half of nothing

The Word for today:
Hosea 5:15-8:14

God seeks those who worship in spirit and in truth. Jesus told us that:
God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. (John 4:24)

The people in Hosea's time were getting half of it right, which means they got it all wrong!

Worshiping in spirit means putting your heart into it: If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!

That's the part the people in Hosea's day were getting right. They were enthusiastically religious. They worshiped the LORD, they worshiped the golden calf, they worshiped Baal. They tended to mix religions freely--to think that everybody's religion had a little truth in it, and the more religion you got, the better off you would be. Their worship was spirited, to be sure. But it was disconnected from the truth…

Bethel and "Beth-aven"
Bethel, located in Samaria, is mentioned more times in the Bible than any other city except Jerusalem. When Israel split into north and south, Jeroboam I made Bethel the religious sanctuary in the northern kingdom to replace Jerusalem, erecting a golden calf. There the worship of the one true God was mixed with the worship of Baal (Hosea 8:4-5; Hosea 10:5; cf. 1 Kings 12:26-30). Hosea sarcastically referred to Bethel ("house of God") as Beth-aven ("house of wickedness").

The Samaritan "woman at the well" brought this splintered religious background to her conversation with Jesus:
Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship. (John 4:20)

It was that remark that prompted Jesus to insist on both spirit and truth:
"Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know…
But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. (John 4:21-23)

Then he led her to the truth:
The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When He comes, He will tell us all things."
Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He." (John 4:25-26)

***

The Samaritan woman had been worshiping in spirit, but not in truth. But within the hour (just as Jesus had subtly foretold) she was spirit-edly telling the truth throughout the town:
And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did." (John 4:39)

She'd become the complete worshiper whom Jesus had just told her about!

She'd been deficient in truth, while some of us who know the truth lack for spirit. Whatever's missing, let's find it and bring it to God. Let's show him what he's been looking for.

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waitin' by the door

The Word for today:
Hosea 4:1-5:14

mark this: Hosea 4:1/CEV
Israel, listen as the LORD accuses everyone in the land! No one is faithful or loyal or truly cares about God.

Yesterday we looked at the concept of a personal relationship with God. In order to help us understand what that means, we observed what a personal relationship means from God's point of view.

Today, we're going to look at what faith means--from my dog's point of view…

He waits for me all day. When I come home from work, he's at the door, so I guess he's been there all day. "Waiting" is biblical shorthand for faith:
They who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31)

He fears me. Let me put it this way: he fears my displeasure. Whenever he knows that I am unhappy with him, he puts his head down, disappointed with himself. That's how he confesses his sins. So I go over and hold his head up and tell him I've put it behind me, and that he should too:
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

He puts us first, ahead of himself. When a stranger appears at the door and my dog senses something amiss, he would hurl himself through the door, if he could, to chase any perceived threat away. He is irrationally protective of me and mine (reminiscent of a certain Lion I know) and will place himself in harm's way for our sake (reminiscent of a certain Lamb I know.)--
For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? (Mark 8:35-36)

He loves us. When we go away and cannot take him with us, he goes on a hunger strike until we return. When we pick him up at the kennel, he looks shrunken by sadness.
You shall love the LORD with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. (Mark 12:30)

It would not occur to him to run away. We're his world; where would he run to?--
At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, "Are you going to leave, too?" Simon Peter replied, "Lord, to whom would we go? You alone have the words that give eternal life." (John 6:66-68)

He's faithful. Every summer night when the sun begins to go down, I retreat to my little garage. It's like a grown-up's version of a tree fort. My dog knows, by the slant of the sun, when I'm going to make my way out, and stands right by the back door so I'll remember to take him with me. I poke around at the workbench as he pokes his nose in every nook. Nothing ever gets done as we look for the stars and the fireflies. When they come out, we go in.

He's faithful. The faithfulness of a dog is a far better illustration of biblical faith than what we call "faith" today. For us--for me--faith is often a kind of thought process. But it would grieve me if ever I were to find out that my dog was inside, on the couch, "believing" in me as I watched for the stars, alone.

I think the misunderstanding might stem from the syntax. Idiomatically, we say we "have faith" or "we believe." But we never say that a dog "has faith." Our dogs, we say, "are faithful."

That's the difference! Biblical faith is far better described by the way we use the word "faithful" than by the way we use the word "faith." Biblical faith is not some sort of nodding intellectual assent, but it's breath and life itself. It's the frame upon which we build each day. It's not just "food for thought."   It's real food:
"My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work." (John 4:34)

***

During the time of Hosea, Israel saw themselves as a people of faith. But it was all form and ceremony. They went through the ceremony, they had the ritual, and they knew the vocabulary. But that's all it really amounted to:
Israel, listen as the LORD accuses everyone in the land! No one is faithful or loyal or truly cares about God. (Hosea 4:1)

They knew the lingo. They went through the motions. But they weren't faithful, like a Lion, like a Lamb, or even like a certain dog I know.

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Let's elope!

The Word for today:
Hosea 3

mark this: Hosea 2:16
And in that day, declares the LORD, you will call me 'My Husband.'

We often hear about the need to have a personal relationship with God. What does that mean?

Today we're going to swing that phrase around in order to look at it from God's end. Looking at it from his end might help us understand our end.

God doesn't do religion.
Many people enter into a religion with God. But God doesn't know what that means. God doesn't do religion. He enters into a relationship with you. He takes things personally. For example, we often think of sin as something which breaks God's law. But Hosea shows us that sin does not merely break God's law, it breaks his heart.

Hosea shows that God's concern about idolatry is no fussy, religious matter. It is terribly personal. God, the lover, will not share his bride with anyone else.

God's anger and jealousy, expressed so often throughout the Old Testament, reflect his powerful love. He punishes to get his lover's attention. Yet even when she turns her back on him, he sticks with her. He is willing to suffer, in the hope that someday she will change. Hosea knows that God longs not to punish, but to love.

I consistently try to present, as best I can, the glorious poetics of scripture. But as we study God's Word, we have to be careful not to get too literary, not to take things too figuratively. When God describes himself in personal terms--as bridegroom (1), as husband (2)--we should not dismiss these as mere figures of speech! They are words meant to convey love, intimacy, commitment, and responsibility. They are fervent, passionate, and personal.

Isn't it high time we started taking God as personally as he takes us. Isn't it high time we dumped Mom and Dad's fussy old religion. Isn't it high time we eloped:
"Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. (Ephesians 5:31-32)

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(1) Matthew 9:15; (2) Hosea 2:16

resist the reflex

The Word for today:
Hosea 1, 2

mark this: Hosea 11:8
How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel?

***

Vulnerable. Pathetic. Desperate.

Those words aren't usually associated with God. We just don't want to think of God that way. But scripture reveals a divine brokenness that we cannot deny or wish away.

The point is not that God is like us; rather he made us like himself (see Genesis 1:26-27). If we have emotions, it is because God gave them to us.

Jesus told Philip that he came to show us the Father (John 14:9); and Jesus showed us the divine emotions of anger at sin (John 2:13-17), joy over his followers (Luke 10:21), and sorrow over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41-42).

The prophet Hosea was called to be a visual representation of God’s heartache over unfaithful Israel. God commanded him to marry a harlot named Gomer, knowing that she would be unfaithful to him. Gomer left Hosea for another man, who tired of her and put her up for sale in the slave market. God then told Hosea to buy her back.

It's the very same story that would be retold in the New Testament, when Jesus Christ came and paid the price so that He could take his bride, the church, out of bondage to sin.

Hosea and Jeremiah / North and South
Hosea is a prophet to the northern kingdom of "Israel." (Israel is frequently referred to by the name of their largest tribe--“Ephraim").

Hosea warned the northern kingdom--just as Jeremiah would later warn the southern kingdom of "Judah"--that they were going into captivity. Both prophets spoke from a broken heart. Hosea came from a broken home.

Resist the reflex.
In Hosea and Jeremiah, like nowhere else in the Bible, God’s vulnerability is exposed.  A pathetic and desperate love is revealed, and the child of God reflexively shields his eyes from the sight, nearly unwilling to see Our Hero in this light.

Resist the reflex, take the shield from your eyes, and encounter the revelation. It’s something we were meant to see.

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the hound of heaven

The Word for today:
Amos 8:4-9:15

I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter
Up vistaed hopes I sped...
--excerpted from "The Hound of Heaven" by Francis Thompson (1859-1907)

Throughout scripture, God makes this promise to both believer and unbeliever:
"No matter where you go I will find you…"

What do those words mean to you?

To those who are children of God through faith in Jesus Christ, they mean that you will never be lost again:
Where can I go from your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend into heaven, you are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, you are there.
If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there your hand shall lead me, And your right hand shall hold me.  (Psalms 139:7-10)

But if you have not turned to the cross of Jesus Christ for forgiveness of your sins, those words mean something very different. They mean that there is no place for you to hide from the consequences of sin:
Though they dig into hell, from there my hand shall take them; Though they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down;
And though they hide themselves on top of Carmel, from there I will search and take them;
though they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea, from there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them;
Though they go into captivity before their enemies, from there I will command the sword, and it shall slay them. I will set My eyes on them for harm and not for good.  (Amos 9:2-4)

Our relationship with Jesus Christ makes all the difference in the world--now and in the hereafter. A relationship with him redefines our eternity, and it also redefines the words we encounter on any given day.

"No matter where you go I will find you…"

The omnipresence of God is comfort to the child of God, but terror to the wicked:
Our lives are a fragrance presented by Christ to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those being saved and by those perishing.
To those who are perishing we are a fearful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved we are a life-giving perfume.  (2 Corinthians 2:15-16)

"No matter where you go I will find you…"

If those words sound ominous to you, then you can perform a miracle that is even more remarkable than turning water into wine.  You can change their meaning by turning, in faith, to the cross of Jesus Christ.

You will find forgiveness there. Everything will become new. You will never be the same again. Even words will be turned upside down and inside out. Listen to how they sound now, with your brand new ears:

"No matter where you go I will find you…"

The words are the same. Only the ears are new.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

a hi-fi demo of Jesus

The Word for today:
Amos 7:1-8:3

I love Amos. Let me count the ways:

I love the way he writes. The hick from the sticks could write a blue streak:
Seek him that makes the seven stars and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night: that calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name. (Amos 5:8)

He came out of the desert like a blistering wind. He arrived, unannounced, like an act of God:
The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. (Amos 1:1)

Factually, nothing else is known about Amos apart from what he says about himself in 7:14:
I was no prophet, nor a prophet's son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. But the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.'

He held no platform, pulpit, or position. His only credential was the naked word of the LORD:
But the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.' (7:15)

The established religious leadership, represented by Amaziah the priest, opposed him:
And Amaziah said to Amos, "O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there." (7:12)

But Amos countered with more than they'd bargained for:
"You say, 'Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not preach against the house of Isaac.'
Therefore thus says the LORD: "'Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided up with a measuring line; you yourself shall die in an unclean land, and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.'" (7:16-17)

He was the champion of the little guy. Israel's "Sabbath," he said, was the one day of the week when their leaders rested--from ripping off the poor!--
Listen to this, you who rob the poor and trample the needy! You can't wait for the Sabbath day to be over and the religious festivals to end so you can get back to cheating the helpless. You measure out your grain in false measures and weigh it out on dishonest scales. And you mix the wheat you sell with chaff swept from the floor! Then you enslave poor people for a debt of one piece of silver or a pair of sandals. (8:4-6)

***

I love Amos to a trillion pieces. I love him more every day. But sometimes it seems as if I have him all to myself. You can go to church for a long while before you'll hear his name.

So I'm establishing a fan club in his honor. I want everyone to know what a great big deal he is:

What a powerful poet!
What a man of mystery!
A working class hero!
Graduate of the school of hard knocks!
A feared counter-puncher!
Who cared not one whit for position, pomp, presumption, or preening piety!
But stood staunch and stalwart for the poor!
And heroically true to God!

Look at that little list again. How truly Amos represents the Christ to come. He's like a pre-recording with highest fidelity to the original Jesus in every way!

And that's what I want you to remember about Amos. He was the look-alike picture of Jesus for the people of his day. He's exactly what we are to be for the people of our day.

He's not what some would call nice. He's not what your mother might consider a "catch." But he's the spittin' image of the King who was, and is, to come.

And so, by the power never vested in me, I hereby ordain and establish the Authentic Amos Fan Club. There are no dues or pledges necessary. You become a member the day you walk up to a person, look him square in the eye and say, "Prepare to meet thy God!" (1)

That's it. You're in!--a member-in-good-standing of the A.A.F.C.

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"Words of Christ in Green"

The Word for today:
Amos 6

As you read the words of Amos, do you get the vague feeling that you've met him before?

He came from the bleak regions of Tekoa:
The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa. (Amos 1:1)

Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? (John 1:46)

He has no title; no 'Reverend' or 'Monsignor' precedes his name. He has no degree; no earthly sanction. His single credential is the Word of the LORD:
I was no prophet, nor a prophet's son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. But the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.' (Amos 7:14-15)

"Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son?" (Matthew 13:54-55)

He seems to see right through me:
For I know how many are your transgressions and how great are your sins. (Amos 5:12)

He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.
(John 2:25)

He does not soften his pronouncements with equivocation; he leaves us no room to wiggle out of his denunciations:
Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the first of the nations, to whom the house of Israel comes! (Amos 6:1)
Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory and stretch themselves out on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall, who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp. (Amos 6:4-5)

Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. (Matthew 11:21)
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. (Matthew 23:15)

He does not fit in. He won't meet expectations; he won't abide by cultural norms. He's apolitical, impolitic, and politically incorrect. Polite society does not know what to do with him.

His listeners squirm when he speaks. The others -- those who will not listen -- revile him, or worse:
O you who turn justice to wormwood and cast down righteousness to the earth!
He who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the LORD is his name; who makes destruction flash forth against the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress. They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks the truth. (Amos 5:7-10)

The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. (John 7:7)

He might seem like the least "religious" man you have ever encountered. He displays few of the niceties that pass for common civility. He can seem crude, even profane:
Now therefore hear the word of the LORD. "You say, 'Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not preach against the house of Isaac.' Therefore thus says the LORD: "'Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided up with a measuring line; you yourself shall die in an unclean land, and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.'" (Amos 7:16-17)

So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. (Revelation 3:16)

***

Oftentimes, when reading Amos (or Jonah or Daniel or Peter or Paul) I forget that this is, first and foremost, the Word of the LORD.  Yes, the words of the prophets are the words of the prophets. But in some deeper sense their words are not their own.

When you read through the prophets, play a trick with your head and forget the prophet. Instead, read these as the words of Jesus. You will hear the words differently. They will emanate force and immediacy that they might not otherwise convey. You'll understand the Bible better, and you'll get to know a Jesus who paints with more colors than we sometimes think. Go ahead, give it a shot:

For behold, He who forms mountains and creates the wind
And declares to man what are His thoughts,
He who makes dawn into darkness
And treads on the high places of the earth,
The LORD God of hosts is His name.  (Amos 4:13)

***

I've got a Bible with "WORDS OF CHRIST IN RED."  That's great, except that our minds subliminally deduce that the rest of the words -- the words in black -- are not the words of Christ.

I love my red-letter Bible and I wouldn't trade it for anything. But I've got to remember that while the red words are words he spoke out loud, all the black words are words he thought--or transmitted, somehow--through prophets like Amos or Isaiah.

So I think what I really need is a Bible printed entirely -- every word, from cover to cover -- in green.  Then, on the spine, it should say "WORDS OF CHRIST IN GREEN."

There are only 147 days until Christmas, so if anyone out there would like to locate such a thing and send it my way, it sure will be appreciated. (Those in the know tell me that between craigslist, Amazon, and eBay, you can find absolutely anything.)

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