THE LORD SPOKE (December 10)

Daily Reflections from Scripture:

Hosea 7-9

Hosea was a master of metaphor. By using dozens of similes, metaphors, and extended metaphors, he packs his prophecy like a can of sardines. His word pictures come tumbling out like a crowded elevator discharging its contents on every floor. Consider, for example just these in chapter seven:

Hosea 7:4 - “like an oven whose fire the baker need not stir”

There’s no need for shifting the logs or adding more kindling because the coals are hot and the fuel keeps rolling into the heat in such a way that the flame continues to blaze. But then it just goes out in lifeless smoke. We, like Israel of old, always seem to sustain our own consumption. We blaze for a short while and then go out. We keep smoldering until all the substance is spent and only cold ash is left.

Hosea 7:8 - “[like] a flat cake not turned over”

Done to seeming perfection on one side but still yucky goo on the other. We often have a “presentable” side that we let others see, but God knows what’s behind it and it’s disgusting. The fine appearance doesn’t fool Him because he doesn’t look on what’s on the outside.

Hosea 7:11 - “like a dove easily deceived and senseless”

Blundering into a net, unconscious of the trap, naiveté personified. Even our meager experience should have supplemented our common sense. But we mindlessly carry on, oblivious to the dangers around us until it’s too late.

Hosea 7:16 - “like a faulty bow”

Undependable because it sends the arrow astray; unreliable because it never seems to hit the target, unsafe even, because you don’t know what it might hit. It will snap the inside of your bow arm and take the skin off. Or it may crack if you pull the string back too far. It can’t bear pressure.

But the contrast is so pleasant. When God found Israel “it was like finding grapes in the desert...like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree” (Hos. 9:10). How refreshing Israel was to the Lord when she came willingly before Him in submission, love, and obedience. He delights in His own. He desires just that sort of relationship with us. We too can put a smile on the face of God if we will but love and serve Him. Like the dawning of a new day He fills our hearts with the sunshine of His love. Like listening to Handel’s Messiah, our hearts swell with the fullness of His grace. Like the woman at the well, our cup is filled in unexpected ways.


Proverbs 10

Integrity. It’s a character quality not commonly found in our society today. Webster defines it as “an unimpaired condition” or “the quality or state of being complete or undivided”. The word comes from the Latin, integritas, which means “complete”, “whole”, or “entire”. The word is used frequently in Scripture, particularly in the wisdom literature. Here are a few such instances:

Job 2:3 - Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason." (Note his wife’s words in 2:9 - "Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!")

Psalm 7:8 - Judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, according to my integrity, O Most High. (Can you pray that way?)

Psalm 25:21 - May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope is in you.

Psalm 41:12 - In my integrity you uphold me and set me in your presence forever.

Proverbs 10:9 - The man of integrity walks securely, but he who takes crooked paths will be found out.

Proverbs 11:3 - The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.

Proverbs 13:6 - Righteousness guards the man of integrity, but wickedness overthrows the sinner.

A man (or woman) of integrity is a man of principle. He keeps his word. He never cheats or defrauds. Never steals. Never covers up. Integrity, by definition, characterizes everything he does, not just part. In the process of preparing for the Temple, David made an important statement about integrity (I Chronicles 29:17): I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity.

What does God see in your heart?