Hosea 7
1 whenever I would heal Israel, the sins of Ephraim are exposed and the crimes of Samaria revealed. They practice deceit, thieves break into houses, bandits rob in the streets;
2 but they do not realize that I remember all their evil deeds. Their sins engulf them; they are always before me.
3 "They delight the king with their wickedness, the princes with their lies.
4 They are all adulterers, burning like an oven whose fire the baker need not stir from the kneading of the dough till it rises.
5 On the day of the festival of our king the princes become inflamed with wine, and he joins hands with the mockers.
6 Their hearts are like an oven; they approach him with intrigue. Their passion smolders all night; in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.
7 All of them are hot as an oven; they devour their rulers. All their kings fall, and none of them calls on me.
8 "Ephraim mixes with the nations; Ephraim is a flat cake not turned over.
9 Foreigners sap his strength, but he does not realize it. His hair is sprinkled with gray, but he does not notice.
10 Israel's arrogance testifies against him, but despite all this he does not return to the LORD his God or search for him.
11 "Ephraim is like a dove, easily deceived and senseless— now calling to Egypt, now turning to Assyria.
12 When they go, I will throw my net over them; I will pull them down like birds of the air. When I hear them flocking together, I will catch them.
13 Woe to them, because they have strayed from me! Destruction to them, because they have rebelled against me! I long to redeem them but they speak lies against me.
14 They do not cry out to me from their hearts but wail upon their beds. They gather together [a] for grain and new wine but turn away from me.
15 I trained them and strengthened them, but they plot evil against me.
16 They do not turn to the Most High; they are like a faulty bow. Their leaders will fall by the sword because of their insolent words. For this they will be ridiculed in the land of Egypt.
Daily Bread readings and devotional
Luke 1:24-38
24After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. 25"The Lord has done this for me," she said. "In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people."
The Birth of Jesus Foretold 26In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. 28The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." 29Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."
34"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
35The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[a] the Son of God. 36Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. 37For nothing is impossible with God."
38"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.
December 14, 2007
The Facts Of Life
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READ: Luke 1:24-38
Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” —Luke 1:38 About this cover It seems that most of our struggles revolve around wanting something we don’t have or having something we don’t want. Our deepest longings and our greatest challenges are deeply rooted in trying to see the hand of God in these two facts of life. This is where Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus begins.
The aging Elizabeth longed for a baby. For the young and engaged Mary, however, pregnancy should have been a disgrace. But when both learned they would have a child, they accepted the news with faith in the God whose timing is perfect and for whom nothing is impossible (Luke 1:24-25,37-38).
As we read the Christmas story, we may be struck by the real-life context of the people whose names have become so familiar. Even while Zechariah and Elizabeth suffered their culture’s stigma of childlessness, they were described as “righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord” (v.6). And the angel told Mary she had found favor with God (v.30).
Their example shows us the value of a trusting heart that accepts the mysterious ways of God and the presence of His mighty hand, no matter how perplexing our circumstances may be. —David C. McCasland
Though you cannot see the outcome,Trust the Lord—He knows what’s best;Be assured He sees your trial,And He’s with you in your test. —Hess
For the Christian, testing cannot be separated from trusting.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 14, 2007
The Great LifeLISTEN: READ:
Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled . . . —John 14:27 About this cover Whenever we experience something difficult in our personal life, we are tempted to blame God. But we are the ones in the wrong, not God. Blaming God is evidence that we are refusing to let go of some disobedience somewhere in our lives. But as soon as we let go, everything becomes as clear as daylight to us. As long as we try to serve two masters, ourselves and God, there will be difficulties combined with doubt and confusion. Our attitude must be one of complete reliance on God. Once we get to that point, there is nothing easier than living the life of a saint. We encounter difficulties when we try to usurp the authority of the Holy Spirit for our own purposes.
God’s mark of approval, whenever you obey Him, is peace. He sends an immeasurable, deep peace; not a natural peace, "as the world gives," but the peace of Jesus. Whenever peace does not come, wait until it does, or seek to find out why it is not coming. If you are acting on your own impulse, or out of a sense of the heroic, to be seen by others, the peace of Jesus will not exhibit itself. This shows no unity with God or confidence in Him. The spirit of simplicity, clarity, and unity is born through the Holy Spirit, not through your decisions. God counters our self-willed decisions with an appeal for simplicity and unity.
My questions arise whenever I cease to obey. When I do obey God, problems come, not between me and God, but as a means to keep my mind examining with amazement the revealed truth of God. But any problem that comes between God and myself is the result of disobedience. Any problem that comes while I obey God (and there will be many), increases my overjoyed delight, because I know that my Father knows and cares, and I can watch and anticipate how He will unravel my problems.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Overlooked Treasure - #5460 Thursday, December 13, 2007
Our son and daughter-in-law own a little piece of rhodochrosite since a recent western vacation. (I hope I'm saying that right.) And with the stone came the story. Their host told them about the men in search of gold who didn't care much about this rock they found on their way to the gold. Initially, they just tossed it aside. But they noticed that embedded in the granite was an attractive rose-colored stone. As they refined it, the rare and rich, almost ruby-like color of that stone revealed its beauty. There was a time when it was just used for making driveways or even just discarded. But today a relatively few ounces are worth thousands of dollars.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Overlooked Treasure."
That's what rhodochrosite was. Nobody realized what it was really worth, so they just threw it aside. There are lots of people like that. No one realizes how much they're really worth. Even they don't realize it. So they're overlooked, undervalued, cast aside. Sometimes, we even throw ourselves away, not realizing the treasure we are.
That might be hard for you to believe if you've had friends who ultimately treated you like you weren't worth much, if you've had an employer who didn't value you, if you've been overlooked and marginalized much of your life, if someone you love has turned on you or treated you badly, if someone you trusted betrayed your trust. In a self-centered and often cruel world, it's easy to begin to believe that you really aren't worth all that much. You've been unnoticed and unappreciated so many times.
But not by the One who really matters. You can see Him in action in our word for today from the Word of God in Luke chapter 8, beginning with verse 46. It's part of the story of a woman in desperate need of healing from a 12-year hemorrhaging condition. She was out of doctors to see; she was out of money to pay them. So she desperately pushed through a throng that was crowding around Jesus and, in an act of simple faith, she touched the hem of His robe to be healed. Suddenly, Jesus stopped and asked, "Who touched Me?" His disciples pointed out the obvious: in a crowd that big, hundreds of people had touched Him.
The Bible continues: "But Jesus said, 'Someone touched Me; I know that power has gone out from Me.' Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at His feet. He said to her, 'Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.'" I love those words, "She could not go unnoticed." Neither can you. Not to Jesus. He knows all about you. You may have felt lost in the crowd your whole life. But to Jesus, you're His unique, one-of-a-kind creation; someone He thinks was worth dying for. In the words of Revelation 1:5, "He loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood."
The sins of our life are the ultimate cause of our feelings of worthlessness. We've defied God and the way He wants us to live, so we're away from the One who gave us our worth in the first place. It took Jesus paying your spiritual death penalty to make it possible for you to find the God that you've needed all these years. He made you. He paid for you with His life. Whatever others may have thought you're worth, you are priceless to Him.
You don't need to live one more day away from this love that you were made for. Jesus has come to where you are today to stir your heart, to draw you to Him; to give you this chance to have every sin forgiven, the wall between you and God who loves you removed, and your heart finally filled with the love it was made for. Jesus becomes your Savior when you tell Him, "Lord, I abandon the rule of my own life that's kept me from You and earned me a death penalty. I'm putting all my trust in you, Jesus - your death on the cross to pay for my sins."
I'm thinking this little booklet I wrote called Yours For Life could help you understand and confirm your relationship with Him, if you'll just let me send it to you. You can get it by going to our website at yoursforlife.net or calling toll free for it at 877-741-1200.
When God sees you, He sees a treasure made with His own hands and paid for with the blood of His Son. To find out how you can begin a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, please visit: yoursforlife.net or call 1-888-966-7325.