HOSEA 5:15-6:6
THE BACKGROUND
The book of Hosea is an odd but compelling book. Hosea was from the northern kingdom of Israel. There, he preached repentance at a time where it was much needed. They did not listen, and the Assyrians conquered the land. Hosea moved south to Judea, and continued to relay God’s warnings to Judah. They, of course, did not listen either. The weird part is in chapters 1-3. As a living parable, God instructs Hosea to marry a prostitute. In this parable, Hosea represents God, and the prostitute is God’s people Israel & Judah. More on this in the takeaway.
From chapter 4 on, the book of Hosea is a series of back and forth dialogues between God and His people.
THE DETAIL
- Today’s passage starts out by God making the decision to step away from the situation, and wait for His people to come to Him. (v 15)
- The whole next paragraph is God’s people, who have decided to return to God. They are confident that He will be waiting with open arms. (vv. 1-3)
- Instead, we see that God is definitely fed up with their on-again, off-again need of Him. “Ephraim” is a nickname for the northern kingdom of Israel, “Judah” being the southern. He points out that their faith and devotion are as short-lived as the morning cloud (fog?). (v. 4)
- A harsh judgement follows. No, He is not going to welcome them with open arms. Those in Israel have already gone off to Assyria. Soon, Judah will be carted off to Babylon. (v. 5)
- God tells us what he really wants—He wants our steadfast love, and for us to be in such a close relationship with Him that we desire to learn all about Him. (v. 6)
THE TAKEAWAY
Asking Hosea to take a prostitute as a wife seems to be an outrageous order, at least until you think about it. God’s point is that while He desires our love (v. 6), we behave more like a prostitute than a devoted bride. It seems like everything in this world is more important than our relationship with God. To this day, we allow other things to take God’s rightful place in our lives.
Verse 6 tells us that God desires our “steadfast love”. The Old Testament is filled with stories of God’s steadfast love for his people and the failure of God’s people to return this love to God. Verse 6 tells us that all God wants is our steadfast love in return for what he has continually shown us.
Keeping God’s commandments is one way of maintain our relationship with God. Jesus summarized His Father’s many commandments into three:
- Love God
- Love one another, even your enemies
- Don’t judge anybody. That’s God’s business, not yours.
These commandments are simple, but far from easy, aren’t they? It is my hope that because of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, God is a little more forgiving now than He was for the people of Hosea’s time.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
How many hours each day do we spend on:
- Routine daily matters (Bathing, eating, cooking, cleaning, sleeping, etc.)?
- Entertainment (TV, socializing, going places, playing games, napping, etc.)?
- Developing our relationship with God (Prayer, worship, bible study, helping others)?
Does our maintaining our relationship with God occupy the priority it deserves?
ROMANS 4:13-25
THE BACKGROUND
Paul wrote this letter to the church in Rome. At that time, the church there consisted of a mixture of Greek Christians and Jewish Christians. In the first three chapters, Paul tells them that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. (Romans 3:23) He started with non-believers, and swiftly worked through everybody, saving the Jewish Christians for last, beginning with 2:17.* Paul is talking about what makes us right with God; about what justifies our sinful ways to be in a loving relationship with God. In 4:1-25, Paul uses the example of father Abraham to make a very important point. We join this example at verse 13.
THE DETAIL
- The first sentence is key. It states that the relationship between Abraham and God did not hinge on Abraham’s obedience to rules (the law). The reason God made big promises to Abraham was solely because of Abraham’s faith. (v. 13)
- What follows is a long, detailed explanation of all the reasons why Abraham could have easily have given up on the promises of God. And those promises are in there too. But Abraham did not give up on God, even though the deck seemed stacked against him. (vv. 14- 21)
- Here’s the clincher verse—Abraham’s “faith was reckoned to him [God] as righteousness”. Abraham’s faith is the reason that God made those promises, and was true to His word. (v. 22)
- Paul tells us all that the same holds true for all of us! Our faith in God and His son Jesus are what save us. (vv. 23-25)
THE TAKEAWAY
Paul uses the word “justification” in verse 25. This is another way of saying that our sins are forgiven. By having faith in Jesus, our sins are forgiven. Our faith, not our keeping the commandments, is our right-action; it is what God reckons as righteousness.
*If you want to try an interesting exercise, read Romans 2:17-3:1a, but substitute the name of your denomination for the word “Jew”. In my case, since I am Lutheran, verse 2:17 would read “But if you call yourself a Lutheran and rely upon your rules, and boast of your relation to God…” What Paul is saying is that it doesn’t matter who you are, or what your church traditions and rituals are; they aren’t going to save you—you’re still a sinner!
MATTHEW 9:9-13, 18-26
THE BACKGROUND
This is actually two stories combined. The first is the calling of Matthew as an apostle of Jesus. The second are two healing accounts that occurred right after Matthew was called.
THE DETAIL
- So, Jesus is walking along, sees Matthew, and says “follow me”. Without hesitation, Matthew gives up his lucrative job as a tax collector, and follows Jesus. (v. 9)
- That evening at dinner, somebody must have recognized Matthew the tax collector sitting at Jesus’ dinner table. Jesus took a lot of flack for doing so. (vv. 10-11)
- Jesus uses some heavy sarcasm in his response. (vv. 12-13)
- The leader of the synagogue interrupts Jesus to announce that his daughter has just died. He is confident that if Jesus lays his hand on her that she will live again. Here is some heavy-duty faith coming from one of the Jewish leaders! (vv. 18-19)
- Along the way, Jesus heals a woman who had a longstanding illness. (vv. 20-22)
- At the leader’s house, Jesus is ridiculed for his comments. But then he heals the daughter, and the ridicule stops. (vv. 23-25)
- The miracles have their desired effect. Word of Jesus’ power and authority spread throughout the land. (v. 26)
THE TAKEAWAY
This is Matthew’s report about his being called as one of Jesus’ inner circle. There is no hesitation in his response. He simply rises from the counting table, and follows the Savior.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Every day, Jesus calls you and me to love and serve him. How do we respond? Are we like Matthew?