Corona Devo 3033

I'm not trying to ruin our day...but we've already ruined it for ourselves.

...We've sinned against God.

We've lied.  (The little white ones count.)

We've lusted (lingering looks in person and online count.  So do the lingering lustful thoughts in our mind.)

We've disobeyed God by not doing the things that He presses on our hearts to do.  That counts as sin too.

We've cheated on God with our affection and adoration and worship of other things.  We've been unfaithful to our Lord who created and loves us so deeply.  Instead, we worship ourselves and our comforts and our wants.  

We worship status/money/stuff/titles/popularity/degrees/awards.  Pouring ourselves into these things means that we are not pouring ourselves into God and His things.  This counts as spiritual adultery. 

Some days are for mountaintops, and birds sweetly singing, and rays of sunshine.  And some days are for owning our sinfulness and short-comings before our holy Lord.  In order to understand and appreciate God's forgiveness, we must first fully admit and own our sinfulness before Him.  

We will never rejoice fully in our salvation and Christ's sacrifice for us unless we accept/own/repent-of our sin which sent Christ to that cross.

Some days are for truth, and honesty, and transparency in knowing that we don't deserve the grace God gives us.

We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.  ~Isaiah 64:6

~~~

Hosea was a prophet in the Bible and God used Hosea to speak to His people about their sin and unfaithfulness to the Lord.  

The people of Israel were "cheating on God" with their emotions, dedication, and  their worship, and God knew it.  He called His people out on their unfaithfulness.  Our God is loving, but our God is also holy.  He can be stern (and He will be)...when His people require it.  

Because of their sin, the people of Israel required discipline and truth from God.

We have sinned against our Holy Father also.  And today He speaks to us in discipline by using Hosea's obedience to the Lord in order to demonstrate our disobedience.

When the Lord first began speaking to Israel through Hosea, he said to him, “Go and marry a prostitute, so that some of her children will be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning against the Lord and worshiping other gods.” 

(3) So Hosea married Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she became pregnant and gave Hosea a son. (4) And the Lord said, “Name the child Jezreel, for I am about to punish King Jehu’s dynasty to avenge the murders he committed at Jezreel. In fact, I will bring an end to Israel’s independence. (5) I will break its military power in the Jezreel Valley.” 

(6) Soon Gomer became pregnant again and gave birth to a daughter. And the Lord said to Hosea, “Name your daughter Lo-ruhamah—‘Not loved’—for I will no longer show love to the people of Israel or forgive them. (7) But I will show love to the people of Judah. I will free them from their enemies—not with weapons and armies or horses and charioteers, but by my power as the Lord their God.” 

(8) After Gomer had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she again became pregnant and gave birth to a second son. (9) And the Lord said, “Name him Lo-ammi—‘Not my people’—for Israel is not my people, and I am not their God.  ~Hosea 1:1-8

~~~

If we think that God "does not see" or notice our sin or our divided-attention to Him, then we are wrong.  He saw what the people of Israel were up to...and where their hearts and worship were...and the Lord called them out on it.  He demonstrated their sinful disobedience through Gomer, and He demonstrated His unrelenting love through Hosea marrying her.

The verses are stark and if God ended them here....well then we could end there.

The people of Israel (God's people) were deep in sin, and God was fed up with their adultery-of-affection to Him.  

We are God's people too, and we must acknowledge and admit our sinfulness before God.  

But--amazingly--God does not end the verses there--in (rightful) judgement of Israel's (and our) sin...even though He has every (holy) right to.

God continues, and shows His true undying love and promises for His children:

(10) “Yet the time will come when Israel’s people will be like the sands of the seashore—too many to count! Then, at the place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ it will be said, ‘You are children of the living God.’ 

(11) Then the people of Judah and Israel will unite together. They will choose one leader for themselves, and they will return from exile together. What a day that will be—the day of Jezreel—when God will again plant his people in his land. 

(2:1) “In that day you will call your brothers Ammi—‘My people.’ And you will call your sisters Ruhamah—‘The ones I love.’  ~Hosea 1:10-11; 2:1

~~~

We have ruined our good-standing before God because...we're not good.  We are sinful, and our affections are unfaithful to the Lord, just like the Israelites in Hosea's day were.

There are days when He disciplines us through the Scriptures in the Bible, and we need it.  

And if God's plan and love for us stopped there, it would be justified, because (through our sin), we've already ruined things for ourselves.

But (thankfully...gratefully...gracefully...mercifully) God doesn't stop there.  He is holy and sinless, and He cannot look upon or accept our divided affections for Him.  But God can also not deny or delete His promises and plans for His children that He loves.  

The Lord knows that we will return to Him. 

Yet the time will come...  

In that day...   ~Hosea 1:10, 11

Today can be that day.  

Yes, we have (all) sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  

..for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...  ~Romans 3:23

Admit it (our sin/our unfaithfulness to God/our adultery-of-mind-heart-desire for Him) today.

And once we admit this, we can accept the gift that we have been given through God's forgiveness of our sin, and we can begin living freshly for Him.

Some days (like today) are for owning our sinfulness and short-comings before our holy Lord.  

We will never rejoice fully in our salvation and Christ's sacrifice for us unless we accept/own/repent-of our sin which sent Christ to that cross.

Some days are for truth, and honesty, and transparency in knowing that we don't deserve the grace God gives us.

And what will God say?

...it will be said, ‘You are children of the living God.’ 

(11) ...What a day that will be...  ~Hosea 1:10-11

~~~

Have we wandered in our faithfulness to God and ruined our day with Him?  Yes.

Can we intentionally wander back into the arms and favor and family of our Father today?  Yes.

Some days (like today) are for just.that.

“In that day you will call your brothers Ammi—‘My people.’ And you will call your sisters Ruhamah—‘The ones I love.’  ~Hosea 2:1

Blessings,

sarah

https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com