Editor’s Note: Today’s devotional is written by Cami King of JCC.
Devotional Thoughts for Today
Hosea 4:1-3
Listen to the word of the Lord, O sons of Israel, for the Lord has a case against the inhabitants of the land, because there is no faithfulness or kindness
or knowledge of God in the land.
2 There is swearing, deception, murder, stealing and adultery. They employ violence, so that bloodshed follows bloodshed. 3 Therefore the land mourns, and everyone who lives in it languishes along with the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky, and also the fish of the sea disappear.
Have you watched the news lately? If you have, then you know that one hour of the news is enough to break your heart. From the atrocities committed by ISIS to the refugee crisis in Syria, from the ever-present sex trafficking around the world to issues of hunger, particularly in the Global South, from the racial divide that continues to plague America to abuse of power at all levels (this list could go on forever); yes, our world is a hot mess! And when I sit and watch and think upon all these things, I always find myself asking, “Why do things have to be this way? And how did we even get here?”
It’s hard to read the list in verse two of the passage above without thinking of the present state of our world. While we know Hosea was speaking to a people group worlds away from our own (and thousands of years prior), his message seems to transcend time and speak right into situations we are currently facing. In this passage, God is judging His people and a wicked people at that – they swear, deceive, murder, steal, and commit adultery. Sound familiar? They are violent bloodshedders who cause even nature itself to mourn under their sin and brokenness. As I look at the world around me—full of racism, sexism, classism, as well as terrorism—I see us in these verses and in God’s pronouncement of judgment.
But the question remains – how did we get here (and how did Israel get there)? Our passage for today answers just that – we forsook faithfulness, kindness and the knowledge of God. It’s that simple. When people fail to remain faithful to the life God created us to live, when we refuse to love one another and do kindness, and when we turn away from knowledge of the Lord and lean upon our own understanding – we end up right where we are today – wicked and condemned. It’s easy to criticize the state of things without seeing the sickness that leads to these ailments in our own hearts. But the sickness is there in each of us.
With this in mind, may we today commit ourselves anew to faithfulness to the way of the Lord, choose kindness toward our neighbor no matter what, and pursue knowledge of the Lord above all things. As we do, we will find the Spirit at work in us making our world whole again.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for Your righteous judgment against the sin and brokenness in the world. Thank You for keeping us from hurting one another and destroying the world You created. Thank You for Your Son Jesus who is making all things new through those who choose to follow You. May I be in that number. Help me to walk in faithfulness, do kindness, and pursue knowledge of You today and every day. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Bible Reading for Today: Ecclesiastes 8-9
Rick Warren developed a Bible study tool for narratives called “Picture It,” where you imagine yourself as a character from a Bible story to get a richer understanding of what the passage is trying to teach. While not the most rigorous tool in the arsenal, it’s a useful one for the book of Hosea. This short chapter is full of so much drama that it can seem unbelievably fictional. But it’s not some made up drama. It’s a true story of a real man and his real wife that God is using to show his people what their relationship with him really looks like. And I think we stand to learn much from it about the heart of our faithful God.
History is filled with people who have sought meaning in philosophy—only to be disillusioned by the fruitlessness of their search. One such person was Justin Martyr (born in the early 2nd century A.D.), who attempted to find fulfillment in the Greek philosophy of Stoicism. Unconvinced, he then cycled through the teachings of different philosophers but was never completely satisfied. Around A.D. 130, conversations with an elderly believer led Justin Martyr to surrender his life to Jesus and experience a powerful life transformation.
I’m sure at one point, all of us have thought about “the one.” It’s this person who embodies all of our dreamy attributes or perfect personality traits to fit our every need and desire. But as you get older, this list gets shorter and shorter because we begin to see that there is no such person.
Have you ever had someone take credit for your hard work? I’m sure all of us have stories where we did all the work, put in the hours and the effort, but someone else unrightfully took all the glory. The worst part is when the other is valued for work that we did. Surely it wasn’t a good feeling and thus perhaps we can understand God’s anger in this passage a little better. The Israelites have done two things: they attributed the blessings from God to their idols, but more importantly robbed God of His glory. How often do we find ourselves following in the same footsteps? Some of us attribute it to luck or even coincidence. Some of us think we deserve it because we’re the ones who put the work in. In all this we put pride in ourselves and forget it was God who has brought us this far, and placed us here. Rather than having hearts of gratitude, we develop hearts of consumerism, constantly wanting more and failing to discern between our needs with our wants. John Calvin consequently describes our neglect as, “thrusting God from his preeminence, and insult his glory.” As the year is coming to an end and we celebrate Christmas, let us give thanks and glory to God for all that he has done for us. Let us give credit where credit is due.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you suddenly became famous and made your debut? Who would be there and what would you be doing? Messing up would not be an option since your precious reputation is on the line.
In your small group, would you say you are vulnerable about your struggles? It takes great courage to be vulnerable. We may not be vulnerable for fear of feeling shame.
December is an opportunity to reflect on the powerful message of Christmas. If I could sum up the message of Christmas in one word, it would be presence. There is power in “being with” people because presence communicates love. I came to grasp the power of presence for the first time during the summer after my sophomore year in college. I met with a Christian counselor once a week during that summer. The reason was, during the spring of sophomore year, I fell into mild depression. I lost a lot of joy in doing regular things. All I wanted to do was sleep so I could numb away my feelings. It was hard to study, and hard to worship! I was bearing a lot of hurt and anger towards my father, who was absent for a majority of my upbringing. During one session, as I shared my pain to my counselor, she cried and mourned with me over my pain. It was such a powerful moment. I felt like she was sincerely identifying with me in my pain. She was present with me with her ears and her heart. By her presence in my brokenness, I regained the strength to heal and to have joy. By her “being with” me, I felt like God’s love was so near to me.
Batman has been and will always be one of the greatest and well-loved superheroes. But the main reason Batman is so adored is not because he has super-human strength (he doesn’t), nor is it because he can fly (he can’t); he can’t turn invisible or shoot lasers from his eyes either. I think the thing about Batman that draws us to him is the fact that Batman is “one of us.” Yes, he fights for justice and defeats bad guys, but when it comes down to it, Batman is like us—fully human!
In 2010, I was on a short-term mission trip to Northeast China. Traveling to different villages, we preached and taught many pastors who had gathered from surrounding villages. It was during one of these secret gatherings that the police barged in. Four policemen kicked the door open and immediately arrested my pastor and his translator. Within moments, he was put into the police car and driven to the police station, hours away. I began to panic.