“Woe to them, for they fled from me; destruction to them, for they rebelled against me! Though I want to redeem them, they speak lies against me.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
This verse starts out the way most folks expect the prophets to go. There goes God judging the people again, promising doom and destruction on them. It ends the way we would expect something from the prophets to end. There goes God again, accusing the people of wrongdoing. It’s that thing in the middle that catches us off guard. God wants to redeem them? Wait, what? Let’s look into that one a bit more.
“But they never consider that I remember all their evil. Now their actions are all around them; they are right in front of my face.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
Do you know what is some good advice: Don’t offend someone with a long memory. Generally speaking, we have a fairly remarkable ability to remember bad or hurtful things that have happened to us. Even a small slight can stick with us for a long time. If we’re not careful, it can become the lens through which we see not only the person who offended us, but everyone with whom we come into contact. Now, when we’re dealing with a person this isn’t good, but it’s not such a terrible deal. When it comes to God, the idea that this kind of thing might even possibly happen is a great deal more uncomfortable of a thought.
“So if you are offering your gift on the altar, and there you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled with your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
Have you ever tried to do something while you were distracted? I’m trying to write this while my kids are watching a mid-90s teenybopper sitcom—not so easy. We weren’t made for doing multiple tasks at the same time. Some people may seem to have the ability to multitask, but the truth is that trying to do more than one thing at the same time is just going to result in not doing any of them very well. Rather uncomfortably, this goes for worship as well as life generally.
“Come, let us return to the Lord. For he has torn us, and he will heal us; he has wounded us, and he will bind up our wounds. He will revive us after two days, and on the third day he will raise us up so we can live in his presence.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
If you’ve been working through Hosea with me over the past couple of weeks, think about what we have seen in the last few chapters. God has been blasting the people for their faithlessness. They had turned from Him over and over again. In spite of everything He had promised them, they still went looking for help in other places. And they were going to pay for it. After all His anger and rage, what should we expect next? Not this.
With one more week to go in our series, Being Useful, we are starting to get a lot more clarity on what the picture of a life that is useful to Jesus looks like. And what does it look like? Love. This week and next we are going to wrap up this powerful series by talking about the role love plays in the church and in the life of a follower of Jesus. Don’t miss a single part of it.
Irreducible Complexity
Some of the fiercest and most
significant debates happen in places where nobody sees them. These are often inner-disciplinary debates
among scholars on a single topic. And
the stakes for these are a lot higher than it would seem. For instance, a debate among mathematicians
about the best way to solve certain kinds of math problems may look from the
outside like a bunch of geeks arguing about esoteric philosophies that have
nothing to do with the daily lives of normal people. But, the winning side may very well have
their ideas appear in textbooks—do they even use textbooks anymore?—and
curricula for elementary students and, all of a sudden, a whole new way of
thinking about math will be planted in the culture. All of a sudden, what was once abstract
academic jargon begins to have a profound impact on the lives of regular people
who are far removed from the ivy-covered campus buildings of elite
universities. Hello: Have you tried
helping your kids with their math homework lately? Case in point.
The Nexus 