Month: September 2020

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1st Marriage ZZ

THE JOY GAP

‘You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills will burst into song, and the trees of the field will clap their hands!’ Isaiah 55:12(NLT)

‘But I am like an olive tree, thriving in the house of God. I will always trust in God’s unfailing love.’ Psalms 52:8(NLT)

‘Is his unfailing love gone forever? Have his promises permanently failed?’ Psalms 77:8(NLT)

‘O Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive, so full of unfailing love for all who ask for your help.’ Psalms 86:5(NLT)

‘For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her ‘ Ephesians 5:25(NLT)

You may have heard that love is a choice. Strictly speaking, this is not true. Love is attachment. It is a bond you share through good times and bad. You can choose to do loving things. You can choose to do kind things. You cannot choose to feel love. However, the more joy you build into your marriage, the more that feeling of being “in love” will stay strong and grow.

Falling in love is all about joy. When you fall in love with someone, you experience a “joy explosion” in your brain that floods your body with hormones (like dopamine and oxytocin) that make it hard not to smile. Couples who stay in love throughout their married lives are couples who excel at the art of keeping their joy levels high. The opposite is also true. Low joy couples are in trouble. Falling “out of love” is all about the absence of joy.

A joy gap is the length of time between moments of shared joy. But when too much time passes between moments of shared joy, a joy gap is created that makes you feel distant and alone in your marriage. The wider the joy gap becomes, the more likely it is for your problems (and everyone has them) to overwhelm you. Couples who let the joy gap get too wide struggle tremendously and start to feel hopeless about their marriage. Not only does the gap rob you of intimacy, but the gap begins filling with resentment, and bad habits can begin to form that keep you apart instead of bringing you together. You start to feel like you are “falling out of love.” People rarely just wake up one morning to the thought, “I’m not in love anymore.” It happens gradually as the gap between moments of shared joy grows wider and wider with too much pain, too much resentment, and too many bad habits in between.

In the Hebrew Scriptures, the authors use the word hesed to describe God’s love for his people. It’s translated as “steadfast love” in the ESV, “lovingkindness” in the NIV and KJV, and “tender mercies” by the NKJV. It reflects God’s covenantal love, His trustworthy (Ps. 52:8), never-failing (Ps. 77:8), always abounding (Ps 86:5) love for His people. It’s this enduring love that marriages should reflect and aspire to. As Paul writes in Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” Our goal with this YouVersion plan is to increase your joy, strengthen your attachment to your spouse, and help you reflect the hesed of God to a watching world. 

-The following is an exercise that will help strengthen your attachment with your spouse.

Resting and Kissing: 15 MIN

Shortening the window of time between moments of shared joy requires us to notice that joy and rest are needed, and then practice strategic rhythms to increase the joy.

1. Make yourselves comfortable and spend some time resting as you cuddle.

NOTE:Keep this nonverbal to enhance the bonding experience. You can set a timer if you like. 3 MIN

2. Holding hands and looking at each other, take turns telling your spouse the qualities you first observed in him or her that made youfall in love. Include examples where you saw these qualities in action. 5 MIN

3. Next, position yourselves knee to knee and hold hands. Practice eye smiles for a joy and rest sequence. Eye smiles are a connect and rest sequence. You begin by looking into each other’s eyes to build some joy then you look away as soon as you feel like you or your spouse needs a breather – or when you feel the joy is no longer growing. After looking away to rest, engage once again with more joy then continue the rhythm. Be sure you look away at the right times when either of you feel the joy is no longer growing.

NOTE: You can play music if you like. 3 MIN

4. Kiss each other like you mean it, then discuss what you notice from this joy and rest sequence. 2 MIN

5. Close with quiet cuddling and resting together. 2 MIN

from 4 Habits Of A Joy-Filled Marriage

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1st Marriage ZZ

4 Habits Of A Joy-Filled Marriage – Day 1

‘And Nehemiah continued, “Go and celebrate with a feast of rich foods and sweet drinks, and share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared. This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!”’ Nehemiah 8:10(NLT)

‘You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.’ Psalms 139:13-14(NLT)

‘So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.’ Genesis 1:27(NLT)

God created human beings with intimate detail and purpose. He created them in His image and He created them to share in His glad-to-be-together joy. Connecting together in joy is the great and glorious vision of humanity’s future. Joy in the Lord is etched into the deepest part of the human heart and drives the deepest impulses of the human mind. Joy is God’s gift to keep our marriages strong.  

ONE OF THE MOSTstartling revelations to come out of the latest breakthroughs in brain science is the discovery that there is no more powerful motivator in life than joy. It is nearly universally recognized that your brain functions at its best when it is running on the fuel of joy. You may not have realized it, but joy is the key to long-lasting marital bliss. 

JOY AND BRAIN SCIENCE

Your emotional capacity directly relates to joy. Emotional capacity can be thought of as your ability to bounce back from difficult emotions or hard situations. When you fall in love, your emotional capacity soars. The rush of joy gives you an emotional high that makes it feel like nothing can get you down. On the other hand, have you ever had days when your joy level was so low it felt like more than you could handle just to get out of bed? Joy is the key to emotional capacity. When you have lots of joy, life just works better.

When joy is high, your marriage also works better. We’re guessing you didn’t get married because you thought you would be miserable with the person you love. You got married because you thought you would have more joy with him or her. However, as you may have discovered, joy can be an elusive thing. Most of us have no idea what causes joy or how to revive it when it begins to fade. We want to provide you with a clear path and a variety of brain science–based exercises that will help you build a joy-filled marriage.

Even the best marriages can use a little guidance at times. We think you will find the content and exercises in this plan to be an invaluable guide for taking your marriage to the next level.

-To help rewire your brain and marriage for  joy, we’ve developed 15 minute exercises for each day of the YouVersion plan.

Write Your Joy: 15 MIN

Composing a love letter can be a meaningful activity that you will cherish for years to come. This heartfelt exchange provides an opportunity to express your heart and share your love the old-fashioned way. You will need paper and pen for this exercise.

1. Take a moment to think about what you love about your spouse, then write your spouse a love letter. While this doesn’t have to be volumes of books, it does need to be longer than three sentences. Take the necessary time to complete this. 

2. When finished, take turns reading your love letter to your spouse. Let your eyes light up when you read and look at your spouse. 6 MIN

3. Discuss what you enjoyed about this exercise, then close with quiet cuddling and resting. 3 MIN

from 4 Habits Of A Joy-Filled Marriage

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In the Bright Place

‘For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! ‘ Ephesians 5:8(NLT)

FATHER, CAN I CURL UP next to you now? I lean against you. Will you hold me tight and let me stay here? I no longer have the answers that young girl had, yet I still want to believe I can make this marriage beautiful. I still want to believe I can live a story worth telling. I still want to believe I can paste pages of hope in an album my children will want to read. All because of you.

I am done chasing fairy tales. I am done faking this, done pretending everything is okay. I want your kind of real life. I want to choose love here—even if it is more work than I ever thought.

So give me wisdom, Jesus. Let me see the path. Set my feet upon it. Let me hear your voice: This is the way. Walk in it. I will receive your wisdom and stay here with you, your arms wrapped fast around me, never to let go.

I believe in you. I believe in light flooding dark places. I believe in change, hope, transformation.

I believe anything is possible with you.

MY DAUGHTER, I WILL STAY here with you. I will stay here as long as it takes. Holding you, drawing you in close to me, is what I love to do most. I’m not going anywhere. I love sitting here too, you know. I love having you close. I will stay here with you. I will never leave you, if you want me to stay.

I love to comfort you. I love to remind you how precious you are to me. I stay here, with you, listening to the rise and fall of our chests. It’s nice here, you know. You with me.

Real life here is better than anything you could dream up on your own. It is hard and beautiful, all in one. You weren’t naïve when you believed love would lead. You did not have an incorrect view of marriage, only an incomplete one. The romance you yearn for is a true desire. It is good. I’ve placed within you the desire to be wanted, seen, pursued. It’s how I’ve made you. The hard part is that love requires the dying to self.

Dying, you see, is never easy.

It is strange, I know, that love begins with death; but you know, as you look to my Son, that this is true.

Don’t give up on romance. Don’t give up on love leading. See that window there? It will not be night forever. See that hint of gold shining through? The sun can’t help but come in. You know this: you can’t close out light, child. You can ignore it. You can run. But it will shine all the same. You see it by knowing it’s there, even if you only feel darkness around you.

The light is large enough to cover everything, each sliver of darkness that wants to remain. No darkness stays dark. No problem stays the same when the light touches it. Darkness cannot stand against the light. It has never overcome it.

I stay here with you, watching light come in. I stay here with you, helping you desire light. I stay here with you, teaching you what light feels like on the skin, on the face, how it reaches every dark place—each corner of this room, each corner of your heart.

Tell me where you want the light to shine. Ask me how you can open to it. Take my light in you and raise it high. In my name, nothing can withstand it.

I have given you the light, and I hold you in it, and you are filled with it, and you are not the same as you were before. All who see you and hear you and stay with you are responding to my light in you.

That light, daughter, lets nothing stay the same.

Pray:

Father, so many of your daughters are struggling. They want more of you and ache for your light to shine—in their marriage and in their heart. I need you too, God. I can’t figure out how to live well without your guidance. I don’t have wisdom on my own. I can’t fix all my mistakes. Help me trust and seek you with my whole heart. I believe your light floods the dark places of my heart and life. You bring hope, love, and joy. Flood my heart and life with your light. When I feel disillusioned, help me know your never-changing truth. Help me seek you and see you. I surrender all of me to your light. I am yours. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

from Breathing Eden: Conversations With God

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Waking Sleep

‘This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”’ Joshua 1:9(NLT)

DARK GRAY PAVEMENT STRETCHES OUT straight and boring. The coffee I grabbed from work is lukewarm now, and cars crowd this busy freeway on all sides. Dusk is falling, and it’ll be 40 minutes before I get home. Turn the radio up. Grasp the steering wheel. Focus on the road.

I am weary, Father. The days are long, but I am grateful for the work I get to do with you. I so want my co-workers to see you in me, your calm in my chaos, your presence easing my worry. I can hear you, when I pause. I can see you, when I seek. But I forget you a lot, don’t I? Am I doing what I’m supposed to be doing?

When I am with you, I know who I am, and I am content, not restless, but still. But I struggle to stay with you, in the long hours at work, and in the night when I am exhausted. I want to disappear then, open a magazine and see what things I can buy. Or I want to go shopping with girlfriends and leave the stress of everything behind. I use pornography sometimes, too, to distract—or a romance novel. The visuals, the story, overwhelm me, and I place myself in them. I forget you so easily then, and I admit I feel empty. I hate heeding the lie that whispers: “anywhere is better than this place.”

How do I stay with you—and not try to escape—in the middle of stress, in the middle of tough decisions, in the middle of weariness? I don’t even give you a chance, do I?

Wake me up, Father. Help me not be complacent with this life you’ve given me.

DO YOU THINK you can ever escape from love? Do you think you can stay away from your home? I don’t force my way into your heart. I pursue you, yes. But I don’t push my way in. And you know this. You know what it is like to be with me and to look for me, yes.

Do you know how I love to watch you, no matter what you are doing? Do you know I have formed you, just like this, to move with grace? I fill you with grace. I fill you with me. Don’t fret, my dear. Don’t worry about the weariness and the disquiet and the restlessness you feel from the work I’ve given you to do. Practice looking for me during the day, when you are at work, just like you do when you are still, with me. For you know what it is like to be with me.

Know that I am present with you, my darling, even when it feels like I am far. In your work and in your play, there is no place I don’t want to be with you. Don’t focus only on doing your days right, whether or not you are doing a good job of seeing me or looking for me. Choose me by loving what I love. Choose me by continuing to seek me. Choose me by desiring to stay.

I am here.

I am with you.

But I am not like you.

I am bigger than you can know. I am more than strength, more than safety. I am all things. You know me, and I only want to show you more. It is good you miss me when you have gone away. It is good you recognize how your heart yearns for me. But ask me to quiet the fears. Ask me to touch my hand upon your heart and deafen you to thoughts of worry. And let me guard your heart, your eyes, your ears, your imagination, your mind. There are dangers that can make your desire to escape weariness be an opportunity to run far away from me.

Be my daughter. Be my girl. Stay.

Stay awake.

Pray:

Father, you hold me. You are near me. In all moments, in all trials I face, and in the regular, everyday moments too, you treasure me. I want to be with you. You have written my name in your book, and you have chosen me, your daughter. You call me beloved, dearly loved. I am yours. Guard my wandering heart and body and mind. Amen.

from Breathing Eden: Conversations With God

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Camouflage

‘Ask me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come. ‘ Jeremiah 33:3(NLT)

I WANTED TO BE A MOM. I wanted to stay home with these precious kids. I quit my job, surrendered my identity—the young, just-out-of-business-school-turned-professional. I believed my choice was narrow—just one or the other: Be a mom or work. (Are these my only choices, God?) I didn’t want to miss puddle-jumping, block-building, hand-holding, park-playing days like this one. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to make that decision. I am. I just didn’t know I would struggle so much. I didn’t know this would be so hard.

I thought I would feel different, God. I thought I would do this better—that I would be more organized and wouldn’t feel so depleted all the time. I said I wanted to stay home with my babies, and I know it is so amazing that I can. But here is what is hard to admit, even to you: I don’t like it as much as I thought I would. I’m afraid I’m not good at it. I’m even less confident now that we have two.

I’m going to mess them up, God. I know I am. I lose my temper, I raise my voice. And when I am not yelling out loud, I feel like I am screaming inside. I know that’s an exaggeration. That sounds so melodramatic, “screaming inside.” But no other words feel right.

Why do I feel so trapped, so stuck? I don’t know who I am, or what I love to do, or what it is that might be fun for me anymore. I should feel parenting is so fun, so completely fulfilling. I’m sorry that, right now, I don’t, and it isn’t. I’m sorry for who I am. I’m sorry I am so far from you and don’t know how to find my way back.

Can you help me find my way back?

DAUGHTER, YOU CAN BE ANGRY. I can take it. You can be sad. I can take that too. Keep running to me when you are sad and overwhelmed, and I will give you what you need to get through a day. You think that you are camouflaged, but I see all.

You can do this, you know. You can mother him and love him, and I will help you find your way. You ask me what you love? Who you are?

Let me tell you what I see: I see you. I see you in the early mornings when the baby is crying and you rise. I see you bend to scoop him up out of his crib, hear how you sing to him. I watch how you stumble, so tired, back to a rumpled bed.

May I sing to you now? May I sing to you, my daughter who is found?

Lift up your head, my darling. Lift up your head, and see me looking at you. I have made you with beauty. I have made you with strength. I have made you with tenderness, a soft heart for me that will sustain you. I sustain you. Keep your heart soft, and I will sustain you. Keep yourself vulnerable, and I will lift you. Keep yourself close to me, and I will show you, step by step, what it is you love, what it is in you I see.

There’s a lot coming, dear one. You are both a light that shines and a warrior in my name. How this looks—your life in me—will unfold as you trust me. In you, I keep creating, dear one. I love being with you as we partner in your work, bringing what is to come.

Yes, I see you. And I want you to begin this day again, knowing I see you, knowing I know you. I dance over you. My gladness overflows.

You are my dear heart, my bright flower. I father you and I mother you. I care for you, and you rise again, letting me lead, letting me take charge, letting me be the door you walk through each day when you are lost and you are wondering how, again, you can face another day.

You don’t need to face another day alone. You can greet each day with me. You can rise with me, stay with me, listen for me. In the creak of the high chair at lunchtime. In the jingling of toys as Jonathan and Lucas laugh and cry and play. In the hush or whimpers of the night.

My strength is enough for you. My presence is with you. My Spirit is in you.

I sustain you, never leave you. There is good coming.

There is good right here.

Pray: 

Father, you are unashamed of me—your love is wild and perfect. I love how you have made me. I love how I don’t have to hide from you, no matter what I am feeling. You give me a voice to call out to you, and you answer. You reveal to me yourself, showing how you are present with me, how you care for me, how you hold me and never let me go. I have what it takes to love those you’ve given me to love. I have what it takes to get through this day, holding your hand. Help me to do all these things, knowing I stay with you. In your name, Jesus, Amen.

from Breathing Eden: Conversations With God

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Prayer Circles and Wringing Hands

‘In those days when you pray, I will listen. ‘ Jeremiah 29:12(NLT)

GOD, LET’S DO THIS QUICKLY. You know I’m uncomfortable praying. I struggle to find the right words when I’m talking to you. I second-guess each word I say. I hear how you’re safe. I read how you love me just how I am. But I can’t help comparing myself to my friends as they pray aloud.

I feel like a child stumbling over my words, nervous that my simple prayers don’t convey enough depth, at least not the depth of love my friends seem to feel towards you. Oh, they share such beautiful prayers aloud to you! Do you know I love you too? Are my simple prayers, the ones in my head, getting through?

If you are safe, why do I struggle to talk to you? I have trouble believing there is not a certain right way to pray. Could it be true that some people can hear you better than I can? The women in my Bible study group talk to you like you are right there, in the room, listening. They act like they can tell you anything. They confess their fears, their regrets, their desperate need for your peace and joy and help. But me? I guess I struggle, still, with thinking of you as a person, as a friend.

I feel pretty alone here, even in this group of friends. Can you hear my heart speak these words to you now? I can’t say this out loud, but…

I don’t know what I’m doing.

YOU DID IT just now, you know. You prayed. Praying is talking to me. And this? What we’re doing here? This is a relationship blooming–because this here is a conversation. You don’t need to worry about what to say to me or how to say it. You don’t need to worry about fitting in or measuring up in any prayer group or women’s Bible study.

You don’t know what you’re doing, but I do, and I love it. Keep it up.

You don’t need to think about what it’s supposed to look like to love me. How the world sees is not how I see. And what I see is a bold and tender warrior woman who loves and does not hesitate to do the hard thing when it counts.

Don’t doubt how I’ve made you. But look to what I’m doing in you.

Isn’t prayer about communicating your heart to me? And in prayer, your heart aligned with mine, you worship. Prayer is not about words anyway. It is conversing with me with more than speech—your mind turned to me as you prepare your presentation at work; your listening for me as you serve, expecting me as you rest, looking for me as you walk, finding me as you dream. I love the different ways I have made my daughters and sons to speak to me—with their hearts, their hands, their mouths, their souls and spirits united with me. I give you your own language, not just in words, to speak to me. Be bold, daughter. Claim how I’ve made you to pray. I have more to show you. I have more of my presence to give you. I want you to claim it. I want you to know it.

Come on now, girl. The two of us together?

We’ve got this.

Pray:

Father, you have made me perfectly, and I am designed to communicate with you. Teach me more of who you are and the language you have given me to speak to you. I want to know our language, the way you have made me to engage with you and know you. I surrender to you my fear of what others think. Let me talk to you freely, knowing that when I am in your presence I am safe. I trust your words are in my heart, and you are in me. Amen.

from Breathing Eden: Conversations With God

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The Beginning

‘And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. ‘ Romans 8:26(NLT)

Pain can make us blind to—or desperate for—truth. Which is it going to be for her? For us? Come on, girl. Come on.

She sits there. We’ve held each other, shared a hundred cups of coffee, trusted each other with our stories. She is my sister, and she feels lost in this darkness. And because I love her, I feel stuck here too. I want to carry her pain, to relieve it somehow. How do we get to you, God? How do we stand and believe light can shine here, right here?

I wonder.

I wonder—how does God see this? How does he see us? How does he see our stories, our pain, our struggles? How does he see the infidelity, the eating disorder, the abuse, the everyday anxiety that makes it difficult to lift our heads? How does he see our celebration, our worship, our experiences of freedom, hope, joy? How would seeing God’s view of our stories spur healing? Would it grant hope?

No matter our circumstances, we need God’s perspective on them. We need to know how he sees us. Come on, girl, he says. Let my light shine in.

I am desperate for his eyes. I am desperate to see this pain and beauty—with new eyes. I am desperate to believe there is more than what my human frailty can see.

Do you want this too?

Prayer takes a listening—a looking deeper. Real prayer uncovers hope that is impossible to see on our own. God knows the wide-ranging emotions we feel—the cries of pain when we are overwhelmed and alone, the songs of joy when we are captured by his goodness and majesty. But what happens when he unearths the silent prayers we didn’t know we had—of sadness or worship, confession, freedom?

How do our prayers sound to him? How does he see us, really see us, when we share our hearts with him? How does he respond? And how might this change us? I need to know.

Do you need to know this too?

Come listen to women who plead for God to come. Come listen to women rejecting complacency. Come listen to women, in their everyday lives, choosing to seek God’s freedom rather than fear. Come listen to women who just want to speak to God and have him speak back. Come listen to women who just want to praise God and be heard. Father, can I hear you? Will you heal me? How do you see things? Where were you, in the night, when the darkness came and I felt abandoned and alone? You’ve come so many times, will you come again?

You are in these pages. Your mothers and sisters and daughters and neighbors and girlfriends are too. Your prayers are collected here, and heard.

Will you listen for God’s response?

Do you want truth?

Do you want light, fresh air, and new things?

from Breathing Eden: Conversations With God

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Beloved Child: Hosea 14:1-9

‘Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for your sins have brought you down. Bring your confessions, and return to the Lord . Say to him, “Forgive all our sins and graciously receive us, so that we may offer you our praises. Assyria cannot save us, nor can our warhorses. Never again will we say to the idols we have made, ‘You are our gods.’ No, in you alone do the orphans find mercy.” The Lord says, “Then I will heal you of your faithlessness; my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be gone forever. I will be to Israel like a refreshing dew from heaven. Israel will blossom like the lily; it will send roots deep into the soil like the cedars in Lebanon. Its branches will spread out like beautiful olive trees, as fragrant as the cedars of Lebanon. My people will again live under my shade. They will flourish like grain and blossom like grapevines. They will be as fragrant as the wines of Lebanon. “O Israel, stay away from idols! I am the one who answers your prayers and cares for you. I am like a tree that is always green; all your fruit comes from me.” Let those who are wise understand these things. Let those with discernment listen carefully. The paths of the Lord are true and right, and righteous people live by walking in them. But in those paths sinners stumble and fall.’ Hosea 14:1-9(NLT)

Hosea’s prophecies of God’s unfolding hope are ultimately fulfilled in the consummation of Christ’s kingdom. Hosea offered Israel and Judah the hope of blessings in the latter days to those who would repent. And the New Testament offers the bride of Christ today hope for the glories of the latter days. Because of God’s love for us, he will one day completely cleanse from sin all those who have saving faith. And he’ll deliver them from all judgment as he brings them into the blessings of the new creation. 

In 1 Corinthians 15 verses 54 and 55], the apostle Paul referred to the consummation of the latter days in this way:

When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written … “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

Here the apostle extolled the wonder of Christ’s return by referring to Hosea 13:14. There, God mocked the power of death despite the judgment of destruction and exile that had come upon Israel. Hope was not gone. The curse of death would cease to have any effect on Israel because, in the latter days, God would redeem them and reunify them with Judah in submission to the house of David.

As Christians, we know that this hope will one day be fulfilled in Christ, the great son of David. Despite the failures and hardships we still face in our day, we look forward with great expectation to the return of Christ. On that day, all who have put their hopes in the grace of God in Christ, and all who have repented of their sins, will receive the full blessings of the latter days. We will join Hosea in mocking the power of death and the grave, as the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead raises us up into everlasting life. 

The apostle John expressed this same hope in his vision of the consummation of Christ’s kingdom in the book of Revelation. Drawing from a number of themes in the book of Hosea, he described the New Jerusalem, the glorious city of David’s son and the dwelling place of God’s bride.

As we read in Revelation 21:2-3: 

I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband… “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”

God’s revelations to Hosea provided wisdom to the people of God hundreds of years before Christ. And they still offer wisdom to us today. As the bride of Christ, we face the challenges of living in a world that still suffers under God’s judgments. But God has never given up on his church. He sent Christ to secure our salvation and begin the latter days. And Christ lives in us now through the Holy Spirit, to lead us into the blessings of the world to come. When we take to heart the wisdom that the book of Hosea offers, we will overcome this world and join with countless others in the glorious wedding feast of the Lamb. As Christ’s beloved bride, we will receive the blessing of sharing with Christ in the immeasurable joys of everlasting glory. 

from The Prophetic Wisdom Of Hosea

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Beloved Child: Hosea 13:1-16

‘When the tribe of Ephraim spoke, the people shook with fear, for that tribe was important in Israel. But the people of Ephraim sinned by worshiping Baal and thus sealed their destruction. Now they continue to sin by making silver idols, images shaped skillfully with human hands. “Sacrifice to these,” they cry, “and kiss the calf idols!” Therefore, they will disappear like the morning mist, like dew in the morning sun, like chaff blown by the wind, like smoke from a chimney. “I have been the Lord your God ever since I brought you out of Egypt. You must acknowledge no God but me, for there is no other savior. I took care of you in the wilderness, in that dry and thirsty land. But when you had eaten and were satisfied, you became proud and forgot me. So now I will attack you like a lion, like a leopard that lurks along the road. Like a bear whose cubs have been taken away, I will tear out your heart. I will devour you like a hungry lioness and mangle you like a wild animal. “You are about to be destroyed, O Israel— yes, by me, your only helper. Now where is your king? Let him save you! Where are all the leaders of the land, the king and the officials you demanded of me? In my anger I gave you kings, and in my fury I took them away. “Ephraim’s guilt has been collected, and his sin has been stored up for punishment. Pain has come to the people like the pain of childbirth, but they are like a child who resists being born. The moment of birth has arrived, but they stay in the womb! “Should I ransom them from the grave ? Should I redeem them from death? O death, bring on your terrors! O grave, bring on your plagues! For I will not take pity on them. Ephraim was the most fruitful of all his brothers, but the east wind—a blast from the Lord — will arise in the desert. All their flowing springs will run dry, and all their wells will disappear. Every precious thing they own will be plundered and carried away. The people of Samaria must bear the consequences of their guilt because they rebelled against their God. They will be killed by an invading army, their little ones dashed to death against the ground, their pregnant women ripped open by swords.”’ Hosea 13:1-16(NLT)

As much as Hosea pleaded for Judah’s repentance, he still knew that Judah’s leaders needed hope for the northern tribes in exile as well. Hosea had made it clear in the first division of his book that God’s blessings would come after Israel and Judah were reunited in submission to David’s house. So, Judah’s hope for latter day blessings could only come if Israel returned to the Lord. Because of this, Hosea closed this last section of his book with a lengthy call for Israel to repent in chapter 14:1-8. 

Consider chapter 14:1-3:

Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take with you words and return to the Lord; say to him, “Take away all iniquity; accept what is good, and we will pay with bulls the vows of our lips. Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses; and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’ to the work of our hands. In you the orphan finds mercy.” 

In effect, Hosea called for northern Israelites, whether living with him in Judah or scattered in other regions, to “Return … to the Lord your God.” And to insure that they knew how to do this, he provided them with a liturgy of repentance. They were to say to the Lord, “Take away all iniquity.” They were to ask God to “accept what is good … the vows of our lips.” They were to reject any hope in Assyria and horses, or human military strength. They were to reject all idolatry, never saying, “Our God” to an idol. And what would be God’s response to their sincere repentance? 

In chapter 14:7, God said:

They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow; they shall flourish like the grain; they shall blossom like the vine; their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon. 

When northern Israelites humbled themselves in this way, God promised to pour out blessings. 

from The Prophetic Wisdom Of Hosea

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Beloved Child: Hebrews 12:1-14

‘The people of Israel feed on the wind; they chase after the east wind all day long. They pile up lies and violence; they are making an alliance with Assyria while sending olive oil to buy support from Egypt. Now the Lord is bringing charges against Judah. He is about to punish Jacob for all his deceitful ways, and pay him back for all he has done. Even in the womb, Jacob struggled with his brother; when he became a man, he even fought with God. Yes, he wrestled with the angel and won. He wept and pleaded for a blessing from him. There at Bethel he met God face to face, and God spoke to him — the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, the Lord is his name! So now, come back to your God. Act with love and justice, and always depend on him. But no, the people are like crafty merchants selling from dishonest scales— they love to cheat. Israel boasts, “I am rich! I’ve made a fortune all by myself! No one has caught me cheating! My record is spotless!” “But I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from slavery in Egypt. And I will make you live in tents again, as you do each year at the Festival of Shelters. I sent my prophets to warn you with many visions and parables.” But the people of Gilead are worthless because of their idol worship. And in Gilgal, too, they sacrifice bulls; their altars are lined up like the heaps of stone along the edges of a plowed field. Jacob fled to the land of Aram, and there he earned a wife by tending sheep. Then by a prophet the Lord brought Jacob’s descendants out of Egypt; and by that prophet they were protected. But the people of Israel have bitterly provoked the Lord , so their Lord will now sentence them to death in payment for their sins.’ Hosea 12:1-14(NLT)

The last and longest prophecy about Judah is in Hosea 12:2-6:

The Lord has an indictment against Judah and will punish Jacob according to his ways; he will repay him according to his deeds. In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God. He strove with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought his favor. He met God at Bethel, and there God spoke with us — the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord is his memorial name: “So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God.” 

In this passage, God called Judah to reflect on the story of Jacob’s life in Genesis 25-36. His prophecy noted how Jacob had sinned when he took his brother by the heel. But Jacob also strove with God and with the angel at Peniel. There Jacob wept and sought God’s favor, and he prevailed. By implication, Hosea called on Judah to weep over sin and seek God’s favor. And what was the result for Jacob? He met God at Bethel and learned anew that God is the Lord, the God of hosts, a divine title that referred to God as the head of angelic armies. Hosea applied the story of Jacob to Judah. Judah also could have the favor of the Lord, the God of the heavenly armies, as they faced their enemies, whether Assyria or Babylon. If “by the help of … God,” they would “return” — or repent — “hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for … God,” then they would see the Lord intervene on their behalf with his angelic army.

It’s not difficult to see why Hosea included these words about Judah toward the end of his book. He either composed his book as Judah faced the threat of Assyria, just before Sennacherib’s invasion in 701 B.C. Or, he wrote it as Judah faced the threat of Babylon, just after Sennacherib’s invasion in 701 B.C. — as we know from Isaiah 39:6. In either case, Judah desperately needed God’s help. If they wanted to see God lead his angelic army against their enemies, they needed to respond with humility and repentance. They needed to acknowledge that they had been like Jacob in his early years, and that they must become like Jacob in his later years. Then, and only then, could Judah be the channel of God’s latter day blessings to the northern kingdom of Israel.

from The Prophetic Wisdom Of Hosea