Walking the Way: A daily devotional

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Father heart of God

Hosea 11:3 It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the hand, but they never knew that I healed them. Thought for the day – Father heart of God. Hosea is a hard book to read. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s hard. But as Biblical scholar Derek Kidner puts it Hosea ‘is one of the boldest … in exposing us to the mind and heart of God in human terms.’ And we see that in today’s chapter. We see God as a father teaching his children to walk, taking them by the hand as they grow up and then watching them walk away from him and forgetting who he was and what he had done for them. It is a heart-breaking image. And in our chapter today we see a tension between the image of God who is Almighty and image of a God who loves us like a gentle father. And if I’m honest, I’m not quite sure where to go with that. Maybe it’s one of the images we are just encouraged to sit with and wonder about. That’s not a cop out because it’s something we all struggle...

Ploughing the road

Hosea 10:12 Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you. Thought for the day – What God wants We used to live in Kent and across the road from our estate was an open field that lay fallow for a large part of the time we were there. It was peaceful and easy to walk on. And fallow ground feels restful, even a bit virtuous. Nothing's wrong, nothing's growing, nothing needs fixing. Almost sounds like some of our churches. But that is not an image Hosea presents. Fallow ground isn't peaceful or restful ground, here it's hardened ground. It's the heart that has stopped expecting anything. And the prophet's word is blunt: break it up. Get the plough out. It's time. And ploughing is difficult. Ploughing tears things up and breaks things down. Nobody breaks up hard soil gently. John Wesley was well ...

Barren Womb, Open Hands

Hosea 9:14 Give them, O Lord— what will you give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. Thought for the day – Barren Womb, Open Hands Today’s thought is a Deb takeover As a woman, as a mother this passage is a hard read. I remember, a few years after we had adopted my ex-sister-in-law gave me a very belated adoption congratulations card, and the only words she had written in it were the words from this verse. At the time I was furious. So furious that I ripped the card up. Because to be reminded that as a woman my body had failed me, even though we had children through adoption was more painful than I can put into words. I guess, contextually, the inability to have children way back when Hosea was writing was more significant than now, when women aren’t tied to being a mother and housewife. But it is still significant. Significant because family relationships today are still complicated - both joyful and hurtful. I...

Reaping the whirlwind

Hosea 8:7 For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; it shall yield no meal; if it were to yield, foreigners would devour it. Thought for the day – Reaping the whirlwind Yesterday we talked about how we all have some sort of oppositional defiance disorder. It’s called sin and the root of our spiritual ODD is our rebellion against God both in the Garden of Eden at the beginning and our ongoing rebellion is our sinful natures. And like all rebellions there are consequences. We sow the seeds and then wonder why we reap the whirlwind. It’s almost as if we are too blind or unwilling to see the consequences of our actions. So, for instance, the church pastor that gets a little too close to their PA; or the Christian business owner that doesn’t keep to all the legislation; The church goer who is an absolute saint on Sunday but abuses their spouse during the week. All of these have consequences...

Walking the Way - Exact opposite

Hosea 7:14 They do not cry to me from the heart, but they wail upon their beds; they gash themselves for grain and wine; they rebel against me. Thought for the day – Exact opposite I love my kids. But every so often (read regularly) they drive me nuts. Like when I tell them to do things a certain way, and then they go and do it in whatever way they want. And when it all falls apart, they get upset because it ‘doesn’t work’ and ‘why is everything so hard.’ It’s as if they’re preprogrammed to do the exact opposite of what we want sometimes. And there’s a psychological term for this. It’s called ‘Oppositional Defiant Disorder’ or ODD. Symptoms of ODD include: · Being unusually angry and irritable · Frequently losing their temper · Being easily annoyed · Arguing with authority figures · ...

Mist and dew

Hosea 6:4 “What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah? Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears. Thought for the day – Mist and dew I’m an early morning person. I regularly get up at 5 am and occasionally I go out and sit in the garden with a cup of coffee and just sit and enjoy the quiet before the chaos of the kids and ministry begin. But eventually the day comes round and life begins with all the busyness that it entails and that quiet In the mist and dew disappears like our verse this morning. In context our verse is about the superficiality of the worship of the Israelites. Hosea 6 has that profound verse ‘For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.’ About how going through the motions of worship isn’t enough, and the implication is that our shallow worship dissipates like dew and mist. But as I was thinking about the quiet of the mornin...