The amnesia of self-sufficiency

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Hosea 11-14; Psalm 124

TO CHEW ON: "When they had pasture, they were filled;
They were filled and their heart was exalted;
Therefore they forgot me." Hosea 13:6



Forgetting who one's source of supply is and becoming self-reliant and self-satisfied is a state that Bible writers talk about again and again. Here Hosea names it as one of the reasons for Israel's spiritual prostitution.

We find warnings against God-forgetful self-sufficiency throughout the Bible. Let's examine a few to see what conditions predispose to such an attitude.

1. Plenty of food. Forgetting God is often linked with having enough and more than enough to eat; fatness, even obesity - Deuteronomy 32:15; Psalm 17:10; Isaiah 10:16; Jeremiah 5:28; Jeremiah 50:11; Ezekiel 16:49.

2. Full of their own ways - Proverbs 14:14.

3. Spiritual dullards and lethargic. Isaiah talks about people with dull hearts, heavy ears, shut eyes - Isaiah 6:10. Jeremiah speaks of spiritual ease and lethargy - Jeremiah 48:11.

4. Pride, idleness, and ignoring the needs of the poor - Ezekiel 16:49.

5. Preoccupation with the superficial things of life - Luke 6:25.

6. And perhaps the most sobering condition of all, there is no awareness of one's own need - Revelation 3:17.

In our technologically advanced, wealthy society we are more prone than ever to forget that God is our source of supply. Often in the Bible, God's remedy for this was to send trouble so that the people would again remember Him and renew their allegiance to Him.

Though we may feel immune from the troubles of Bible-time people, even for us it really takes very little to feel our vulnerability. A storm wiping out our dwelling, a lost job, a deathly illness, a computer virus, even a few days with no electricity show us how susceptible we are to things beyond our control.

Let's take to heart Hosea's words to Israel, whatever state we find ourselves in.

"O Israel (or insert your name here___________)
You are (or 'easily can be') destroyed.
But your help is from Me.
I will be your King
Where is any other
That He may save you in all your cities?"
- Hosea 13:9-10.

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to always remember that I need You — no matter how well, or poorly, things are going. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 124

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Are you a loyal bride?

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Numbers 17-18; Psalm 45

TO CHEW ON: "Listen, O daughter,

Consider and incline your ear;

Forget your own people also, and your father's house;

So the King will greatly desire your beauty;

Because He is your Lord, worship Him." Psalm 45:10-11

This psalm is subtitled "The Glories of the Messiah and His Bride" in my Bible. The picturesque images of a middle-eastern marriage ceremony with a king welcoming his new bride grow heavy with meaning as we think of them in terms of the spiritual wedding of Christ and His bride. Of course we recognize this as a theme that flows through the Bible.

One aspect of this theme is the couple leaving their childhood homes and establishing a new home together. It's a principle as old as creation: "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh" - Genesis 2:24.

Of all the expressions in the Bible, Ruth's declaration of loyalty to her mother-in-law (even after her husband was dead) is the most poignant. Not surprisingly it is often used in wedding ceremonies:  

“Entreat me not to leave you,
Or to turn back from following after you;
For wherever you go, I will go;
And wherever you lodge, I will lodge;
Your people shall be my people,
And your God, my God - Ruth 1:16,17.

My Bible's commenter explains how the instructions for a bride to leave her old home apply to Christians in the church age: "The bride of a king was often from another nation, and so she had to break with her own culture to marry, just as Christians now must forsake marriage to worldly things in order to be part of the bride of Christ" - Dick Iverson, notes on Psalms, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 723 (emphasis added).

And so we do well to ask ourselves, are we living totally and unreservedly in the home of our husband the Lord Jesus? Or do we still hang on to bits and pieces of our worldly homes from the past?

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, I am so honored to be part of Your Bride. Help me to be faithful bride who incites Your desire because my loyalty is all to You. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 45

MORE: Spiritual adultery

We recall how many of the prophets speak of Israel's backsliding and worshiping idols in terms of marital unfaithfulness--adultery. The prophet Hosea was even commanded to marry a harlot (Gomer) and when she left to go after other men, he had to repeatedly bring her back home. This was a picture to Israel of how God pursued them.

Andrew Peterson's powerful song "Hosea" pictures Gomer's waywardness and her final response to Hosea persistently coming after her (just as God pursues us).

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 Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

A remedy for spiritual complacency

Image: Pixabay

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Isaiah 64:1-12

TO CHEW ON: “And there is no one who calls on Your name
Who stirs himself up to take hold of You;
For You have hidden Your face from us
And have consumed us because of our iniquities” - Isaiah 64:7


Isaiah’s concept of God was rooted in the fearful, awe-inspiring moments when God gave him a glimpse of Himself and eternal things. The account of this is in Isaiah 6, where he saw God on His throne. The train of His robe filled the temple. Angels, their faces veiled from God’s holy presence with wings, shouted across to each other “Holy, holy holy is the LORD God of hosts / The whole earth is full of His glory!” Then an earthquake shook the place and it filled with smoke.

Isaiah became exquisitely aware of his own pollution. He felt dirty, sinful, alarmed at his unworthiness, conscious of his foul mouth. Read the account in Isaiah 6:1-8.

In our reading this same Isaiah (now years later) rues the complacency of his fellow citizens: “… there is no one who calls on Your name, / Who stirs himself up to take hold of You.” God feels absent and the people live as if God can’t see them and may as well not exist.

But Isaiah knows better. Just because God doesn’t show Himself at their bidding doesn’t change anything about Him. And so his prayer is full of apologies and repentance on behalf of himself and the people: “But we are all like an unclean thing … We are the clay and You our potter … Do not be furious, O Lord, / Nor remember iniquity forever” - Isaiah 64:6,8,9.

This reminds me of something I read recently. David Kitz, in his book Psalms Alive tells (in the chapter on Psalm 32:6-7) the story of how he and his brother avoided a stalking cougar on their Saskatchewan farm because of the barking of their dog. He makes this application:

“In a peculiar way, an unexpected encounter with the living God can be a lot like an encounter with a cougar. Suddenly, we realize our every move has been studied and watched; we are not alone. And that other being out there, watching us, is much bigger and more powerful than we are. Are you really prepared to meet Him around the next curve in the road, or just over the next hill?” - Psalms Alive p. 72.

I don’t know about you, but I can become as spiritually complacent as Isaiah’s countrymen. As a result I fail to see and acknowledge God in my day-to-day. I want to resist that. You too?  Let’s “stir ourselves up to take hold of” Him. One way to do this is to become aware of what He is really like.

PRAYER: Dear Father, please forgive my frequent indifference and blasé attitude toward You. Please give me a glimpse of who You really are so that my relationship with You is rooted in fact, not some fantasy concocted by myself or those around me as to what You are like. Amen.
 

MORE: Francis Chan - Francis' Personal Testimony - Newday 2017


I recently watched a video in which Francis Chan tells some of his life story to a group of high school students in England. In it, he describes how Isaiah 6 impacted him: “Here’s what changed my life; when I understood reverence for God.”



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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

What your speech says about the state of your heart

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Matthew 15:1-20

TO CHEW ON: "'But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.'" Matthew 15:18

I wonder if the Pharisees ever regretted criticizing Jesus' disciples for their non-hand-washing? The hand-washing they were talking about was part of Jewish oral tradition which had developed into a set of extra rules to help preserve the integrity of the law. The hand washing here was not for cleanliness but was a religious ritual (J. Lyle Story, notes on Matthew, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1317).

Jesus, recognizing this clash as a teaching moment, went to great lengths to explain to His disciples how silly this rule was in the scheme of things. Food that was touched and brought to the mouth with unwashed hands was soon eliminated, He said. But the real defilement came from what issued out of their mouths in speech. That originated in their thoughts - Matthew 15:17-19.

And here all of us, listening in these many generations later, are implicated. Who of us hasn't entertained thoughts of one or more of:

• murder (hatred - 1 John 3:15)?

• adultery?

• fornication [porneia compare pornography. Illicit sexual intercourse… The word describes both physical immorality and spiritual, signifying idolatry - Dick Mills, Word Wealth, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1318 -- emphasis added]?

• thefts?

• false witness (lying, non-verbal deception)?

• blasphemy ("slanders" - NASB) [Blasphemia: 1. Slander, detraction, speech injurious to another's good name; 2. impious and reproachful speech injurious to divine majesty]?

And so we agree with the prophet who said: "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked—who can know it?" - Jeremiah 17:9.

And we echo the confession of Paul: "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!" - Romans 7:24,25.

PRAYER: Dear God, before I disdain the scribes and Pharisees, I'd better examine my own heart for the defilement living in me, proved by my speech. Thank You for Jesus' blood that washes away my sins. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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