying for lovers.
Hos 8:10 Even though they are hiring allies among the nations, I will soon start collecting them. And they will soon feel the burden of their loyalty to the king of princes.

the cheap stuff

In a little strip mall near where I lived in New Zealand, many of the traditional stores went out of business. In their place, several stores that sold the same kind of merchandise appeared. The stores are almost identical, in spite of the fact that they are not connected by ownership or franchise. They are similar because they offer the cheap stuff. Items imported from a foreign country with cheap labor and known for poor quality products.

That is what Hosea said the Isrealites had become. They had sold themselves cheap. But the LORD was going to get them back.

LORD, we have sold ourselves cheap. Restore us by your power and grace.

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best effort

Posted on August 25, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

marmsky devotions pics (of Hamilton NZ) August 2017 (25)

devotional post # 2119

Hosea 8:5-7

Hos 8:5 I have rejected your calf, Samaria. My anger has been kindled against them. How long will they be stay unclean?
Hos 8:6 Because it is from Israel; a blacksmith made it; it is not a god. The calf of Samaria will be smashed to bits.
Hos 8:7 Because they plant the wind, and they will reap the tornado. The standing grain has no heads; it will sprout no flour; if it were to sprout, foreigners would eat it.

best effort

We are told that human religion is our attempt to connect with the divine, and that we should respect all of them the same. But God does not respect these attempts to explain and connect with him. He exposes them for a sham, as he did to the Samaritan calf. He told Samaria that their best effort was worse than useless. Because they trusted their own religious imagination, they stayed unclean. Judgment was coming upon it, and them. The crops they expected would not be eaten by them, but by foreign invaders, if they came at all.

The LORD’s message to all of us is that our best effort is not good enough. We must come to him on his terms.

LORD, we seek you today, through the mediator you have chosen — your Son, Jesus Christ.

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self-deception, self destruction

Posted on August 24, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

marmsky devotions pics (of Hamilton NZ) August 2017 (24)

devotional post # 2118

Hosea 8:1-4

Hos 8:1 Put the shofar to your palate! Something like a buzzard flies over the house of Yahveh, because they have passed over my covenant and rebelled against my law.
Hos 8:2 To me they cry out, “My God, we know you — Israel–.”
Hos 8:3 Israel has rejected a good thing; the enemy will pursue him.
Hos 8:4 They made kings, but at my advice. They set up princes, but I did not acknowledge them. With their silver and gold they built images for cutting themselves down.

self-deception, self destruction

The LORD testifies to the true state of his people. They think they know him, but they have chosen to pass over his covenant, and rebel against his law. They built images to worship, and those things they built are cutting them down. If they had bothered to look up, they would see a buzzard passing overhead, because they passed over the covenant. Their self-deception is becoming self-destruction.

LORD, we cannot handle the mess we have made of our lives by doing things our way. We are destroying ourselves. Please lead us gently back into a right relationship with you.

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