Category Archives: Obedience

Abiding, Affection, Bible, Child Raising, Choices, Disciplemaking, Encouragement, Following, Obedience, Parenting, Protection, Scripture

FIRST STEPS

HOSEA 11:3

“Yet it is I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them in My arms; but they did not know that I healed them.”

I can’t remember my first steps as a baby. Why would I? I mean, I was pretty young, right? But I do remember my children’s first steps. We spent weeks helping them stand up and then watched them “cruise” around furniture. Then that day arrived when they took those first steps. How proud we were as parents! First steps are a milestone.

Jehovah helped Israel walk. He guided them by His strong hand. He held them up when they toppled. He led them along a safe path, only to have them jerk away and start walking in their own direction. How painful that must have been for our God to see His beloved children walk away.

APPLICATION

Sadly, we do the same thing. Think about your own walk. When you came to Christ, He was the one who led you on your first steps. He pointed you toward the direction He would have you walk. He held you up when you stumbled and fell. He picked you up and dusted you off. He was always there.

But we get comfortable in our walk and don’t think we need Him anymore. We see a path that looks better than the path He has for us. We explore new walkways and leave the safety of Jesus’ path behind. And what happens? Almost every time, we fall. We trip. We are attacked by our enemies. All we have to do is remain on the sure path, but we want to walk our way.

The older I get the less I want to wander. I like the assurance of Jesus holding my hand. I don’t want to jerk away and go my way. I have learned His way may not be as “glamorous,” but it is trustworthy. I know He will never lead me wrong. So, why would I ever want to “explore” another path? Never!

Lord, I praise You for holding my hand as I took my first steps with You. But You kept holding it. You kept leading me.

Standard
Accountability, Advice, Bible, Busyness, Commands, Devil, Disciplemaking, Encouragement, Inspirational, Modeling, Obedience, Satan, Scripture

TAKE MY YOKE

HOSEA 10:11

“Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh, and I passed over her lovely neck; I will harness Ephraim, Judah will plow, Jacob will harrow for himself.”

I have never used a yoke and harness on an ox or horse. I have in my front yard a seed and fertilizer spreader that is meant to be used with an animal pulling it. It’s probably 150 years old, but it just sits there in my yard idle. It hasn’t been used in decades. It’s not much use except for a yard decoration.

Hosea tells us in this verse that God had harnessed and placed His yoke on both Judah and Israel. They had been trained to pull for Him. In fact, Hosea says Ephraim loves to thresh. That’s an image of threshing grain unmuzzled so they could enjoy the grain they were crushing. But we know they both rebelled in the end.

APPLICATION

What has the Lord “trained” you to do? Are you in His harness and yoke? Are you pulling for Him? If you aren’t, you are pulling for the devil. You can only pull for one master. Don’t you know that? Carl, I’m not in anyone’s harness. I’m free. Yes, you are. You are free to serve either master, but you will serve one or the other.

God only calls us to do tasks that are good and productive. We shouldn’t be wasting our time doing things that don’t really matter. Fruitless, unproductive, time-wasting activities bring no glory to the Father. After all, that is our purpose – to bring glory to Him. Ask yourself if the things you are so busy doing are doing that.

The older I get the more precious time becomes. It seems the days get shorter and shorter. I don’t want to waste my time not pulling for my Lord. I want to wear His harness proudly. I want to pull for Him boldly. I want to please the One who has done so much for me. Don’t you?

Thanks for placing Your yoke around my neck. When I get tired remind me who I am pulling for.

Standard
Accountability, Affection, Bible, Cleansing, Commands, Confession, Discipline, Forgiveness, Guilt, Judgment, Obedience, Repentance, Scripture

DOUBLE GUILT

HOSEA 10:10

“When it is My desire, I will discipline them; and the peoples will be gathered against them when they are bound for their double guilt.”

I have felt guilty plenty of times for not doing something I knew I should have done. I have also felt guilty for doing something I knew I shouldn’t have done. Now, before you raise your eyebrows and look down your nose at me, you have done the same thing. Am I right? Sure I am.

Israel was guilty of turning away from Jehovah and also turning to the pagan gods. Double guilt! That’s what Hosea is referring to in today’s verse. They had no excuse, and God is going to discipline them when He was ready. Hosea even says God desires to do that. He wants to straighten them out. That may not sound good, but everything God does is good.

APPLICATION

Are you guilty? God, through the Holy Spirit, will convict us of sin. He uses that guilt to draw us back to Him. I have discussed before the difference between guilt and shame. Shame is not of God. The devil uses that to make us feel unworthy, to make us feel unusable. Don’t accept that.

But when you feel guilty remember that is the Lord’s desire for you. What?! Are you crazy, Carl? I don’t think so. He, just like He did with Israel, is desiring you to return to Him. He draws you through His Spirit. Don’t you recall the feeling when you are cleansed. That is waiting for you.

I am thankful for the Holy Spirit’s conviction in my life. Without it I am not sure where I would be. No, that’s not true. I know exactly where I would be – in deep sin. My flesh is weak, but the Spirit in me is strong. If you are a believer, you have that strength too.

Lord, thank You for convicting me when I am in sin. I want to be drawn back to You.

Standard
Affection, Affliction, Bible, Comfort, Confession, Disciplemaking, Holy Spirit, Obedience, Scripture, Shame

ASHAMED

HOSEA 10:6

“The thing itself will be brought to Assyria as a gift of tribute to King Jareb; Ephraim will be seized with shame, and Israel will be ashamed of its own plan.”

I can remember as a child getting caught doing something wrong (we won’t go into exactly what that was, lol) and feeling shame. I was ashamed because I knew the right thing to do but chose the wrong thing. Hanging my head and not making eye contact. Hearing my mom or dad say how disappointed they were in my decision. Shame is not something you want to hang on to.

Ephraim was ashamed. Israel was ashamed. They knew what God expected but chose to go their own way. When what they loved (idols and pagan altars) was carried away with them into exile, then they felt the shame of their sin.

APPLICATION

Shame can be a great motivator to return to the Lord. Now, we can’t stay there. Once we have confessed our sin and made things right with the Lord, He does not want us to wallow in our shame. We have been made clean. There is no reason to stay in shame or guilt. Have you done that?

Many people feel so ashamed that they don’t think the Lord can forgive them. They think their sins are too big. We have to let them know just how big our God is. He can forgive whatever they have done. All they have to do is come to Jesus. They just have to confess Him as Lord and Savior and believe in His name. We have to give them that message.

I am so thankful that the Holy Spirit convicts me of my sins. He won’t let me get away anything. The moment I sin He is in my business reminding me that I am a child of God and sin has no place in my life. Am I perfect? Not in any way. But I have a perfect Savior who pushes me to live holy. How about you?

Thank You, Lord, for saving my soul. Thank You, Lord, for making me whole. Thank You, Lord, for giving to me Thy great salvation so rich and free.

Standard
Advice, Betrayal, Bible, Denial, Foolishness, Judgment, Lies, Modeling, Obedience, Respect, Scripture, Surrender

NOSE THUMBER

HOSEA 10:3

“Certainly now they will say, ‘We have no king, for we do not revere the LORD. As for the king, what can he do for us?’”

I have known a few people who thumbed their nose at God. I had a coworker once who wanted nothing to do with God or me. I was the Chaplain at a children’s home, so I represented God to him. He really didn’t like me because of that. He was constantly speaking badly about our chapel services and ridiculed the decisions the children were making. He did not revere the Lord.

Israel did not revere the Lord. They had no respect for their king either. They had lost all their allegiance to anyone except themselves, and that was failing. So, they were also thumbing their noses at God. He wasn’t doing what they wanted, so they were done with Him. They wanted God to serve them, to meet all their needs. Anything less was useless to them.

APPLICATION

What is your view of God? You may expect God to meet all your needs when you want Him to. You may think the Lord is kind of like Santa Claus. And when He doesn’t “perform” you put Him aside. That is not the way God works. He is not on your timetable.

But, oh listen to me. God wants to work in your life. He has such grand plans for you and me. We have to lay down our plans and allow Him to work in and through us. We will never know the heights to which He can take us unless we lay down our own self made plans. Will you do that today?

I am still learning how to lay down my plans. I am a planner and there are times when I get tired of waiting on God. Don’t judge me. I am sure you have done that. But when I do wait on Him, His plan makes so much better sense. You would think I would have learned this by now. Keep me in your prayers, and I will pray for you, too.

Father, I don’t want to ever caste You aside. You are the center of all I do. I want to honor You.

Standard
Accountability, Advice, Altars, Bible, Choices, Destruction, Double-minded, Faithfulness, Idols, Modeling, Obedience, Scripture, Sincerity

GOD THE DESTROYER

HOSEA 10:2

“Their heart is deceitful; now they must suffer for their guilt. The LORD will break down their altars and destroy their memorial stones.”

There is something about tearing something down. I can remember as a boy using my dad’s big sledgehammer. I used to ask my dad if I could swing it when he had to tear apart stuff. Man, when that big hammer hit the wood, it would just splinter that stuff. Tearing down stuff was fun.

But here in today’s verse, the Lord is tearing down some stuff, and He wasn’t having fun. He was angry at Israel’s sin, at the way they had built these altars to their false gods. He was determined to destroy any sign of their idolatry. And He didn’t need a sledgehammer.

APPLICATION

Are there things in your life that you need to tear down? We all have things that we have built up that get between us and God. They may just be small things, but anything between you and the Lord is an idol, a distraction. It must come down. It has to be removed. If you leave it there, it will affect your walk with Him.

Now, you don’t need a sledgehammer to do that. You just need to turn to the Lord. It seems when we prioritize Jesus in our lives, all those other things seem to disappear or take a back seat. The “altars” and “memorial stones” we have placed in our lives have to come down. There is only room for Jesus.

From time to time I have built up “altars” in my life. I have placed too much emphasis on things at the expense of worshipping the Lord. One by one the Lord showed me those “altars” had to come down. As I got rid of them, my love for the Lord grew stronger. Sole devotion to Jesus is what is required. My knee will bow to no one else.

Help me Lord to keep my altars torn down. I desire to worship only You.

Standard
Abiding, Advice, Bible, Direction, Encouragement, Faith, Fruit, Harvest, Hope, Inspirational, Modeling, Obedience

NO ROOT, NO FRUIT

HOSEA 9:16

“Ephraim is stricken, their root is dried up, they will produce no fruit. Even though they give birth to children, I will put to death the precious ones of their womb.”

I had a great vegetable garden when I lived in South Carolina. I had both row gardens and raised beds. I could grow just about anything I wanted in that garden. But I discovered something about gardening there. If your vegetables don’t have a strong root system where they can absorb nutrients, you will get little if any fruit.

Hosea used this same imagery in today’s verse. God said Israel’s root was dried up so they couldn’t produce any fruit. Even if they were to give birth to children, they wouldn’t survive. The very fruit of their wombs would not last. They had no hope for a future.

APPLICATION

I hope you are rooted deep. What are you rooted in? If it isn’t Jesus and the word of God, then you are going to be fruitless. Isn’t that sad? Most of us want to be fruitful. We want to be used by the Lord, don’t we? So, we have to put down roots. How is that done?

We have to be committed to spending time with the Lord. We have to put down roots in prayer. We have to put down roots in studying His Word. Those roots will draw nourishment from that and produce fruit. Of course, any fruit we draw up belongs to the Lord. Our goal has to be to produce as much fruit as possible. And all that fruit is for others.

Fruit production is only as good as the soil and the plant. I have made the decision to guard my “plant” from being exposed to poor soil. I want to nourish it and allow it to flourish. I want to grow strong and produce as much fruit as possible. I pray that for you.

My roots will grow deep as I spend time with You, Lord. I know that healthy roots produce healthy fruit.

Standard
Accountability, Bible, Commands, Deception, Devil, Faith, Following, Idols, Modeling, Obedience, Scripture, Worship

GET OUT OF MY HOUSE

HOSEA 9:15

“All their evil is at Gilgal; indeed, I came to hate them there! Because of the wickedness of their deed I will drive them out of My house! I will no longer love them; all their leaders are rebels.”

I can still hear my mama telling me to get out of the house with my nasty clothes. Lol. I worked at a gas station when I was in high school. I worked hard and my jeans and shirts got nasty. I mean real nasty. They smelled like gasoline and oil. Sometimes I had to work in another part of my boss’ business and got even nastier. So, I had to strip out of my clothes outside. My filth didn’t belong in her house.

God was sick of Israel’s filth – their filth of idolatry. They even used Gilgal, a place where God had met them before. They must have thought since God had been there in the past, that place was still holy. How could they think their pagan gods would enhance Gilgal? God, through Hosea, says, “I came to hate them there.” Pretty harsh words.

APPLICATION

What filth are you dragging into God’s house? Are you mingling the world with the divine? We do that sometimes without even realizing it. We are so accustomed to living in the world that we think we can drag all that stuff right into our worship. It’s no different than what the Israelites did.

I want you to think about how you worship the Lord. Are you letting the world influence you? Are you buying the lies of the devil that you have to embrace the world’s culture to reach the world? I am not referring to a people’s culture. I am talking about the fleshly side of culture. None of that belongs in God’s house.

Pure worship is holy worship. Holy worship is always pointed toward the Lord and not us. No part of worship should exalt us. When we are worshipping the Lord in Spirit and in truth, it all flows upward. Isn’t that what you want? It’s what I want and is what I pursue. Oh Father, You are holy!

Protect me, Lord, from any hint of false worship. Keep my flesh and my pride out of the way. I want to only worship You.

Standard
Bible, Blessing, Encouragement, Following, Gifts, Giving, God's Will, Obedience, Scripture

UNWELCOMED GIFTS

HOSEA 9:14

“Give to them, LORD—what will You give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dried-up breasts.”

Have you ever gotten a gift that you really didn’t like? Come on, now. We all have. It may have been a pair of socks from a relative at Christmas. It could be that really, gawdy tie you got at your office party. Whatever it may have been, you didn’t like it and didn’t want it. But now you have it. What do you do with that?

Israel got a gift in today’s verse that wasn’t welcomed. I won’t go into great detail. I don’t have to. God was going to cause them to be barren and not be able to have children. This was not a gift they wanted, but they couldn’t return it. In fact, they had earned this gift due to their rejection of God.

APPLICATION

If you could ask for any gift you wanted from the Lord, what would you ask for? Now, before you answer that, think long and hard about it. If you are a believer, you have already received the greatest gift – Jesus Christ. What else could you possibly want? He fulfills every desire you have. Am I right?

What is the worst the thing you could receive from the Lord? Suffering? Hardships? Trials? If you received those, would you want to return them? Once again, before you answer that, think about it. God only gives us what we need. If He allows all those
gifts to come into your life, He has a purpose. That purpose is to make you more like Him. Now that’s a gift.

They say it’s not about the gift. It’s more about the giving. Do you think that is true? God always has the perfect motive for His gifts. We can’t look at anything He gives us as bad. If we are walking with Him and trying to live a life that pleases Him, whatever gift we receive should be embraced.

Thank You, Lord, for the gifts You send my way. I may not always see them as a blessing, so open my eyes to Your intentions for my life.

Standard
Bible, Blessing, Born, Child Bearing, Commands, Double-minded, Godliness, Holiness, Joy, Life, Obedience, Promises, Sanctification, Scripture, Testimony

NO LIFE

HOSEA 9:11

“As for Ephraim, their glory will fly away like a bird— no birth, no pregnancy, and no conception!”

I have the privilege to be the father of two great kids. They are grown now, but I can still remember the moment my wife and I learned we were going to have a child. Each pregnancy was a joy (not counting my wife’s morning sickness). We couldn’t wait for the day of their birth. I was actually in the room both times. It was amazing!

For Ephraim, their glory was gone. They couldn’t experience the joy of the Lord because they had forsaken Him. Their actions against Jehovah had caused Him to withdraw His blessings. Just like barren wombs with no conception, no pregnancy and no birth, there was sorrow. No hope! No life! No future!

APPLICATION

What is your life centered on? If it’s not the Lord, then you too are in despair. I’m not in despair, Carl. My life is going just fine. Oh really? Any life not centered on Jesus is headed for disaster. Yes, I said disaster. We can pretend everything is fine. We may believe all is well, but it’s not.

God will not bless those who are not following Him. He just can’t. It would go against His whole person. If He blessed everyone for just doing their own thing, then His commandments and statutes would be meaningless. God demands holiness, but He gives us the means to live that way. As Peter says in 2 Peter 1:3, it’s His divine power that gives us everything we need to live that way. And when we do, He loves to bless us.

I try to live my life to honor Him. I don’t do it perfectly. I never will, but I certainly strive to do that. I want to experience the joy of the Lord. Don’t you want that same joy? I know you do. I pray today you can know Him fully, that you can be filled with so much joy that it just overflows.Thank You, Lord, for life. Thank You for giving me such joy. Help me spread it to others.

Standard