July 8 - Meat and Potatoes

 Read today’s texts first: Hosea 13,14; Psalms 100, 102; Hebrews 5

MAXIMize YOUR DAY

Bottle-fed Christians keep sinning
because they think and act like babies.

Whoever wrote Hebrews wasn’t afraid of offending his readers. Of course we know the Holy Spirit inspired the message, but I believe the actual choice of words and the style of writing reflects the personality of the human author. To me it sounds like Paul, because he wasn’t always warm and fuzzy, but who knows, Apollos, Luke, Barnabas, or Priscilla (all possible authors) may have been equally straight forward. The possibly offensive passage I’m referring to in today’s reading is this:

There is much we have to say about this matter, but it is hard to explain to you, because you are so slow to understand. There has been enough time for you to be teachers - yet you still need someone to teach you the first lessons of God's message. Instead of eating solid food, you still have to drink milk. Anyone who has to drink milk is still a child, without any experience in the matter of right and wrong. Solid food, on the other hand, is for adults, who through practice are able to distinguish between good and evil (5:11-14).

My short paraphrase: “Grow up - you’re like 30 year olds still drinking milk from a bottle instead of fixing yourself some meat and potatoes” (or to accommodate the health conscious, some raw spinach and organic skinless chicken braised in coconut oil).

What follows, which fits the solid food analogy, is a teaching on the priestly role of Jesus. He appeared on earth after the order of Melchizedek. The short, TV dinner explanation is Jesus wasn’t really of Hebrew lineage. Yes, technically He fulfilled the promise that He would come “from” the tribe of Judah, but in reality, He was born of a virgin, from the very seed of God. Like the image of Melchizedek, Jesus was not from around here (7:3). This is important, solid food stuff because God Himself solved our sin problem, once and for all. Bottle-fed Christians keep sinning because they think and act like babies. The rebellious Israelites in Hosea’s day and the immature Jews among the readers of Hebrews needed to grow up and acknowledge God’s redemptive intervention.

“Lord, sometimes I need to hear this strong message too. I tend to make excuses for my sin and in doing so, fail to acknowledge the perfect work of my High Priest. It’s time to grow up, dig deep into Your Word, and to eat and act like a man of God!”

July 7 - Faultless to Stand Before His Throne

Read today’s texts first: Hosea 10,11,12; Psalms 73; Hebrews 4

MAXIMize YOUR DAY

The arrogant will face God the Judge; the humble will receive mercy from our compassionate High Priest. 

Recently at Buchanan, we sang the wonderful hymn “The Solid Rock,” which includes the line I chose as the title of today’s journal entry. Coincidentally, all three readings today talk about God’s judgment, but with the hope of a reprieve.

In today’s psalm, Asaph is complaining that the wicked seem to be faring better than the godly, himself included. They are prospering, in good health, with no worries, no troubles, arrogantly mocking God. Asaph, on the other hand, feels punished every morning and plagued all day (73:2-14).  That is until he says, I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny (73:17). After receiving reassurance from God, he says, as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds (73:28).

The same thing is being said by the Lord through Hosea. Israel and Ephraim are flaunting their wealth in God’s face (13:8). Guess what, Hebrews, same thing, reference to Israel hardening their hearts, saying they don’t need God. But the day of reckoning is promised in both accounts. In the short run it may not always seem profitable to obey God, but keep your eyes on the finish line. The righteous will prevail; God is ultimately just.

I love the last two paragraphs in our Hebrews reading. First, God’s Word is sharp, cutting away the things we do for the wrong reasons. There is no possibility of hiding our actions or our motives from God. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account (4:13).

Just as we start to cower in fear before God the Judge, knowing full well none of us is worthy, we see Jesus, our merciful High Priest, who has been through everything we’ve been through, understanding us completely. We are encouraged to approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (4:18).

The arrogant will face God the Judge; the humble will receive mercy from our compassionate High Priest. “Lord, thank You that this promise is true of me: At one time you were far away from God and were his enemies because of the evil things you did and thought. But now, by means of the physical death of his Son, God has made you his friends, in order to bring you, holy, pure, and faultless, into his presence (Col. 1:21,22).”

July 6 - Reap a Whirlwind

 Read today’s texts first: Hosea 6-9; Hebrews 3

 MAXIMize YOUR DAY

It works for good or bad, what we sow we reap,
often in greater measure.

One of the recurring themes of Scripture is the Law of Reciprocity, or cause and effect. It works for good or bad, what we sow we reap, often in greater measure. Hosea 8:7 introduces this great visual: They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.  World leaders have threatened this in great speeches; it’s even become a title of a Star Trek novel! The meaning is simple: if we throw seeds to the wind, wasting what God has given us, the seed becomes worthless and we will reap destruction.

The passage goes on to say: The stalk has no head; it will produce no flour. Were it to yield grain, foreigners would swallow it up. Israel is swallowed up; now she is among the nations like a worthless thing. For they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey wandering alone (8:7-9). Israel collectively made her choice, rejecting the God who formed them as a nation, brought them out of captivity in Egypt, gave them their promised land, and miraculously fought for them against the surrounding nations. Instead of remaining loyal to this good and loving God, the one true God, they made their own gods and worshipped them. Talk about sowing the wind, worthless worship!

Our last two journal entries talked about free choice. Today we consider the inevitable consequences of our choices. Israel made a series of bad choices and found themselves back in captivity, this time to Assyria. What is remarkable is this merciful God who still pursues us even when we reject him. Hosea 14 (I’m sorry, but I’ve read this before and I know what’s coming) promises: I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them. I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of Lebanon he will send down his roots (14:4,5). Israel will choose once again to follow their God and their rootless wanderings into foreign nations will end, for the time being (unfortunately it happens again, and again).

“Lord, Your grace is amazing. We have no one to blame but ourselves when we waste what You have given us and reap devastation. But thank You that You never stop loving us and pursuing us and restoring us!”

July 5 - Do Not Drift Away

 Read today’s texts first: Hosea 2-5; Hebrews 2

MAXIMize YOUR DAY

If we can never walk away from our faith,
why would God warn us not to? 

Yesterday we talked about the power of free will, to accept or reject the one true God. While I recognize there are some who believe we are predetermined by God to be saved or not, too much of Scripture contradicts that notion. The weight of Scripture also undermines the idea that once you are saved you are always saved. The first six chapters of Hebrews are filled with warnings about deserting one’s faith, using the example of Israel’s unfaithfulness as evidence of that possibility (2:1; 3:7-11; 6:4-6).

Hosea puts such apostasy into perspective. The history of Israel, and the history of the church for that matter, is filled with examples of people departing from their faith. To say those who do will always return or if they don’t were never saved is the rationalization of a faulty doctrine. The Bible makes it clear, with obvious teaching and numerous illustrations, those who are genuinely God’s people can and do abandon their faith. It’s sad, but quite true, hence the continuous warnings in Scripture. The good news is, this possibility also allows for repentance and restoration. Predetermination or fatalism is a doctrine of a false religion, not the relational, redemptive work of Jesus.

What I find fascinating in the book of Hosea is the emphasis on relationship. Here is a prophet encouraged by God to marry a promiscuous woman as an illustration of Israel’s adulterous heart. Israel is not just exchanging one religion for another, like shopping for a new set of clothes. They are walking away from their lover, their husband. This is adultery, divorce, and it is deeply personal.

“Lord, I am so amazed by You, not just by Your greatness, but more by Your tenderness toward me. You know me intimately, better than I know myself, and after what You did for me, though I have the right to choose, I would never leave You!”

July 4 - He Did Not Turn Away

Read today’s texts first: 2 Kings 15,16; Hosea 1; Hebrews 1

MAXIMize YOUR DAY

God does not judge us for the sins of our parents
or our children. 

Legacies are tenuous. It’s one thing to make a positive difference during our lives, quite another to inspire the next generations to follow in our footsteps. Jesus did it, but He is God. Great men like the Apostle Paul or Martin Luther King Jr. did. So did women like Mother Theresa, but what about ordinary folk, like you and I. I get the idea from Scripture that we all have some influence, during and after our lives, good or bad.

We see it with the kings of Israel and Judah. Some of the kings of Judah carried on their father’s good legacy, like Azariah: He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done (15:3). But all of the kings of Israel followed in the legacy of their first king, Jeroboam, and it wasn’t good, like Zechariah: He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as his fathers had done. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit (15:9). Even the kings who assumed the throne through assassination, not lineage, followed Jeroboam’s sin pattern, like Menahem (5:18).

But not everyone follows in the footsteps of their parents. Ahaz was one of the most evil kings of Judah, to the point of sacrificing his firstborn to Molech’s fire, like the corrupt Canaanites (16:2-4). Yet, one of his sons, Hezekiah, ruled after him and did everything right, including finally tearing down the high places devoted to idolatry (18:1-7). Then after reigning well for 29 years (including a bonus of 15 extra years for good behaviour - 18:1-20:21), his son Manasseh, took over as king and stripped away every good thing his father had done (21:1-9). He became the worst king of Judah, out-sinning his grandfather Ahaz. But just when you have this story wrapped up in a neat full-circle of irony, Manasseh repents and God forgives and redeems his mistakes (2 Chron. 33:10-17).

But not everyone follows in the footsteps of their parents. Ahaz was one of the most evil kings of Judah, to the point of sacrificing his firstborn to Molech’s fire, like the corrupt Canaanites (16:2-4). Yet, one of his sons, Hezekiah, ruled after him and did everything right, including finally tearing down the high places devoted to idolatry (18:1-7). Then after reigning well for 29 years (including a bonus of 15 extra years for good behaviour - 18:1-20:21), his son Manasseh, took over as king and stripped away every good thing his father had done (21:1-9). He became the worst king of Judah, out-sinning his grandfather Ahaz. But just when you have this story wrapped up in a neat full-circle of irony, Manasseh repents and God forgives and redeems his mistakes (2 Chron. 33:10-17).

The moral of the story: legacies are tenuous. Everyone has the free choice to accept or reject God. As much as we would like to reduce the issue down to good or bad parenting, we can’t. Ultimately God does not judge us for the sins of our parents or our children. “Lord I am accountable directly to You and so are my children and grandchildren. But still, I want to do all I can to pass down a worthy legacy of faith for them to follow.”

July 3 - Somebody Bigger Than You and I

 Read today’s texts first: Isaiah 6,7; 2 Chronicles 26,27; Philemon

MAXIMize YOUR DAY

God is so big He can see little me! 

Whenever I read the book of Isaiah I am reminded about how big God is. Yesterday we talked about why we can’t see God, how He exists outside time and space, far beyond our dimensional limitations. And yet, we see evidence for Him everywhere. This book is a collection of such evidence!

First we read about Isaiah’s incredible vision of the heavenly realm, of seraphim worshipping God, of His immense glory and awesome holiness, and of Isaiah’s immediate sense of unworthiness (6:1-5). But we also see how personal this God is, purifying Isaiah, assuring him of forgiveness, and calling him into service (6:6-9).

Then we see God’s ability to exist simultaneously in the past, present, and future, the Great “I Am.” He can see the future captivity of Israel by Assyria a few decades down the road (7:18-20). Just before that, He is 700 years ahead predicting the birth of His Son, the Messiah, His place of birth in the city of David, Bethlehem, His mode of birth through a virgin, and His name Immanuel, “God with us,” in every generation, throughout all time!

Add to those grand images God’s personal and tender care for a simple Gentile slave named Onesimus. That God would involve the great apostle Paul as an advocate for a slave and include his story as a book in the Bible, Philemon, shows us just how small this big God can become.

It reminded me of an Elvis song from 1966, “Somebody Bigger Than You and I:”

He lights the way when the road is long
He keeps you company
And with His love to guide you
He walks beside you
Just like He walks with me

When I am weary, filled with despair
Who gives me courage to go on from there
And who gives me faith that will never die
Somebody bigger than you and I
Bigger than you and I

 “Lord, You are indeed so far beyond me I will never fully grasp Your greatness this side of heaven. But I do know You love me personally and You are with me every day of my life on earth!”

July 2 - “Idol” Hands

 Read today’s texts first: Isaiah 4,5;  Psalms 115,116; Jude

MAXIMize YOUR DAY

We see evidence of Him everywhere, but the fact that
we can’t see God is the greatest proof that He is! 

This was one of those amazing days when everything made sense to me (believe me, that doesn’t happen often!). The Psalms reading, wedged in the middle of the Isaiah and Jude readings, unlocked the perspective I needed to understand all three. It also answered a random question asked of me at work today: “how can you believe in a God you can’t see?” Plus, it gave me much-needed wisdom in handling a computer “demon” (aka. “glitch”) trying to force its way into my life while I was writing this very journal entry.  Confused? Let me give you a paragraph on each piece of my day.

First the insight from Psalms: Why do the nations say, “Where is their God?” Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him. But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but they cannot smell; they have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but they cannot walk; nor can they utter a sound with their throats. (115:2-7). This is so clear it could be a quotation from Captain Obvious. Yet, both Israel and Judah in Isaiah’s day persisted in following man-made idols instead of the one true God who formed them as a nation and miraculously gave them the Promised Land. They were the vineyard that had the best conditions possible, including the best grape trees, and yet produced bad fruit. Coincidentally, Jude’s letter was a warning about the same kind of people, those with “idol” hands, who were infiltrating the church 700 years later.

Speaking of coincidences, how about getting the answer from God before the question was asked (I usually figure out the answer after the asker is long gone). “How can you believe in a God you can’t see?” Similar question to the one the psalmist posed. The answer: if you have a God you can see, chances are he/she/it is man-made and with a limited shelf life. In other words, not the real God. God, the Creator, needs to be bigger than we are, probably beyond our dimensional limitations, outside time and space (eg. Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him). We see evidence of Him everywhere, but the fact that He is beyond us is the greatest proof that He is in fact God (Rom. 1:19-23).

While I was reading Bible texts from “Bible Study Tools.com” on my computer, flashing pop-ups were trying to get me to update my software. They were taking over my screen, pulsating with such urgency that I grew suspicious. I asked my wife, “should I click on it?” and God gave her the wisdom to shout, “don’t do it!” Then, as if on cue, the pop-ups included ads I knew didn’t belong in a Bible program! Bad fruit, man-made gods, computer demons/viruses, tempting “idol” hands (the misspelling is intentional, ok), trying to lure the unsuspecting into the devil’s playground! 

“Lord, thank You for preparing me through Israel’s foolishness, the psalmist’s insights, and Christian imposters, to answer serious questions, deal with insidious computer viruses, and see the obvious difference between man-made gods and the God who made man!”