Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.
Memory of the Month: Psalm 33:4
4 For the word of the Lord is right and true;
he is faithful in all he does.
Today's reading: HOSEA 5-8 REVELATION 2
Where Are You?
Genesis 3:9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
Yes, this is God in the Garden of Eden calling out for Adam after Adam and Eve had fallen to sin. Their decisions had changed the whole thing. Sin had entered the world.
Paul wrote:
Romans 5:12 ►Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—
God came looking for Adam in the Garden. He knew what had happened. He knew Adam would place blame.
Genesis 3:12 ►The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.
"The woman You put here with me, she gave..."
Adam put the blame first on God for giving him woman. Then, he turned on the woman.
"She gave...I ate".
We do not read one word about anyone forcing Adam to do anything. We do hear the implication of the same thing we hear almost eveyday-"Happy wife, happy life".
Mankind always has a 'rational' reason for his actions or else he will never admit to sin.
Remember, rational....begins with rat...
Are you a 'man-rat' or are you God's man? Do you rationalize everything so you have a ready reason for your sin?
Ladies, I haven't forgotten you. Do you always have someone in mind that you can drag into your sin. Have you mastered your leverage over the folks around you to get what you want? Are you a 'wo-rat' or are you God's woman-a child of the living God?
Sin knows no gender, folks. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (again, I join Paul as one of the 'chief of sinners'-no judgement-just questions for our hearts...)
Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
So, what good can we glean from this for daily living-for today?
Micah 6:8
8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
This verse implies we already have been shown what is good and reguired of us by God. In Christ, we know that God's laws are written on our hearts.
Hebrews 10:16 ►“This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”
Loving mercy means that we not only choose to not judge, but that we love being able to see past the sin of others and love them as Jesus does. How is this going in your life? Are you really loving the way Jesus does or are you getting just a little twisted satifaction out of seeing someone step into a mess so you can say I told you so? Or can you mercifully love someone into seeing the approaching tragedy and help steer them around it? Loving mercy is loving the worst and helping them see the best. It is standing up for the oppressed and putting an arm around the weak. It is loving our enemy when they hate us so much. It is backing down in humility when someone dares us to 'take our best shot' and loving it. (God did not say it would be easy.)
To do justly means just that. Doing what is right, we say, is always best. But do we? Do we do what is right and just when it means we must go out of our way-when it may cost us some of our reputation or money or time or energy? This means we perform justice-make sure justice happens. Oppression has always been a part of our world but has never been just-but we see it all the time. Making someone do something they think will harm them is oppression but just because the 'powers' say it must happen does not make it just.
What God says is just is just-period.
Walking humbly before God can only mean we walk humbly before mankind. You can twist it anyway you want but you cannot change the truth. When we empty ourselves before God and confess our sin realizing who we are before God we must realize we are above no other human being on earth. We are all born into sin. Jesus died for all of us.
2 Peter 3:9 ►The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Luke 4:18> “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.
Salvation, freedom, healing, liberty ...
You cannot read this scripture and think you have any other work in God's kingdom except the work of Jesus-well, you can, but you would be wrong as we all are when we sin.
Walking humbly before God is walking humbly before mankind when we love as Jesus loved and walk as Jesus walked.
Yes, we all have much work to do, but He will empower the obedient...
...because He loves us...
Father in Heaven,
Forgive me my pride and my judging-have mercy on me. Teach me. Lord of all, to walk humbly, mercifully, and justly every waking moment of my life.
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