Hosea chapter 14 is one of the most beautiful chapters in all the Bible. Please take a moment now to read all 9 magnificent verses just basking in its exquisiteness. Hosea is included in what’s called the Minor Prophets, but certainly no minor message here. Not at all. This chapter begins with Hosea calling out to God’s people, who have wandered far, far away from Him, calling to them to ‘return, O Israel, to the Lord your God’. He urges them to bring words of confession, of penitence, of sorrow…’take words with you’. Not just any words. But heartfelt ones. From the bottom of their hearts. Mean what you say and say what you mean. When I look at my life, there is so much that I just have to shake my head at…at myself. And I too, like God’s people thousands of years ago, must come to the Lord in honesty, openness, humility and confession. Am I the only one? Asking forgiveness…depending on His grace and mercy, offering to Him not the blood of animals but ‘the fruit of our lips.’ The good fruit that are words of praise and prayer. And look at the promised blessings that come our way from our loving and forgiving Lord…verses 4 through 7. Amazing blessings and gifts from above. Just for uttering heartfelt words; offering the fruit of our lips. Blessings come like healing our sinful ways, turning us around to His way and ways; and loving us with a flood of divine affection that never dries up. Like dew on the ground in a dry land causing flowers to bloom, our roots will keep getting deeper and deeper into our Lord like the roots of the cedars of Lebanon. When I was growing up, my mother had a cedar chest in the attic at home, and when I would open that wooden box did that aroma ever please–that will be us to Him! We’ll be in His shade when life just gets too hot to tolerate on our own. We’ll flourish like grain and blossom like grapes on a vine. The Lord says that ‘I am like a green pine tree…'(verse 8)–two of my aunts had a cabin, a rather primitive one on a lake in rural New Jersey. The whole lake was surrounded by pine trees. Though I never liked that place, yet I’ll never forget that pervasive aroma of pine in the air when visiting them. Not the cabin, not the lake, not the long trip to get there, but the air that was crisp and clear and clean and pleasant. Pine was in the air. The end of verse 8 God reminds us that all of this, all these blessings, all of it come from Him. ‘Your fruitfulness comes from me’. Today, we offer to the Lord our heartfelt thanks for all He’s given us. Heartfelt words. And especially for His only Son Jesus who made our life and makes our life worth living!
Tag Archives: life worth living
ORDINARY…EXTRAORDINARY! Read Acts 4:12-13
Here’s one of my favorite Scriptures in the entire Bible. However, I say that lots and lots, so don’t tell me I said that before when next week I come up with another of my all-time Bible favorites and then another one the next day! Anyway, in Acts 4 Peter and John, two of the main apostles, are in big trouble. The religious leaders thought they had done away with this Jesus, and wanted no more talk of His resurrection from the dead or of Him or of anything about Him. Dead and buried, over and out. Just forget it. Shut your mouth, apostles. Or else– what happened to your leader, well, guess what? You’re next, unless you just keep quiet. Enough, already, of this Jesus. Well, that would make me take stock for sure. I could be next on the cross. And so could you. What should we do? Acts 4:12 says it all—if there’s only one way out and someone doesn’t want others to know about it for some selfish or perverse reason, and a fire breaks out, you just shout out where the exit is. Who cares what someone else thinks. Or your grandchild runs out into the street at a hospital ‘quiet zone’ and a truck is coming toward him, you do what comes natural—you cry out, run out, do anything to save that precious child and the ‘quiet zone’ will just have to deal with it. And that’s what the apostles did–they spoke out and up and could do nothing less. Jesus is the only way of salvation, every other path leads to nowhere and no good. ‘No one else…no other name given…’ How did they know this? No seminary grad’s among them. None of them had their Master of Divinity from Princeton, none graduated from a famous Bible school. Verse 13 says that the religious leaders could see the apostles’ boldness but that they were ‘unschooled, ordinary men’. Just common, run-of-the-mill people. No silver spoon in their mouths, no special perks of birth among any of them. Really, somewhat a motley crew–a tax-collector (loved then as much as now!), a terrorist (Zealot), fishermen, and a bunch of unknowns. Just your ordinary Joe. Like the guy next door. But that’s when the ordinary becomes extraordinary. When the precious arises above the common. For as the religious leaders also ‘ took note that these men had been with Jesus’. Sure, they were just people like you and me. But what set them apart was that they had been with Jesus, had known the Risen Lord, had accepted Him into their lives so that the ordinary now was extraordinary. I think without Jesus my life would be bleak at best. The abandonment of polio at age 2 would have been so traumatic that I would be an emotional cripple, and professionally money would have been the sole game. What a waste! How much more God had in store for me. And for you. He has a plan for our lives. Sometimes it’s hard to see. But that’s faith, folks. Time to step up and believe Him. He’ll take that ordinary and reshape it into something extraordinary…for Him, for others. That’s a life worth living! Agree?
Reflections out of time 