Required Reading

Daily Reading: Hosea 3-4

A people without understanding will come to ruin. Though you commit adultery, O Israel, let not Judah become guilty. (Hosea 4.14-15, NIV)

Devotional Thought: I think Hosea should be required reading for every high school student in our country.  I'm certain that God's warnings are just as relevant to our nation today as they were to Israel two millennia ago.

Are we not a people without spiritual and moral understanding?  And because of that, are we not coming to ruin?  Sadly, though the signs are everywhere, we don't seem to see of what is happening.  A fair question might be, "How do we gain understanding?"  A good answer would be, "Ask for the ancient paths" (Jeremiah 6.16).  What used to "work"?  Let's put our knowledge of history into action, not leaving that success in the past!

There is another way to avoid ruin besides experiencing it ourselves.  This second way is preferred.  Hosea said to Judah, the Southern Kingdom: “Learn from Israel's failure, and don’t go there!”   Someone once said, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.”  Another way to say it is, “We need to learn not only from our mistakes, but also from the mistakes of others.”

Parents need to heed this advice on behalf of their children, older generations on behalf of youth.  Before the full results of our sin are evident, our mistakes can seem attractive to others who would then be drawn into the same lifestyle as us.  We need to be careful that our sins do not cause others to stray!  We should always be aware that others are watching us and are framing their futures based upon what they see us do.

Read Hosea with someone!

Prayer: O Lord, help our people to understand your ways, to respond to your truth.  Help us to see how former peoples have come to ruin by ignoring you and your Word, and then to return to you.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 80.8-19

"You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land. The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches. It sent out its branches to the sea and its shoots to the River.  Why then have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit? The boar from the forest ravages it, and all that move in the field feed on it. Turn again, O God of hosts! Look down from heaven, and see; have regard for this vine,

the stock that your right hand planted, and for the son whom you made strong for yourself. They have burned it with fire; they have cut it down; may they perish at the rebuke of your face! But let your hand be on the man of your right hand, the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself! Then we shall not turn back from you; give us life, and we will call upon your name! Restore us, O Lord God of hosts! Let your face shine, that we may be saved!"