Tuesday, February 23, 2010

A Trumpet Call

 So let's try something a little different here.
I don't know if I mentioned that I have been doing a study
  on the book of Hosea by Kay Arthur....but I have. ;)
We are up to chapter nine...... but I would like to backup a bit and share some thoughts 
for you to chew on in your spare time.
~~~~~
Often I go out to the creek to think and breath 
when I need a little change from my home on wheels...yes, the walls do tend to close in after a while.
During one of my recent visits I looked around and wondered if my eyes were taking in what another persons eyes would see if they were viewing the same scene for the first time.
 Was I missing anything? Had I grown used to the picture and thus begun missing the true picture?
And yes, I know that these thoughts were sparked by the messed up lives of God's people in Hosea.
And so using one of my pictures I would like to take you on a visual lesson of sorts.:)
If any of the children of Hosea's time had come for a visit  with me by my creek
I do believe this is the view they would have seen.
.
(click on this and you will get the full effect)
It would have been their norm.....and yet we would have been seeing the same scene in totally different way.
Of course you and I seeing it for the first time know 
that something is not right....it has been warped by human hands.
And similarly- over time the parents and leaders of Hosea's time...had become to warped and twist the land they lived in. Their children would consider the wooden idols in the living room as norm.
Each new drift from God bought change to their culture.
And since the drift had not begun with them.....the scene they may have seen when they were younger....may
have looked a tad like the one below.
Looks pretty good doesn't it? Pretty normal. But just like this picture has been added to......their ways began to change and add to perfect picture that God had designed. 
It was a slow process.....and it did not happen over night.
But soon those changes became the norm.... for them.....and the children they would have.
A people called to come apart and be separate....were the same people who began a drift to mingle in marriage and life style with the ungodly nations around them.
Makes you want to scream...Helllllloooo!!! don't you see what you are doing?
And we know that God sent prophets their way to do just that....and still the people did not listen.
 
Generations went by and God had had enough. He had called and chastised.....warned and wept and now it was time for His people to face the seeds they had sown.
They refused to see things in the "black and white" way that God had so paitiently lain before them.
Their hearts were cold.
And their eyes blinded by the evil in their hearts.
Lying, cheating, adultery, murder, idol worship and even lying about God abounded in their towns. 
 And God let them become the slaves of the very people they were supposed to rule.
 Does this not sound like we are reading about our own times?
Don't just evaluate this by the bodies outward actions....we don't see what is going on in the hearts and minds of other believers....but I know what goes on in mine.
And so of course these things led me to evaluate if I was seeing the real picture of my life according to the Word of God or a picture of life that had been tinted and twisted 
by generations that have gone before.
I know...heavy stuff...and we are tempted to say....
Dude, do you have to be so serious!
But don't you think that the people of Hosea's times might have said the same thing in just a different way?
It might have sounded like this......
By my word!...here comes that man who married that harlot(snicker)let us move along before he brings us down with all those words about how angry our God is about us 
sleeping with the temple prostitutes.
Pish posh....everyone is doing it...what is God going to do anyway....punish us all?
And yet...slavery came even they had been warned.
God is just and fair.....all will have been warned before the punishment comes.
I mean really...we know what scripture says...or at least we should know.
Bibles are everywhere....Christian books line the shelves of even secular bookstores.
No excuse.
And yet in my life.....as I have been reading and studying Hosea.....I know I am so far off of the mark.

I am one of the priest of our generation...you are too if you are a believer.
But if the priests of our generation are not being led in the inward man by God.....we are leading the people astray by our actions.
And God is going to hold me accountable....because He is a God of justice.
If He has called the priest/guardsmen of the wall to sound the trumpet when danger is coming and I don't...scripture says I will be held accountable. (EZ 33)
Even Paul spoke of how his hands were clean because he had done what God had called him to do.
There would be no blood on his hands.
 
Below is the original picture untouched by "mans" hands.


 It is truly beautiful in its undistorted form.
And so is the life that is being controlled from the inside by God.
I want my life to be like this picture. Pure and undefiled as God intends it to be.
God is calling us......calling us back across the line we have crossed as His people.
And so the question is.....how did the people of Hosea's generation first step across the line?
Why did they step across the line?

Hosea 4:
6 My people are being destroyed because they don’t know me.  
 Since you priests refuse to know me,  
    I refuse to recognize you as my priests.  
 Since you have forgotten the laws of your God,   
   I will forget to bless your children.
7 The more priests there are,    
  the more they sin against me.  
 They have exchanged the glory of God    
  for the shame of idols.

We are the priest of this generation...the priest of the new testament.
If the priests of the Old Testament had wandered so far away ....could possibly the priests of our generation have missed the mark and distorted the picture?
What is the "reality" our children see?
I know some would consider this post preachy......but it is time to blow the trumpet.
Past time.
Ez 33 will give you a clear picture of what I am talking about.
If the priests of the generations before had been truly blowing the trumpet.... would we
be where we are today?
And if we refuse to blow the trumpet......what type of generation will follow?

"My people have been destroyed because they do not know me."
 
Do you know where your trumpet is?
Join me on the wall?

8 comments:

Denise said...

Blow the trumpet sis, and I will gladly join you. I love you.

TammieFay said...

Preachy? Preach on sister! I'll join you in blowin' that trumpet!
Love to you and Keith from all the Worshams!

pam said...

AMEN

Unknown said...

Amen sister. Preach it.

Amy said...

I love the picture analogy. I am doing the same study, but this brought new meaning to it. Thank you!

luvmy4sons said...

Another great object lesson from the world around you. I love it. It is something that has been heavy on my heart lately. As my sons have become "men" within my home and the world has slipped in just a little more here and a little more there. I have wearied in my battle at times to sound the trumpet, fearing rejection and rebellion.

Trying to find the balance as a parent with that trumpet is difficult. I know too that I am not always a perfect example to my sons. For me, I just have to lean more heavily on my God. I need to pray more. Be sure I am in the Word. Be sure I am asking for wisdom. Be sure I am listening to the answers. I must choose His ways and not my ways. I must commit my ways to Him. I have so much within our home to deal with on a daily basis. So many choices. Just sounding the trumpet in my little circle of influence feels like an overwhelming job at times. I want to spread the love and forgiveness of Christ into the world and yet not water down His message that calls us to higher ground.

Whew! Got me going girl. Thanks for that! We need a trumpet blast now and then! Blessings!

Holly said...

Oh that we might know the Lord, may we press on to know Him! (One of my memory verses last year) I love the whole of it, especially the part that He will come!

Lord, give us eyes to see, ears to hear a dn a mind to comprehend.

Thank you, Sharon! Love you, my friend!

Winging It said...

Oooh! Getting ready for bed, for an early day tomorrow...be back tomorrow evening for a LOVELY and DEEP sit down! Bless you!

Love,
Maria