• God speaks to us through His Word…a silent probing of the heart.
• He witnesses to us through His creation…as the heavens declare His majesty and the oceans resound with a steady applause.  But what about the unexpected glimpses into God’s heart as He soothes a troubled soul in the midst of some most unusual circumstances?

Several years ago I witnessed God’s amazing love and compassion for me in the midst of an emotional and mentally challenging dilemma.  Having returned to college and in my junior year as a non-traditional senior-citizen student, I experienced the reality of math anxiety in its full-blown evidence.  As I was taking my final exam (creating an auto-cad, computer-generated set of architectural drawings,) my mind went blank and I could not even perform the most basic of computer-generated skills.  It was as if my brain froze, and my heart raced in circles as I sat mortified and utterly defeated.  No amount of praying, silently quoting scripture to myself, or being still seemed to bring relief.  Finally, I rose and explained to my professor that I would not be able to complete the exam.  She told me to go home and call her later that day.

I walked to my car, sobbing, crying out to the LORD and feeling totally helpless.  I passed through the backyard of a student housing duplex.  Approaching the house, I heard the most beautiful violin melody coming out the back window.  It was as though the music was floating through the air and singled out for my ears alone.  Immediately my heart heard the music as a beautiful love song being played by my Father in heaven.  Music that reminded me that I was not a failure; I was not helpless, and all was not lost.

I can’t adequately tell you the hope and soothing balm that music ministered to me that day. My Father heard my cry for help and responded with strings on a violin…playing out a love song of courage and hope.  I am thankful that in my distress, I was still able to pause and receive the gift of hope.  Hope through ears that God tuned-in to His ‘frequency’ in the air waves of heaven.  (Post script:  Later that day I was allowed to return to the computer lab and successfully take the exam without the time restraints that foster math anxiety. AND leave a note on the door of the violinist thanking him for ministering God’s hope to me in song.)

How about you?  Have you witnessed God’s soothing love song during a time of fear, despair or confusion?   Share with us how you experienced God’s hope in the midst of the turmoil.

“The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them…The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”   Psalm 34:17-18

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Matthew Henry said: “Her heart is full of another world, even when her hands are most busy about this world.” We pray that your heart is full and overflowing with joy in Jesus today!

“…for he views the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.”

This same God-the one that carved out the heavens and who alone knows the way to wisdom and understanding (Job 28:23)-knows my heart.  Think about that for a moment.  He knows what’s truly in your heart; He knows what’s visible for all to see, but also the things hidden from even your closest friend.  Psalm 90:8 says:

“You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of you presence.”

You see, when the light of the Holy God is set before our hearts, it can’t help but to expose all the dark corners and secrets.  The people of Hosea’s time failed to recognize this.  They failed to see that the God that created them and called them His own was a jealous and all-knowing God.  He knew their sins and the condition of their heart.  Check out our passages from Hosea this morning, and think about the questions that follow:

“I want to heal Israel, but its sins are too great. Samaria is filled with liars. Thieves are on the inside and bandits on the outside! Its people don’t realize that I am watching them. Their sinful deeds are all around them, and I see them all.” (Hosea 7:1-2 NLT)

“They do not cry out to me from their hearts but wail upon their beds.  They gather together for grain and new wine but turn away from me.  I trained them and strengthened them, but they plot evil against me.  They do not turn to the Most High; they are like a faulty bow…” (Hosea 7:14-16a NIV)

• What did God desire to do?
• What did the people fail to realize?
• What are the people truly crying out for?
• To what does God compare them?

These passages kept running through my mind.  God wanted to heal them.  He desired to see them made whole again…to take away their iniquities.  He is the great physician and the only one who can fully remove the presence of sin in our life.  So what was the problem?  Sure they were sinful…but aren’t we all?  Doesn’t the passage say they were crying out to Him?

When you look closer at Hosea 7:14-16, you’ll see the problem.  They were not crying out to Him from their hearts…they weren’t truly willing to be saved.  During the time of Hosea, it was normal and expected for people to gather together during a time of mourning.  The people were doing what they were “expected” to do, however they were NOT seeking the Lord. Instead, they were seeking grain and new wine.  They desired temporal things.  They wanted God to provide only for their immediate, physical needs, but failed to realize their extreme depravity of heart.

How often does that relate to our own lives? How often do we struggle with wanting God to provide what we think we need, rather than repenting of our own sin and asking Him to fix the depravity of our hearts?

The thing I find most interesting however, is that the people are described as a faulty bow. Think about that…a faulty bow, not a faulty arrow.  The original word for sin is the verb chata, which means “to miss the mark or to miss the goal or path of right.”  When an archer would shoot an arrow and miss the bullseye, they would call it “sin.”  When we miss the perfect goal and God’s best, we sin.  The problem is not that we are a bad arrow or fail to measure up; the problem is that we are faulty bows.  No matter how straight, how well-crafted, or how perfect the arrow is, if shot from a faulty bow, it will never hit the mark.  It will always miss.

What a beautiful picture of us and our sin nature.  You see, just like the Israelites in Hosea’s time, we are a faulty bow. We cannot hit the mark and be saved on our own…no matter how beautiful or perfect of an arrow we become. We need Jesus, our Savior, to change and save us. He fixes the bow.  He fixes our hearts.  The beauty of all of this is that He desires to save and heal us, but we must be willing.

The Israelites had missed the mark.  They had missed God’s best and the purpose for their being.  From the beginning they were His chosen people, but they allowed idols, selfishness, fear, and pride to get in the way.  My prayer is that we no longer miss the mark or our purpose. We were created to serve the Lord, but again, we must be willing. Like the Psalmist wrote, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts…” (Psalm 95:7-8a).  He’s waiting…are you willing?

Later on I began thinking about those jeans and the patches.  I couldn’t help but relate that to my own walk with God.  So many times in my life, I have had bad things happen, made bad decisions, done things that weren’t quite right, and tears began to appear in my life – in my soul.  But oh how my wonderful God patched those tears and made me strong again.  Yes – just like my jeans – his patches are stronger than my worn out life, and He never fails to keep applying those healing scraps to my soul.  And just like my jeans – His miraculous patches are the really cool parts of my life. Watching God work through my messes, through my mistakes, through my tears is A-Mazing!  Let’s face it, there’s nothing cooler than a God thing.

So don’t be afraid. I am here, with you;
don’t be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, help you.
I am here with My right hand to make right and to hold you up.

Isaiah 41:10 (the Voice)

It’s pretty incredible to have that kind of access in my everyday life, but I have to carefully ward off the negative side effects that come with it. Have you heard before that “Comparison is the thief of joy”? Teddy Roosevelt said it. You know something? He’s exactly right.

I’m of the Millennial generation. We can remember what it was like to not have the unlimited resources of the Internet, but it’s a little vague. Ever since we’ve been able to create things on our own, we’ve had a built-in comparison system. It sort of feels like I’ve never known the bliss of being able to appreciate and be proud of something I’ve done without the cloud of comparison hanging over me, stemming from a 2.5-second Pinterest or Google Image search.

Sometimes I tell myself I feel that way because this way of life is all I’ve ever known. However, one’s generation has little to do with how today’s culture can so easily manipulate our feelings and what we believe about ourselves, our work, our hopes, etc. There’s a fine line we’re forced to walk between inspiration and the downward spiral of comparison. How do we protect ourselves against falling over that line to the darker side?

Galatians 6:4 says, Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. 

Well, yeah. That makes total sense. However, I’ll be honest with you and say that it feels good to be good at something. Right? And, (for me, at least) it feels not-so-awesome to attempt something and be disappointed with the result. With this verse in mind, it seems like God knew that we would fight these exact feelings, doesn’t it?

When I was struggling with these feelings recently, I heard Steven Furtick (a fantastic pastor from Elevation Church in North Carolina) being interviewed on how he deals with the pressure of getting “results” (seeing people respond to the Gospel, in his situation). His response humbled me. He said, “It’s hard to do, but I try to remind myself to focus less on being impressive and more on being a blessing.”

…aaaaand then I crawled out of my sad pit of comparison and realized something: Because focusing less on ourselves is hard to do, that tells me it’s not natural for us. It’s not natural for us because it is the way of Christ. So, how are we supposed to manage being like Christ? “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.” (Philippians 2:3-5)

Okay, seriously?! Again, it’s as if God read my diary before the earth was formed.

So, here’s the deal. I hope to always have ambitions. I hope to always want to learn new things and create fun stuff and to work this Internet age of wide-open access to my advantage. If this is going to be the case, I must also promise to have an even stronger ambition to cling to Christ; to take off the blinders of comparison and abide by Truth.

Does this make sense? Am I alone?

How do you struggle with comparison?

How do you protect your joy?

We as a society do not run to God when we should. We often find ourselves searching for satisfaction, answers, and joy from friends, relationships, self-help books, and even material goods.

As I’ve been reading through Ezekiel the past couple of months, I’ve noticed a trend among the Israelites, God’s chosen people. They, too, had difficulty placing their trust first and foremost in God. As they sought alliances with neighboring nations and conformed to the people around them, they demonstrated a lack of trust and satisfaction in the God who brought them out of bondage and had displayed His faithfulness to them again and again. In the following passage, God points out their unfaithfulness to Him. Even though He accuses them of prostitution, bear in mind that this is also referring to the political alliances they were seeking, not just lustful satisfaction.

“Woe! Woe to you, declares the Sovereign Lord… You engaged in prostitution with the Egyptians… So I stretched out my hand against you and reduced your territory. I gave you over to the greed of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines… You engaged in prostitution with the Assyrians too, because you were insatiable; and even after that, you still were not satisfied. Then you increased your promiscuity to include Babylonia, a land of merchants, but even with this you were not satisfied.” (Ezekiel 16:23-24,26,27-29)

Despite how many times the Israelites ran elsewhere for security and satisfaction, they were never satisfied. The same holds true for us today.  We can look to our friends or to the opposite sex or to material things to give us the happiness and solutions we desire, but all of these things never really do fill us up as we desire.

If we don’t stop yearning for creation rather than the Creator, there is no doubt that God will interfere and bring our unfaithfulness to an end. If you look at the Israelites and the punishment they received from God in the form of captivity and violence, you can easily argue that God wouldn’t go to that extreme with you, thus real change is not really required on your part. This is a lie.

In Ezekiel 30, we see something that God did in response to His people’s distrust of Him. He destroyed their idols. The very people that Israel was running to, the Egyptians, were threatened by God and eventually punished through captivity and strife. God didn’t just ask the Israelites to surrender what they were wrongly putting their hope in; he made sure they couldn’t hold on anymore by taking the object of their false security away. The same was done to the Assyrians, described in Ezekiel 31.

When we are running to other things than God, we cannot assume that God will not react. His love and grace is abounding, but His jealousy is also as unyielding as the grave (Song of Songs 8:6). This is not to scare you into surrender or repentance. This is to remind you that God is jealous for His children and He will run after you whether or not you keep running away. Just as He blocked the path of Hosea’s adulterous wife with thornbushes, walled her in so she could not find her way, and prevented her from chasing after her lovers (Hosea 2:6-7), God will be looking for a way to bring us back to Him.

We need to stop this never-ending search for things that will not satisfy our yearning. We can place all our trust in people and things who will ultimately let us down, or we can place all our trust in the One who never will leave us and promises us a water that will cause us to never thirst again (John 4:13).

This will look different for everyone. If you feel like you’re always striving for approval from the people around you, maybe it’s time you stop trying so hard to impress and instead let God tell you of your worth. If you are thinking that relationships will fix the emptiness you feel or make you more complete, perhaps you need to take those relationships off of that pedestal and devote your time to sitting at your true Lover’s feet.

What would trusting in the Lord with all of your heart look like in your life? I dare you to find out.

-Jessie Nyland

“…in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

I don’t know about you, but for me, that’s great news!  I need to know and remember that no matter what I face in this world, there is something more.  There is a God that has already won!

Sometimes however, we can know that He has already overcome, but still have difficulty understanding why we’re suffering.  Has God left us?  Is He mad at us? If we’re doing all the right things, why would He allow us to go through difficult times?

As we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks, the people in Hosea’s time had misunderstood God’s plan for their lives; they thought that their sacrifices and offerings were more important than loving, acknowledging, and obeying God.  We have seen from Hosea’s prophesies that God was about to judge the Israelites, punish them, and remove them from their land.  Does this mean that God had neglected and forgotten His people?  As I thought about that this morning and how it relates to my own life, God led me to a passage of Scripture in Deuteronomy.  Read it below along with a passage from Hosea 6, and think about the questions that follow:

“I will proclaim the name of the LORD. Oh, praise the greatness of our God! He is the Rock, His works are perfect, and all His ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is He.” (Deuteronomy 32:3-4)

“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. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.” (Hosea 6:1-2)

• How does the passage from Deuteronomy describe the Lord?
• What does it say His works and ways are?
• According to Hosea, what happens on the second and third days?
• What do you think this means?

You see, the people were lost in their ways and led astray.  They had a completely false view of God; God simply came onto the scene and put them back on the right path.  He WANTED them to seek Him; He WANTED them to turn to Him.  Like the writer said, He tore them to pieces in order to heal them.  Have you ever had something bad occur in your life that ultimately led you closer to Christ?  How about something that seemed impossible and overwhelming that allowed you to fully place your trust in Christ? Perhaps that’s not a coincidence.  Remember…God’s ultimate plan is for you to look more like His Son.

Sometimes however, we go through stuff simply because the world is a fallen place or because other people make bad decisions that affect our lives.  When this happens, rest assured that all of God’s ways are just and perfect. Everything that God does is perfect…no matter how we perceive it.  This is a hard lesson to learn and something that I struggled with for a really long time.  But at the end of the day, ask yourself this one question: “Why do you serve God?”

After much hardship and wrestling with this question in my own life, I finally came to the conclusion that I serve God because He is the ONLY one worthy of my life!  He’s the only one WORTH serving! He is Holy, perfect, and the great “I AM.”  And good times or bad, that’s a promise that you can stand firmly on.  No matter what you face in this life or what is thrown at you, find peace in the fact that God is on His throne. The battle that we fight on earth is a spiritual one that’s already been won.  God’s purpose and plan is so much bigger than us, and like the earlier verse in John 16 states, God has already overcome!

So what do we do in the meantime?

“Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.” (Hosea 6:3)

We must know, perceive, experience, recognize, consider, and confess the Lord.  Each and every day, despite our circumstances, we must pursue the One who is just and true. Hold fast to the promise that Christ is coming…we must press on!

]]> http://longhollowwomen.com/hosea-why-do-you-serve-god/feed/ 0 http://longhollowwomen.com/he-calls-me-friend/ http://longhollowwomen.com/he-calls-me-friend/#comments Mon, 06 May 2013 19:51:06 +0000 Tami Heim http://longhollowwomen.com/?p=2980 Continue reading →]]>

No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. – John 15:15, NKJV

This year, I am experiencing a great swell of gratitude for the friends God has brought into my life. I’ve also discovered a new kind of joy as I watch the friends I love fall in love with each other.  Whether I get to connect them within our church family, at conferences or on the mission fields in Haiti, it excites me to see their new friendships form.

It’s all so good. It’s all so God.

Today, I rest and soak in the truth that Jesus, the Son of God, calls me friend.  Acknowledging the significance of this explodes my earthly definition and recasts it within the context of holiness and eternity. And like the very nature of God, His promise of this relationship is beyond what I can comprehend. But the realness of it is validated in my life over and over again. It’s there, ever-present, in all He has done and how He cares for me.

What my Friend did for me…

He lived this life as an example - For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. ~ Hebrews 4:15

He paid a debt I could not – For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. ~ Ephesians 2:8,9

He rescued me from death – But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved). ~ Ephesians 2:4,5

He redeemed me for eternity – For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. ~ John 3:16

He restored my relationship with the Father - But now in Christ Jesus the blood of Christ has bought you who were far off near. He is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separations. ~ Ephesians 2:13,14

How my Friend cares for me…

He’s faithful, even when I am not – If we are faithless, He will remain faithful; He cannot deny Himself.  ~ II Timothy 2:13

He supports me with all the grace I need - Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. ~ Hebrews 4:16

He leads, guides, and directs in all things – All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the men of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for ever good work.  ~ II Timothy 3:16,17

He equips me to perform great works -Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. ~ John 14:12

He empowers me to accomplish His call – But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. ~ Acts 1:8

Who am I that You are mindful of me?

That You hear me when I call

Is it true that You are thinking of me?

How You love me it’s amazing

I am a friend of God

Lyrics by Craig & Dean Phillips – Israel Houghton

Are you receiving all your Friend has for you? He’s there, waiting just for you.

Living to Serve,

Tami

 Egg Shell Planting: Use a simple egg shell to start your plants, then simply crush the shell a bit and place it directly into the ground.

Vintage Mason Jars: All you need is an old jar, some paint, and a nail file.

DIY Chalkboard Planters: These can be made for under $8

Twine wrapped Jars: An easy way to spruce up any old jar or glass bottle.

Spoon Plant Hanger: Take old silverware, bend it, and use it to hang plants.

You can find these projects and more on our Pinterest site… http://pinterest.com/longhollowwomen/

At our house, we get a little crazy with planting…like the one time the hubby made a run to the nursery down the street after I asked him to find a “good sized ornamental shrub” to fill up the urns we had just added to the back patio. He brought them home, and he worked so hard to put them in the urns, packing soil tightly around the roots. He was so proud of what he found…a very tall, bold, plant with thick, large leaves. He just knew it would be perfect!

I came home and walked around the corner with him to take a look at these great new additions to the patio.

“Umm honey, those aren’t shrubs…those are magnolia…trees!” I explained.

This time of the year the soil of our gardens is perfect. The winter freeze is long gone. The dirt is willing to be moved and shifted and changed. Its rain-moistened softness allows weeds to be removed with a gentle tug. It anxiously awaits our planting…looking on eagerly, to see what colors and scents and textures it will share this season with, happily ready to give them its nutrients and excited about watching them grow. It truly loves and craves the water we pour over it, soaking it all in quickly and fully as to not let any of it run off the sides and be wasted.

During this planting season, meditate on these ideas while you enjoy gardening:

Is the soil of your heart soft and willing to move and shift so that God can plant a seed or better yet, a beautiful flower in your life?  Are you letting go of the past season and embracing the change that comes with this new one, even though you don’t know for sure what it might bring?

Romans 12:2. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God…”

Is the soil of your heart getting the daily spiritual nourishment that it needs? Are you keeping it cool and refreshed using water from His well? Even a few days without water will cause the most beautiful of flowers to wilt. Our spiritual lives are parallel to life in a garden; when we are spiritually nourished, we flourish.

John 15:4-5 “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

Are the seeds that you’ve planted in the soil of your heart getting full or part “Son”? Do you need a repositioning of yourself with your work, with the friends with whom you associate, or with the places where you spend your time? If life doesn’t seem to be flowing smoothly, is it possible that there needs to be a rearranging of things in order to move the obstacles that are blocking His light.

Isaiah 26:3-4 “He will keep in perfect peace all those who trust in Him, whose thoughts turn often to the Lord! Trust in the Lord always, for in the Lord, Jehovah, is your everlasting strength.”

Once the flowers have been planted and they’ve begun to take root and grow, have you spent quiet, meditative, and reflective time in this garden?

Those quiet moments, walking through lush grass, hearing the rustling of spring trees, enjoying the song of birds… those are glimpses of heaven, ladies. Listen for God’s voice in the beauty of this magnificent season.

Psalm 46:10 “Be still and know that I am God.”

Happy planting…happy spring!

Visit Kelly’s blog at www.thesimplifiedfamily.com