Amazing Love

Day 194: Hosea 9-14

What's interesting to me about the story of Hosea and Gomer is that Hosea married Gomer knowing that she would be unfaithful. God told her that she would become an adulterer, that she would have affairs, that she would have relationships with many different men. And yet Hosea still married her. Did you process that? Hosea still married her, knowing she would cheat on him and have other lovers. He still did it. He still married her. Wow. How stupid is that? Would you marry someone that you knew would cheat on you? Would be unfaithful to you? I wouldn't.

But Hosea did.

And God did, too. God loved us, he chose us, he "married" us to him, all the while knowing that we would sin, that we would have other gods, that we would have other lovers besides Him. He still loved us and chose us. In spite of our unfaithfulness to him. Wow.

I'm not going to say that God is stupid. No way is he stupid! On the contrary, he's AMAZING. That he did that for us. That He sacrificed his own self-interests and loved us instead. He is truly AMAZING. And Hosea was pretty amazing, too. He married and loved Gomer in spite of her flaws and eventually she finds redemption. She commits to Hosea and remains faithful to us.

This story is a wonderful parallel to our relationship with God. We have been redeemed by the love of God. The blood of Jesus bought our salvation. And how amazing is that!

Dry Seasons of Life

Day 120: Psalm 79-83

My eyes are dry. 
My faith is old. 
My heart is hard. 
My prayers are cold.
And I know how I ought to be
Alive to you and dead to me. 

But what can be done
For an old heart like mine?
Soften it up
With oil and wine.
The oil is You, Your Spirit of love.
Please wash me anew
With the wine of Your Blood.
(Song by Keith Green)

Have you ever felt like your faith was lukewarm? I once heard a preacher talk about having a lukewarm faith. Using the passage in the New Testament about being either hot or cold but not lukewarm, he said that it was better to not believe at all than to have a lukewarm faith. In fact, I still remember his words to this day: "Get HOT. Be COLD. Or GET OUT!" The message was that apathy is the worst place to be when it comes to faith.

But it's very easy to fall into a pattern of apathy and not even know it. Maybe Sunday morning church is what faith is about to you. Or maybe faith is about your own personal journey towards Christ rather than gathering with other Christians. Maybe you go to church each time the doors are open. You do good deeds and you read your Bible. You give money to God, and you teach your children about Jesus. Regardless of where you are and what your definition of Christianity is, it's easy to get "stuck in a rut" where you don't feel anything, where you wonder what the point of it all is anyway.

When you are feeling like you don't have a relationship with God, that you don't belong, or that your faith is all dried up, I encourage you to turn to Psalm 80. Psalm 80 won't solve all your problems or give you the courage to "Get HOT," but it will provide you with a way to talk to God in the midst of this dry faith (or sin, too). The author begs God to bring he and the other Israelites back to Him. To restore their faith and to save them.

God has saved me. He has saved you, too. I hope we will all remember this truth during the dry seasons of life so that the rainy season will come soon.

Less of Self and More of Thee

Day 119: Psalm 75-78

The writer of Psalm 75 lists what God has done for them, and he proclaims that he will always do so. He will sing praises to the God of Jacob and express his gratefulness to God.

Why is it easier to focus on the negative? I know that my own perspective isn't often the same as the writer of Psalm 75's is here. In the midst of turmoil, I often become self-centered. I don't necessarily blame God when bad things happen, but I don't sing of his praises either (at least that's not natural for me to do). But here is a writer--a follower of God--who reminds himself and others what God has done for him, and he is never going to stop doing so.

God has done things for me personally. He has redeemed me. He has made me whole, pure, and guiltless. He has forgiven me and given back my life to me again and again. He has blessed me with a loving husband, healthy children, godly parents, and a wonderful extended family. He's given me a wonderful job that I love. He takes care of me and provides for me. He constantly does so much for me. If I would just remember all these things in the midst of bad times, I think I would have a different kind of relationship with God--one that is less selfish and more loving. I hope I will remember this chapter the next time hard times come. I hope I will be less self-absorbed and more grateful to God for all the good things he has given me.

David's Words to the Lord

Day 110: Psalm 26-30

Once again I'm struck by how well David knows the Lord. He has an understanding of him that comes through in the words he says--the praise and lament he offers to God. I've always wondered why David was a man after God's heart, especially when he was so violent, literally killing thousands of people, and when he killed Uriah the Hittite so that he could take Bathsheba as his wife (after he had an affair with her and got her pregnant). But here in Psalms, I can understand more about the relationship between God and David. It's really special, and I appreciate David by reading his words. At one point in my life, I kept a diary of prayers to God. Maybe I'll start that up again. Writing sure does make things clearer.

Knowing God

Day 107: Psalm 16-18

Psalm 18 is about when God delivered David from all his enemies, including Saul. Two things strike me about this chapter.

1. David tells God "thank you." Saying thank you seems simple enough, but so often we are quick to judge and accuse God when things don't work out, and we neglect to tell God thanks when he is at work in our lives. But saying thank you requires noticing and then acknowledging that God had a role. That seems simple enough, but if we don't notice God's hands at work in our lives, then how can we do it?

2. David knows God. This psalm is very, very lengthy and is filled with praises to God, praises that are, once again, specific and exact. David's words show that he knows God--that he knows what he can do and who he is. I compare David's song here praising God, which could also be considered a prayer (songs are prayers, right?), to some of the prayers we say in church, and I notice a distinct difference: David is confident in his understanding of God in ways that we are not. His confidence allows him to speak to God about God's ways--praising his ways, giving him thanks, and admiring him for all of his ways--and to be confident that he knows God and that he does not speak falsely about God in his praise of God.

Why are we often not so confident in expressing praise about what God has done in our world--both at a local level and a global one? Maybe it's because we don't notice God at work when he's at work. Maybe we don't pray like David does because we don't want to speak ill about God, or to be so arrogant as to assume we know all about God and who he is. Or maybe it's something else. Regardless of the reason, I admire David's confidence, his ability to sing praises to God and speak about God in ways that show he knows God and thanks God for what he has done.

Maybe we can get to know God better by reading these psalms and putting ourselves in the position of the writer.

Confessions of a Distant Descendant

Day 44: Joshua 22-24

I have to confess something. I have been reading the Bible for several weeks now and although I have learned a lot about God--his nature and character--I don't feel that I have grown closer to Him. I don't quite understand why not because of how much I have learned about this, and I find this rather frustrating.

My reading so far has taught me a lot about several things: the church, values of God, God's commands and His will, the stories of God's people, sin, obedience, and discipline. However, I'm struck by how our modern notion of "a personal relationship with God" was not evident--or realized--with the vast majority of Israelites. Moses and Aaron had a relationship with God. Joshua and Caleb did, too. Adam and Eve. Cain. Jacob. Joseph. And a few others here and there.

In spite of these few mentioned "personal" relationships with God, the majority of Israelites are not reported to know God in this same way--personally. Rather, they knew him as a group. Israel was God's people. God knew Israel, and "Israel"--not individuals--knew God.

This concept is extremely different from today's widespread views that Christians can and should have a personal relationship with God and that Christians are saved individually through salvation and not as a whole. While I have some thoughts on both of those topics (which I'll save for later when we get to the NT), I mostly want to point out this difference.

I'm not sure from where the contrast originates, but I have a few ideas. It could be a difference between the old law and the new law--the old law that Moses handed to the Israelites and the new law that Jesus instigated. Or it could be a difference between cultures--the Israelite culture and an American culture that emphasizes the individual.

Regardless, the fact that I do not feel I have grown in "my personal relationship with God"--despite reading scripture every day and learning a lot about God in general--troubles me. I'm not sure where the answer lies or when in the Bible this concept of individual/personal relationship with God originates (or if it's in there at all or more the result of church tradition). But I am going to be watching out for it as I continue to read. I'm going to pay special attention to the contact that humans do have with God--in the OT and the NT--so that I can learn more about what this means and grow deeper in my relationship with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

Growing closer to God is one of the reasons I'm doing this. I don't just want to know about God; I want to know Him, and I want Him to know me. I pray that God will continue to show me how to use my imagination to envision a different relationship with God than I have now and to see the possibilities that exist when what now seems distant comes nearer.