Hosea 6 Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

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Max Lucado Daily:  Celebrate!

At the sinking of the RMS Titanic, over twenty-two hundred people were cast into the frigid waters of the Atlantic.  On shore the names of the passengers were posted in two simple columns—saved and lost. God’s list is equally simple.

Our ledger, however, is cluttered with unnecessary columns. Is he rich?  Is she pretty?  What work does he do?  What color is her skin?  Does she have a college degree? These matters are irrelevant to God.   As he shapes us more and more to be like Jesus, they become irrelevant to us as well.

Paul said in 2nd Corinthians 5:16, “Our knowledge of men can no longer be based on their outward lives.”  And so my challenge to you is simple.  Ask God to help you have His eternal view of the world.  Every person you meet has been given an invitation!  When one says yes, celebrate!  When one says no, pray!

from Just Like Jesus


Hosea 6

Israel Unrepentant

6 “Come, let us return to the Lord.
He has torn us to pieces
    but he will heal us;
he has injured us
    but he will bind up our wounds.
2 After two days he will revive us;
    on the third day he will restore us,
    that we may live in his presence.
3 Let us acknowledge the Lord;
    let us press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises,
    he will appear;
he will come to us like the winter rains,
    like the spring rains that water the earth.”
4 “What can I do with you, Ephraim?
    What can I do with you, Judah?
Your love is like the morning mist,
    like the early dew that disappears.
5 Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets,
    I killed you with the words of my mouth—
    then my judgments go forth like the sun.[d]
6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
    and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
7 As at Adam,[e] they have broken the covenant;
    they were unfaithful to me there.
8 Gilead is a city of evildoers,
    stained with footprints of blood.
9 As marauders lie in ambush for a victim,
    so do bands of priests;
they murder on the road to Shechem,
    carrying out their wicked schemes.
10 I have seen a horrible thing in Israel:
    There Ephraim is given to prostitution,
    Israel is defiled.
11 “Also for you, Judah,
    a harvest is appointed.
“Whenever I would restore the fortunes of my people,


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: Joshua 7:1-12

Achan’s Sin

7 But the Israelites were unfaithful in regard to the devoted things[a]; Achan son of Karmi, the son of Zimri,[b] the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the Lord’s anger burned against Israel.

2 Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth Aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, “Go up and spy out the region.” So the men went up and spied out Ai.

3 When they returned to Joshua, they said, “Not all the army will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary the whole army, for only a few people live there.” 4 So about three thousand went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai, 5 who killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted in fear and became like water.

6 Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown to the ground before the ark of the Lord, remaining there till evening. The elders of Israel did the same, and sprinkled dust on their heads. 7 And Joshua said, “Alas, Sovereign Lord, why did you ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan! 8 Pardon your servant, Lord. What can I say, now that Israel has been routed by its enemies? 9 The Canaanites and the other people of the country will hear about this and they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. What then will you do for your own great name?”

10 The Lord said to Joshua, “Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? 11 Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions. 12 That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.

No Loose Laces

May 15, 2013 — by Marvin Williams

The children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things, for Achan . . . took of the accursed things. —Joshua 7:1

One person’s actions can affect an entire group. This truth became clear to journalist Sebastian Junger as he followed a platoon of soldiers. Junger watched a soldier accost another soldier whose bootlaces were trailing on the ground. He didn’t confront him out of concern for his fashion. He confronted him because his loose laces put the entire platoon at risk—he couldn’t be counted on not to trip and fall at a crucial moment. Junger realized that what happens to one happens to everyone.

Achan’s “bootlaces were loose,” and we learn from his story that sin is never private. After the great victory at Jericho, God gave Joshua specific instructions on how to deal with the city and its loot (Josh. 6:18). The people were to “abstain from the accursed things” and to put all the silver and gold “into the treasury of the Lord” (vv.18-19). But they disobeyed his command to them (7:1). The interesting thing is, not all of Israel sinned; only one person did—Achan. But because of his actions, everyone was affected and God was dishonored.

As followers of Jesus, we belong to one another and our individual actions can impact the entire body and God’s name. Let’s “tie up our laces” so that we may individually and together give God the honor He deserves.

Lord, we know our sin is never private, though we
may try to hide it. Help us to remember that we
belong to You and to one another and that what we do
individually grieves You and impacts fellow Christians.
Private sins will inevitably have public impact.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 15, 2013

The Habit of Rising to the Occasion

. . . that you may know what is the hope of His calling . . . —Ephesians 1:18

Remember that you have been saved so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in your body (see 2 Corinthians 4:10). Direct the total energy of your powers so that you may achieve everything your election as a child of God provides; rise every time to whatever occasion may come your way.

You did not do anything to achieve your salvation, but you must do something to exhibit it. You must “work out your own salvation” which God has worked in you already (Philippians 2:12). Are your speech, your thinking, and your emotions evidence that you are working it “out”? If you are still the same miserable, grouchy person, set on having your own way, then it is a lie to say that God has saved and sanctified you.

God is the Master Designer, and He allows adversities into your life to see if you can jump over them properly—”By my God I can leap over a wall” (Psalm 18:29). God will never shield you from the requirements of being His son or daughter. First Peter 4:12  says, “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you . . . .” Rise to the occasion—do what the trial demands of you. It does not matter how much it hurts as long as it gives God the opportunity to manifest the life of Jesus in your body.

May God not find complaints in us anymore, but spiritual vitality—a readiness to face anything He brings our way. The only proper goal of life is that we manifest the Son of God; and when this occurs, all of our dictating of our demands to God disappears. Our Lord never dictated demands to His Father, and neither are we to make demands on God. We are here to submit to His will so that He may work through us what He wants. Once we realize this, He will make us broken bread and poured-out wine with which to feed and nourish others.


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

God's Enterprise Has No Transporter - #6873

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

If you're not a "Trekkie" you might know someone who is. A Trekkie, of course, is a rabid fan of Star Trek. I think there has seldom been a TV series in American television history that has so captured people's imaginations as Star Trek. And then the movies of course: Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, the Starship Enterprise. They've become really a part of American's kind of fantasy memory bank.

There's one part of Star Trek I wish wasn't fantasy. Scotty, the Enterprise's chief engineer, mans a device called The Transporter. And maybe if you ever saw Star Trek, you know that The Transporter does this molecular magic that allows the transportee to stand under this beam and to be beamed down to a planet, or be beamed up to the ship in just a matter of seconds. Now, that maneuver has given birth to a very familiar refrain, "Scotty, beam me up." Don't you wish you could be immediately transported to your destination sometimes? Well, Scotty can't do it because he's not real, and the only One who could do it, well...

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "God's Enterprise Has No Transporter."

Our word for today from the Word of God - Psalm 84. It's a blueprint for how God gets us to our destination. Listen to what He says, "Blessed are those whose strength is in You (referring to the Lord) who have set their hearts on pilgrimage." Verse 7 says, "They go from strength to strength till each appears before God in Zion."

I was caught by these words, "Blessed are those who have set their hearts on pilgrimage, who go from strength to strength." These are people who realize that there's a regular, day-by-day, strength-to-strength journey involved in getting to our destination in God's will. It's referring to people who realize that following the Lord is a step at a time process, not a spiritual transporter that takes you instantly to spiritual maturity. It's more like, "Take a step, see a step. Take a step, see another step." It's not, "Lord, beam me up to spiritual maturity."

He says, "No, I bless those who are committed to that step-by-step process." You say, "Well, I know that! I know it's a process; it's not just a zap you get." But the problem is

We don't live like we really believe it's a day-by-day process. We tend to live from spiritual high to spiritual high, "Lord, I'm going to make this great spiritual commitment. Now, beam me up to where I ought to be." So we make our annual, or semi-annual, or whatever decision it is to dedicate our life or re-dedicate or re-re-dedicate our life.

We want some experience to be a spiritual transporter; to give us instant arrival in Christ. But God says, "I bless pilgrimage." He talks about our walk. It's a daily choice to let Christ be the Lord of your life. You wake up in the morning to discover "today's journey," "today's turnover." What am I going to turn over to the Lord today? What am I going to give Him today to consciously let Him be Lord of that part of me today? You make Christ the Lord of this 24-hour chunk of time, 24-hour strength for a 24-hour commitment. "Your strength will equal your days," the Bible says. That's pilgrimage.

It's pretty liberating to know that we're not failing if we haven't suddenly been transported to spiritual perfection. The question is, are you committed to the journey? Are you crowning Christ Lord each 24 hours?

Really knowing Christ is a million little victories. Then you're exactly where you should be if that's where your mindset is. No, God won't beam you up, but He will walk with you every day until you see Him.