Skip to main content

May 9 + Daily readings & notes

DAY 129
DAILY READINGS

Hosea 11-14 & Psalm 124

DAILY NOTES

Hosea 11

  • It's been 500+ years since the Exodus.
  • For Verse 2, some texts replace "I" with "they."  So, they, the Baals, called out to the people of God.
  • The people of God are illustrated as the children of God. God has taught them how to walk, holding their arms as they learned.  God has carries them and feeds them.  
  • Verse 8 demonstrates that God's compassion is greater than God's anger.  Amen.
Hosea 12
  • Herding the wind refers to idolatry, and, perhaps, the foreign alliances the people made.  
  • Remember Jacob wrestling with the angel?  Did you know he wept while he wrestled?  How much does that demonstrate his need for God?  Hosea is making that connection so that the people would understand their need for God, too.
Hosea 13
  • Keep on sinning. Keep on sinning. Keep on sii-iii--iinning.  What do we do? We sin. We sin.  (I typed that in my best Dory voice.)
  • God remembers what he did for the people after Egypt.
Hosea 14
  • The last chapter is a call to repentance.  
  • If the people seek forgiveness, God will grant it.  
Psalm 124
  • God has delivered the people, and so the psalmist celebrates.
  • Their enemies should have defeated them, but God intervened and protected the people.  

OTHER OBSERVATIONS
As much as things change, they stay the same.  You could also say that as much as we change, we stay the same.

There's a line I learned once that helps me study and interpret scripture: The Bible was written for us, but it was not written to us.  That means it was written to a specific group of people at a specific period of time.  As such, we need to learn what they were dealing with and understand, as best we can, the circumstances they faced.  It was in the midst of those circumstances that the spoke to the people.

So, for example, we have to consider what we know about Hosea's context to make sense of much of what he is saying.  But Hosea also tells the people to do the same thing.  When the prophet recalls Jacob's life, he is asking the people to consider what they know/remember about him.  What they learn from his life so long ago offers direction and instruction for them.

But the Bible was also written for us.  That means that we keep reading it because it contains truth that applies to us even today because our human hearts are still very much like what they used to be.  For all we've learned, for all that we have seen and even accomplished, the Bible often seems to be speaking right at us because we are, after all, still people.

Even though it was written to a specific people, it's truth is still there for us to wrestle with.  God uses the words of scripture (and the experience of the people of God) to inspire our walk with God today.

That's why we keep reading.

Stay blessed...john


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

March 24 + Daily notes & readings

DAY 83 The relationship between Saul and David worsens.  David is now Saul's enemy.   DAILY READINGS 1 Samuel 18-20 & Psalm 83 DAILY NOTES 1 Samuel 18 Saul's delight for David quickly turns.  Saul is jealous of David's success and the fact that everyone else seems to like David more than him. Of course, we have to think about what this evil spirit from the Lord might mean. Saul tries to kill David.  He even devises a plan to have him married into the royal family so that he can create a snare for him. What does it say about David that, even after Saul has tried to kill him, he still finds it an honor to be married to the family? David escapes Saul's traps.  So, from here on out, the text says that Saul considered David an enemy.  Think he knows what it means to love your enemies? 1 Samuel 19 Verse 5 reminds us of David's fight with Goliath.  At this point, David has fought other times.  What makes that ...

May 14 + Daily readings & notes

DAY 134 We're reading another prophet today.  Here's t he Bible Project video that describes what the book is about. DAILY READINGS Jonah 1-4 & Psalm 129 DAILY NOTES Jonah 1 Notice the simple, direct message God gave Jonah.  There's no explanation for why Jonah doesn't follow through (yet).  As quickly as the word from God comes, he goes away. The mariners have their own god to cry out to for help.  They ask Jonah to cry out to his God.  Did you notice he never did?  He only told them that he worships the Lord.   The mariners feared the Lord after this.   Jonah 2 When he and the others were in trouble, Jonah didn't cry out to God.  Now that he's sitting inside a big fish, he offers a prayer to God.   And notice even the fish listens to God! Jonah 3 The word of God comes to Jonah again.  This time Jonah responds.  And the people of Nineveh respond with faith in God. Up to this p...

March 17 + Daily notes & readings

DAY 76 We're finishing the book of Judges today.  The judges have ruled over Israel, but the people have strayed from God.  Things are not as they should be.  By the book, the tribes of Israel have been fighting against one of their own. DAILY READINGS Judges 19-21 & Psalm 76 DAILY NOTES Judges 19 No one is given a name in this chapter.   A Levite takes a concubine for a wife.  She gets angry and leaves to go back to her father's house. The Levite goes to her and the father-in-law and he enjoy several days of eating and drinking together. The Levite eventually leaves with his wife and they travel to Gibeah; they get no help from anyone else along the way. They stay at the home of a man from Gibeah.  While they are there, the men of Gibeah rise against the Levite.   The man of the house refuses their attack and offers both his daughter and the Levite's wife instead.   The men "wantonly" rape the wife.  ...