Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good morning, special ones.

Still another beauty of a morning out there. What’s more, this gorgeous weather is supposed to last for a few more days. It’s sure hard to be depressed while surrounded with all this fall beauty. We took in some of the beauty earlier with out walk/jog. That ball-flinger causes Dandy’s tougue to drag on the ground and trip over it. Just kidding.

It’s another big list …giving as much priority as reasonable to take maximum advantage of this nice weather window.

Have a great day.

Love, Dad/Ray.

It is of huge importance to make sure we balance out the messages of these Old Testament prophets in general, and the message of Hosea in particular, and discern the divine motivation and heart-beat of Sovereign God Who inspires them. If we are not careful to do so, we can risk coming up with a skewed view of the Most High—that He is kind of like a big angry cosmic monster Who just loves to rebuke, punish, and inflict pain and suffering upon His already-maimed human creatures. Consider some thoughts we passed by yesterday in chapter 6. For example, “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” (6:1). I’ve highlighted the word “but” because I see that word as the fulcrum that balances the “teeter-totter.” And listen to this divine plea: “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings” (6:6). Litergical form and religiosity simply doesn’t cut it!

As contained in the FOCUS VERSE, the same divine heart-ache shows again in today’s reading. Like a good parent, the LORD has been forced to punish, but it’s out of love for the child—not out of love for punishment. What good child would spend all his energy condemning his good father for hate speech and bullying? Here’s some good advice for kids (and adults) tempted to think that way: After you’re all done screaming and crying and throwing your tantrum and being angry over the punishment that is due you, you might want to try OBEYING. What a revolutionary idea!!! But alas!—for many, that simply is not an option. Why? Because (as we touched on yesterday) it requires the discipline to acknowledge that they have been WRONG. Oh, no—the rigid NATURAL SIN NATURE can’t have any of that! But the fact is, every one of us desperately needs the HELL beat out of us!—so that we can escape the condemnation that assigns us there—and so that, for our own good, we can be freed to love, serve, and obey our good, gracious, merciful, longsuffering, forgiving, and loving Heavenly Father. May I say it again?—what better option than a HEART AFTER GOD?!?

It doesn’t call for brilliance to note that God has not assigned responsibilities to the plants or animals. They just do their thing according to instinct or conditioned responses. There are no big bad consequences for big bad violations. God will never offer a rebuke like, “You bad bad bear!—you were not supposed to maul that hunter!” But to humans, God says, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked” (Luke 12:48). Indeed, the gift of human intelligence with its spiritual and eternal dimensions is MUCH! I repeat—MUCH!!!