majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Hosea 1:1,
"The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the
reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and
during the reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel..."
Here is perhaps something that needs to be wrestled with in our day.
The book that bears his name tells us "The word of the Lord that came
to Hosea..." The verse goes on to tell us who Hosea is, "son of Beeri"
and when the Lord's word came to him, "during the reigns of ..." with
a listing of four kings of Judah, and one of the northern kingdom of
Israel, the focus of the Lord's intentions in this prophecy.
The astonishing reality of this verse is that the Lord steps into his
creation and speaks to it! Not a new kind of event at the time, as we
have record of the Lord speaking to his creation for millenia now. It
is an historical activity, however, I never want to fail in
appreciation of.
Mankind, in sin and rebellion against his Creator has gone his own
way, turned his collective back on the Giver of life to follow his own
devices. Out of his great love, mercy and kindness, the Lord steps
into his creation to speak to those who have completely lost their
connection to the One who breathed life into their progenitors - the
Author of life itself. Consideration of the sweeping nature of God's
great love and kindness in reaching out to mankind is an activity rich
in finding just how full and deep love and kindness can be. And,
although the Lord's message through Hosea is one of coming judgment
due to the sins of Israel, there is within it a great message of hope
and future restoration.
What is seen in this book is that the Lord has his own agenda. He is
not reluctant to step into his creation to carry out his own purposes.
Here in this book we find the Lord manipulating events on the
international stage and will bring about further future events. This
seems to me to be something lost on the people of our day. As we watch
the current events unfold in the world today, as well as within our
own nation, and listen to the commentators, the pundits, the analysts,
talk show hosts, etc. weigh in on what dominates the news cycle for
the day, it is almost entirely from a perspective of a closed world
without any thought of intervention by the Lord himself.
If nothing else, this first verse of this great book of prophecy
should cause me to stop and consider just what the Lord might be doing
in our day, how his activities, his agenda might be influencing the
events that unfold in our world around us today.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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