tainted name

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

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devotional post # 2097

Hosea 2:14-17

Hos 2:14 “for this reason, notice, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.
Hos 2:15 And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. And there she will answer like she did in her younger days, like the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.
Hos 2:16 “And in that day, declares Yahveh, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’
Hos 2:17 Because I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they will be remembered by name no more.

tainted name

The Hebrew word ba’al was used earlier in the Old Testament. It was a word for husband (Genesis 20:3; Exodus 21:3). But In Hosea’s time, the word had become tainted, because it was also the name of the pagan gods who sought to encroach upon God’s exclusive relationship with his people. So, Hosea tells his people to stop using the name. In some languages, Allah is a generic name for any god. But the name is inappropriate because it has become tied to Islam.

We use names to signify relationships. When a term no longer means what it is supposed to mean, we need to rethink using it.

LORD, give us wisdom to express our relationship with you in terms that are not ambiguous or misleading.

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payday for party time

Posted on August 2, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

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devotional post # 2096

Hosea 2:9-13

Hos 2:9 For this reason I will take back my grain in its time, and my wine in its season, and I will take away my wool and my flax, which were to cover her nakedness.
Hos 2:10 Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will rescue her from my hand.
Hos 2:11 And I will put an end to all her partying, her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her appointed festivals.
Hos 2:12 And I will spoil her vines and her fig trees, about which she said, ‘These are my wages, which my lovers have given me.’ I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field will devour them.
Hos 2:13 And I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals when she burned offerings to them and adorned herself with her ring and jewelry, and went after her lovers and forgot me, declares Yahveh.

payday for party time

Israel had been partying as if her relationship with the nations all around her had been the source of all her riches. But God had been the source of all her wealth. Now, God says he is going to take it all away. She would have to pay for all the party time — the time when she should have been testifying of the goodness of God, but failed to acknowledge him. He remembers the times when we forget him.

LORD, show us how to acknowledge your presence in all your presents.

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heaven’s thorns

Posted on August 1, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

 

marmsky-devotions-pics-of-hamilton-nz-august-2017-1devotional post # 2095

Hosea 2:6-8

Hos 2:6 for this reason I will constrict her road with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, so that she cannot find her paths.
Hos 2:7 She will run after her lovers but not overtake them, and she will seek them but will not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, because it was better for me then than now.’
Hos 2:8 And she did not understand that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who increased her silver and gold, which they used to worship Baal.

heaven’s thorns

The LORD told Hosea that he is going to actively prevent Israel from pursuing alliances with the surrounding nations, because those nations had led Israel into idolatry. He said that Israel would experience thorns on the road as long as it continued to seek other nations.

There are no thorns in heaven. But heaven can produce thorns for us here, if we are content to look elsewhere for our security and affection.

LORD, lead us back to you. If you must put thorns in our path, so be it. We do not want to keep straying from you.

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children of prostitution

Posted on July 31, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

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devotional post # 2094

Hosea 2:4-5

Hos 2:4 To her children I will also not show tender affection, because they are children of prostitution.
Hos 2:5 Because their mother has committed prostitution; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. Because she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my refreshing drink.’

children of prostitution

The LORD tells Hosea that the inhabitants of Israel will suffer a loss of relationship with God because the nation has committed prostitution, going after the surrounding nations for their support, instead of relying on him.

Just as a nation is harmed when its citizens rebel, so the citizens of a nation lose out when that nation decides to rebel against the one who brought it into existence.

LORD, give our national leaders wisdom to stop selling their nations to the highest bidder.

Posted in adultery, ethnic Israel, relationship with God, Uncategorized | Tagged | 1 Comment

fighting words

Posted on July 30, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

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devotional post # 2093

Hosea 2:1-3

Hos 2:1 Say to your brothers, “my people,” and to your sisters, “tender affection.”
Hos 2:2 “Argue with your mother, argue– because she is not my wife, and I am not her husband– that she put away her unfaithfulness from her face, and her adultery from between her breasts;
Hos 2:3 or else I will strip her naked and make her as in the day she was born, and make her like a desert, and make her like a land in drought, and kill her with thirst.

fighting words

The LORD commands Hosea to say fighting words to the people around him. He is to get into arguments with them because through him God will be getting his point across to the entire nation. God wants to win his people back to him. But he also wants them to know that they need him. They need to restore their relationship. They have been unfaithful, God has not.

LORD, give us the courage to speak your words to our generation, even if that entails saying fighting words.

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God plants a future

Posted on July 29, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

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devotional post # 2092

Hosea 1:10-11 (2:1-2 in Hebrew)

Hos 1:10 But the count of the children of Israel will be like the sand beside the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. And in the place where it was told them, “You are not my people,” it will be told them, “You are sons of the living God.”
Hos 1:11 And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together, and they will appoint for themselves one head. And they will go up from the land, because great will be the day of Jezreel.

God plants a future

After telling the Israelites that their present status with God is bad, he now shares good news about their future. God is in the process of planting a new crop among them. In this future, they will be a numerous people again. This is God’s doing, because he is the planter. Jezreel (the name of Hosea’s first son) means “God plants.”

LORD, thank you for the promise of a glorious future because you are at work in our lives today.

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rock-bottom place

Posted on July 28, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

 

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devotional post # 2091

Hosea 1:8-9

Hos 1:8 When she had weaned No Tender Affection, she conceived and gave birth to a son.
Hos 1:9 And Yahveh said, “Name him Not My People, because you are not my people, and I am not your God.”

rock-bottom place

Any revival or work of restoration begins with the realization that our pedigree gets us nowhere. God wants to restore us to himself, but before he can do that, he has to show us that we cannot reform ourselves. We all begin in that rock-bottom place. Our restoration or salvation is all the more miraculous because of it.

LORD, here we are, and empty canvas for you to work with.

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tender affection

Posted on July 27, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

july-27

devotional post # 2090

Hos 1:6 She conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. And Yahveh said to him, “Name her No Tender Affection, because I will no more have tender affection on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all.
Hos 1:7 But I will have tender affection on the house of Judah, and I will save them by Yahveh their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”

tender affection

Of all the possible translations of the verb racham, and the noun ruchamah, the phrase tender affection seems closest because the idea is not pity or mercy on an underling, but the kind of love and affection one would show his young bride. Israel had been unfaithful to her husband, and her husband has chosen not to forgive them. This is not the whole story, so we should not rush to judgment. But at least we can understand at this point that when those who claim to belong to God betray him, God feels it.

LORD, we confess that we have failed you, and our sins have hurt you. Forgive us LORD.

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a boy and a bow

Posted on July 26, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

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devotional post # 2089

Hosea 1:3-5

Hos 1:3 So he went and married Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and gave birth to him a son.
Hos 1:4 And Yahveh said to him, “Name him Jezreel, because in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu because the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.
Hos 1:5 And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”

a boy and a bow

Children are blessings from the Lord, encouragements for us when we think of the future. But this child’s name spoke of a future war, failure, judgment and loss. This boy’s life was both a reminder of past failure, and a promise from God that Israel would soon lose its military strength.

God is good, and God is love, but God is also just. He cannot tolerate his people in rebellion against him.

LORD, draw us back to you; make us loyal to your name.

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a broken time

Posted on July 25, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

july-25

devotional post # 2088

Hos 1:1 The word of Yahveh that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the time of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the time of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
Hos 1:2 When Yahveh first spoke through Hosea, Yahveh said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself an unfaithful wife and have illegitimate children, because the land commits a great prostitution by betraying Yahveh.”

a broken time

Hosea lived in a broken time, characterized by division and betrayal and dysfunction. He spoke God’s word into that broken time. It would not be an easy word to speak, nor an easy word to listen to. Our generation needs to hear these words, because we also live in a broken time.

LORD, give us the courage to read your words, and to seek your healing for our broken time.

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