Tonight Shane and I had the pure joy of being with a precious group of fellow believers, as we all begin to work through "LORD, Teach Me to Study the Bible in 28 Days".
We were studing in Hosea 4:1-6 tonight, and therein we saw what happened to God's people, the sons of Israel, when they rejected God's knowledge, and forgot His law.
The Word says in v.1 that "the LORD has a case against the inhabitants of the land...(the sons of Israel)...BECAUSE there is no faithfulness or kindness or knowledge of God in the land".
Then in v.2 it goes on to say what IS present in the land instead..."swearing, deception, murder, stealing, adultery, violence, bloodshed follows bloodshed".
Wow! Does that mirror anything we see in our own country? A country that is "hell-bent" upon removing God from our government, our schools, our homes...what is next? Will they make the attempt to remove Him from our hearts?
Sadly, that's already happened with many in our country.
And this passage in Scripture shows us that even in the days of the
Old Testament, when the parents failed to teach their children about God...about His knowledge (His Word)...that eventually they were left with a generation that didn't know God.
Didn't know His Word.
Didn't know His Law.
Didn't know His Precepts.
v. 3 Tells us the result..."Therefore the land mourns, and everyone who lives in it languishes along with the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky; and also the fish of the sea disappear."
MAN, OH MAN!
Because man chose to walk in unfaithfulness before God...to reject His knowledge, and to forget His law...
utter destruction.
The interesting aside to all of this was that as we were driving home from Bible study tonight, having just studied these very verses, we drove past a drugstore and were in shock to see it surrounded by fire trucks and police cars, and the doorway taped off with police tape.
From the outside looking in, it appeared that something bad had gone down.
Then, we turned the corner only to see many more police and fire trucks in the parking lot of the local grocery store.
It looked like something bad had gone down.
Unofficial reports are that either a smoke bomb or pepper spray, or some other airborne irritant was purposely set off in these stores.
Hmmmm....has someone, somewhere forsaken God's Word?
Are there parents that have failed to teach God's Precepts to their children?
Who is responsible?
How did we get here?
How will we ever know how to order our lives in accordance with His will, if we never spend time in His Word?
Or, is it that even people who profess to be Christians, don't really care about ordering their lives according to His Word?
What are we teaching our children about the Lord?
ARE WE teaching our children about the Lord AND His WORD?
Or, do we depend upon the Sunday school teacher to do that?
If so, how do you know that what he or she is teaching them is correct?
How can we spend more time talking with our children about American Idol than we do about their loving, Almighty Creator?
Is there faithfulness and kindness and knowledge of God in your home?
We have friends who will not allow a Bible to be put on the floor in their home..that is how highly they revere the Lord and His Word.
Still others who won't let their Bibles out of their sight...they are from Romania, a land where Bibles were smuggled in for years.
They
VALUE His Word...they live by it.
Where is your Bible? Why not go get it and read through Hosea 4:1-6, and ask God to speak to your heart about how you're doing with regard to seeking His knowledge...He promises that when you seek Him, you will find Him, when you seek Him with all of your heart.
May He speak to your heart today...as you diligently seek Him.
So in Love with Jesus,
Jesica
