Do Over

A series on the book of Hosea
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Hosea 11-14 

[The story about Hosea is a story about the relentless love of God. Hosea was a prophet who spoke out against the idolatry of the Israelites as they pursued the pagan gods of Baal and Asherah. His life became an allegory about the unfaithfulness of Israel and the relentless love of God.]

 

Have you ever wished that you could have a Do Over?

 

About four years ago I was late for work, so it’s possible that I was speeding. But, it was a Friday, and there were very few cars on the highway. Under those conditions, there was no way that I was going to cause an accident.

 

However, that didn’t seem to matter to the highway patrolman that stopped me. Without any hesitation, he wrote me a ticket which resulted in a $150 fine and… increased my car insurance by $300 annually for three years. I really wanted a Do Over.

 

Israel probably wanted a Do Over too. Even though the Lord faithfully reached out to His people in love, they rebelled against Him.

 

“When Israel was a child, I loved him,
    and I called my son out of Egypt.
² But the more I called to him,
    the farther he moved from me
offering sacrifices to the images of Baal
    and burning incense to idols.               Hosea 11       NLT

 

The result of their sin was God’s swift judgement.

 

³ Therefore they will be like the morning mist,
    like the early dew that disappears,
    like chaff swirling from a threshing floor,
    like smoke escaping through a window.        Hosea 13       NIV

 

¹⁶ The people of Samaria must bear their guilt,
    because they have rebelled against their God.
They will fall by the sword;
    their little ones will be dashed to the ground,
    their pregnant women ripped open.                Hosea 13       NIV

 

How would it feel to be alive, but nobody notices that you’re living (verse 3)? How would it feel to have everything that you hold dear, that you love and that brings meaning to your life… to be violently taken from you (verse 16)?

 

Thankfully for Israel, the story didn’t end there. They got a Do Over.

 

Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
    for your sins have brought you down.
² Bring your confessions, and return to the Lord.
    Say to him, “Forgive all our sins and graciously receive us,
    so that we may offer you our praises.      Hosea 14       NLT

 

⁴ The Lord says, “Then I will heal you of your faithlessness;
    my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be gone forever.           

                                                                                    Hosea 14       NLT

 

Thankfully, the story doesn’t end with our judgement either. The Lord’s faithful love has given you and me a Do Over. Paul explained it like this in Romans 7.

 

²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? ^25a Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!       NIV

 

Copyright 2023 Joseph B Williams

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

 

 

Mackinac Bridge

A series on the book of Hosea
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Hosea 6:4-10:15 

[The story about Hosea is a story about the relentless love of God. Hosea was a prophet who spoke out against the idolatry of the Israelites as they pursued the pagan gods of Baal and Asherah. His life became an allegory about the unfaithfulness of Israel and the relentless love of God.]

 

At the northern-most point of the lower peninsula of Michigan is all things Mackinaw, or Mackinac. Both spellings are pronounced the same… Mackinaw. They include Mackinaw City, Mackinac Island and of course, the awe-inspiring Mackinac Bridge which crosses, you guessed it… the Straits of Mackinac.

 

Before the bridge was completed in 1957, the only way to cross from the Lower Peninsula to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan was by ferry. In many ways, the completion of the bridge provided economic salvation by increasing tourism.

 

There are many highways that can take you to Mackinac Bridge, but only one Mackinac Bridge will take you to the Upper Peninsula.

 

Moses led Israel out of the slavery of Egypt to the Promised Land. The Israelites knew that salvation waited for them there, but there were many hazards on the way. And even more hazards once they arrived.

 

In the Promised Land, the temptation of the Canaanite gods, Baal and Asherah, was too great for Israel. In Hosea 9 we read that Israel had turned away from the Lord to the pagan gods.

 

^10b “But when they came to Baal Peor, 

they consecrated themselves to that shameful idol and became as vile as the thing they loved.              NIV

 

Throughout chapters six through ten of Hosea, we read how the Lord wanted a relationship with Israel; wanted to bring them salvation. But time and again, Israel’s sin kept them separated from the Living God.

 

⁶ I want you to show love,

    not offer sacrifices.

I want you to know me

    more than I want burnt offerings.       NLT   Hosea 6

 

² Now Israel pleads with me,

    ‘Help us, for you are our God!’

³ But it is too late.

The people of Israel have rejected what is good,

    and now their enemies will chase after them.          NLT   Hosea 8

 

Even though Israel was living in the Promised Land, they didn’t experience salvation. The result of Israel’s sin was the judgement of the Lord, which would eventually lead to Israel being taken into exile.

 

Like the Mackinac Bridge is the only way to get to the Upper Peninsula, the Lord is the only way to experience the salvation of the Promised Land. It was true for Israel during Hosea’s time, and it’s true for us today.

 

    ^12b I said… ‘Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.’    

                                                                   NLT    Hosea 10

                 

Copyright 2023 Joseph B Williams

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

Steps 4 and 5

A series on the book of Hosea
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Hosea 4:1-6:3 

[The story about Hosea is a story about the relentless love of God. Hosea was a prophet who spoke out against the idolatry of the Israelites as they pursued the pagan gods of Baal and Asherah. His life became an allegory about the unfaithfulness of Israel and the relentless love of God.]

 

“Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.”

 

This is Step 4 for every twelve-step support program. It involves being totally honest with yourself about your addiction, what you have done because of it and how you have hurt others as a result. It’s a huge step towards taking responsibility for your actions.

 

“Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being

the exact nature of our wrongs.”

 

Step 5 follows the completion of Step 4. It’s important that you are completely open and honest with your sponsor. There’s a saying in twelve step programs that, “You’re only as sick as your secrets”.

 

In a way, chapters four and five of Hosea are the exact opposite of Steps 4 and 5. Instead of confessing their wrongs - the priests, leaders and all the people of Israel - received a severe public dressing down from the Lord through Hosea.

 

4 ¹ Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel!
    The Lord has brought charges against you, saying
“There is no faithfulness, no kindness,
    no knowledge of God in your land.      NLT

 

¹² They ask a piece of wood for advice!
    They think a stick can tell them the future!
Longing after idols
    has made them foolish.
They have played the prostitute,
    serving other gods and deserting their God. NLT

The consequences of their idol worship was judgement that would result in them becoming a “heap of ruble”.

 

5 ^1b “Hear this, you priests.
    Pay attention, you leaders of Israel.
Listen, you members of the royal family.
    Judgment has been handed down against you.       NLT

 

Thankfully, the loving Lord is full of grace and mercy. He provided a way for Israel to receive redemption.

 

6 ¹ “Come, let us return to the Lord.
He has torn us to pieces
    but he will heal us;
he has injured us
    but he will bind up our wounds.          NIV

 

Israel did not work on Steps 4 and 5. They took no “fearless moral inventory”. They didn’t confess to anyone “the exact nature of their wrongs”. They continued to live their lives of worshipping the idols of the day instead of the Living God.

 

We still have idols today. They may not be as obvious as a “piece of wood or stick or a temple prostitute”. But we have them nonetheless. Thankfully, the Lord is still full of grace and mercy. His relentless love is constantly pursuing us to accept the redemption that He provided through His son Jesus Christ.

Copyright 2023 Joseph B Williams

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

S&H Green Stamps

A series on the book of Hosea
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Hosea 3 

[The story about Hosea is a story about the relentless love of God. Hosea was a prophet who spoke out against the idolatry of the Israelites as they pursued the pagan gods of Baal and Asherah. His life became an allegory about the unfaithfulness of Israel and the relentless love of God.]

  

During the 50’s and 60’s, when my Mom went grocery shopping at the A&P, she earned S&H Green stamps with every purchase. As she collected them, she would lick the sticky reverse side and place them in her collector’s book. When enough books were filled, she would redeem them to get household items.

 

My wife had a more hands on experience. Her Mom would pay her a nickel for every full page that she glued into her collector’s book. From those stamps, her Mom got a complete set of silverware, a coffee percolator and some baby dolls for her daughter. It’s not surprising that many mom’s during that time collected S&H Green stamps.

 

The main theme of Hosea is the relentless love of God.

 

¹ Then the Lord said to me, “Go and love your wife again, even though she commits adultery with another lover. This will illustrate that the Lord still loves Israel, even though the people have turned to other gods and love to worship them.”  NLT

 

But, Hosea is also about redemption. Hosea obeyed the Lord‘s command to, “Go and love your wife again”. However, Gomer was now a slave to the man she lived with. As a result, Hosea had to buy her back. He had to redeem her.

 

² So I bought her back for fifteen pieces of silver and five bushels of barley and a measure of wine.          NLT

 

Because of Hosea’s love for his unfaithful wife, she was able to return to him; to live with him as his wife, not as a slave. Hosea’s love for Gomer illustrates God’s love for an unfaithful Israel. God provided a way for Israel to be able to return to Him and to receive His blessings.

 

⁵ Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days.           NIV

 

Paul wrote the following to the Galatian church.

 

¹³ But Christ has rescued us (redeemed us) from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”      NLT             Galatians 3

 

Redemption…

 

For moms in the 50’s and 60’s, it meant redeeming S&H Green stamps. For Gomer, it meant her loving husband rescued her from bondage. For us, it means that Jesus paid the ultimate price in order to bring us home to our Heavenly Father.

 

The relentless, redeeming love of God will never let you go.

 

Copyright 2023 Joseph B Williams

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

 

CliffsNotes

A series on the book of Hosea
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Hosea 2 

[The story about Hosea is a story about the relentless love of God. Hosea was a prophet who spoke out against the idolatry of the Israelites as they pursued the pagan gods of Baal and Asherah. His life became an allegory about the unfaithfulness of Israel and the relentless love of God.]

College students are notorious for waiting until the last minute to prepare for a midterm or a final exam.

 

They make all kinds of excuses to put off reading the text and studying until the eleventh hour. When that happens, they go into hyper drive with an all-nighter drinking lots of coffee or energy drinks and… reading CliffsNotes.

 

If you’re not familiar with CliffsNotes, it’s a series of student study guides providing brief summaries on various topics. So, if you haven’t studied until the last minute, they’re a great way to “maximize” your time.

 

Chapter two of Hosea is the CliffsNotes of the book. In this version of CliffsNotes, there are three verses that best summarize the story. The first verse describes the unfaithfulness of Hosea’s wife Gomer, who represents Israel.

 

⁵ Their mother is a shameless prostitute
    and became pregnant in a shameful way.
She said, ‘I’ll run after other lovers
    and sell myself to them for food and water
for clothing of wool and linen,
    and for olive oil and drinks.’     NLT

 

The second, is one of a series of verses where the Lord declares His judgement on Gomer, again meaning Israel.  The Lord declares that He will punish her by doing everything from public shame to taking away her livelihood.

 

¹³ I will punish her for all those times
    when she burned incense to her images of Baal,
when she put on her earrings and jewels
    and went out to look for her lovers
but forgot all about me,”
    says the Lord.      NLT

 

Finally, the Lord speaks tenderly to Gomer, like a husband to his wife, trying to win her affections back. Similar to the series of verses describing the Lord’s judgement, He now declares His unrelenting love for Gomer, and in doing so, for Israel.

 

¹⁴ “But then I will win her back once again.
    I will lead her into the desert
    and speak tenderly to her there.         NLT

 

The result is beautifully told in these two verses.

 

¹⁹ I will make you my wife forever,
    showing you righteousness and justice,
    unfailing love and compassion.
²⁰ I will be faithful to you and make you mine,
    and you will finally know me as the Lord.    NLT

 

We all have our own personal CliffsNotes story that isn’t much different from Gomer or Israel. We often turn our back on the Lord with unfaithful behavior. Despite this, He is faithful and welcomes us home saying, “You are mine. The one I love”.

 

Copyright 2023 Joseph B Williams

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

“NO! NO! NO!”

A series on the book of Hosea
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Hosea 1:1-11 

[The story about Hosea is a story about the relentless love of God. Hosea was a prophet who spoke out against the idolatry of the Israelites as they pursued the pagan gods of Baal and Asherah. His life became an allegory about the unfaithfulness of Israel and the relentless love of God.]

  

In the movie “Fiddler on the Roof”, Tevye has three older daughters who, contrary to tradition, decide for themselves who they will marry. With the first two, he is able to accept the marriage because they’re within the faith. Not so with the third.

 

She decides to marry a Russian who is completely outside of the Jewish faith. There’s a heartbreaking scene where Chava, the youngest of the three, approaches her father asking him to reason with her.

 

Tevye goes through the same thought process that he did with his first two daughters. But, in a painful climactic outburst, he yells, “NO! NO! NO!” Then, without saying a word to Chava, he turns his back on her and walks away. As far as Tevye is concerned, Chava is unfaithful and is dead to the family.

 

Hosea knows all too well what that feels like.

 

² When the Lord first began speaking to Israel through Hosea, he said to him, “Go and marry a prostitute, so that some of her children will be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning against the Lord and worshiping other gods.”     NLT

 

Hosea knew firsthand what it was like to have an unfaithful wife. Every time she stepped out of the door to go to the market, he would wonder. When he left the house to go to the synagogue, he would wonder. Anytime she was going to the well for water, he would wonder.

 

And when his wife was unfaithful, Hosea would have been heartbroken.  Each child that was born would have reopened the wound of Hosea’s heart. Even their names were a reminder, and would have made his heart ache more. This is exactly how the Lord felt when Israel was unfaithful.

 

Although there were consequences to Israel’s sin, ultimately the Lord loved her and desired a relationship with her. God is a God of mercy, grace and love.

 

¹⁰ “Yet the time will come when Israel’s people will be like the sands of the seashore—too many to count! Then, at the place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ it will be said, ‘You are children of the living God.’          NLT

 

Like Tevye, I can imagine the Lord struggling between His love for us and His hatred for our unfaithfulness. And, if it wasn’t for the sacrifice of His one and only Son, He would be compelled to tell us, “NO! NO! NO!”

 

But thankfully, like the Lord did for Israel, He provides for us to be the “children of the living God” as He relentlessly pursues us with His unconditional love.

 

Copyright 2023 Joseph B Williams

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

Three Man Weave

A series on the book of Hosea
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Hosea 1:1-3 

[The story about Hosea is a story about the relentless love of God. Hosea was a prophet who spoke out against the idolatry of the Israelites as they pursued the pagan gods of Baal and Asherah. His life became an allegory about the unfaithfulness of Israel and the relentless love of God.]

  

As a sophomore in high school, I made the Junior Varsity basketball team. I can still remember one of the drills that we used to practice every day. It was called the “three man weave”.

 

This is where you and two of your teammates, run the length of the court first by passing the ball to one of them. Then you run behind him. It goes back and forth like that until you reach the other basket and shoot a layup.

 

The purpose of the drill was to prepare us to run a fast break during a game. However, we never used the three man weave in an actual game. But, even though it didn’t seem to serve any purpose, we practiced it every day. We did it not just because the coach said to, but because we trusted that he knew what he was doing.

 

Sometimes obeying God is like that. We really don’t understand the reason for what is happening. It doesn’t make sense. Life feels like it’s spinning out of control. I can imagine that’s how Hosea felt to the nth degree.

 

In today’s verses, we learn that “the word of the Lord came to Hosea”. This gave him the authority to preach. Then there’s a “time stamp” given through the list of kings that ruled during Hosea’s ministry. Finally, a person’s ancestry was very important in the ancient world. Therefore, we’re also told who his father was. 

 

But then, Hosea received a very bizarre calling from the Lord.

 

² When the Lord first began speaking to Israel through Hosea, he said to him, “Go and marry a prostitute, so that some of her children will be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning against the Lord and worshiping other gods.”     NLT

 

Wow! Can you imagine the shock that Hosea might have felt? His calling wasn’t that of a high-profile prophet who would share the word of the Lord with a Jewish king. Instead, he was to marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her.

Plus, as a single, young man, marrying a prostitute to start your family with, wouldn’t have been his lifelong dream. This was an awful calling that would lead to a lifetime of pain and heartache.

 

Questions must have flooded Hosea’s mind. “Why God? Will she be a temple prostitute? Will our children even be mine?” You also wonder if Hosea felt completely overwhelmed with doubt about God; anger towards him; and confusion about the purpose of his life.

 

Whatever the case may be… he obeyed.

 

³ So Hosea married Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she became pregnant and gave Hosea a son.             NLT

 

You may not have received a bizarre calling in your life from the Lord. But sometimes, like Hosea, life doesn’t go the way we plan or expect. And when that happens, we just need to keep running the three man weave, and trust that the Lord knows what He’s doing.

 

Copyright 2023 Joseph B Williams

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com