Acknowledge their guilt

The LORD is your keeper

Psalms 121:1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

Psalms 146:5-6 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever;

Isaiah 40:28-29 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.

God is just as present in the journey as in the destination. The one who looks to the Lord can have confidence in the fact that God does not sleep. God’s watchful eye is always open looking with love and care upon His people.

“Nothing either of the day or night can harm us if God is keeping guard. God is our covering against every calamity. He is our shade against the visible troubles of the day as well as the hidden troubles of the night.” (Boice)

“Our soul is kept from the dominion of sin, the infection of error, the crush of despondency, the puffing up of pride; kept from the world, the flesh and the devil; kept for holier and greater things; kept in the love of God; kept unto the eternal kingdom and glory.” (Spurgeon)

“When we go out in youth to begin life, and come in at the end to die, we shall experience the same keeping. Our exits and our entrances are under one protection.” (Spurgeon)

We can trust in His everlasting, ever present, all powerful, faithful, limitless grace, mercy and love at all times. God never changes “He is the same today, tomorrow, and forever.” Hope and faith in God is never empty. It brings life’s purpose for today, a reason to look forward to tomorrow.

So many signs

“because they did not believe in God and did not trust his saving power.”

Psalms 78:31 But before they had satisfied their craving, while the food was still in their mouths, But before they had satisfied their craving, while the food was still in their mouths, the anger of God rose against them, and he killed the strongest of them and laid low the young men of Israel. In spite of all this, they still sinned; despite his wonders, they did not believe. So he made their days vanish like a breath, and their years in terror. When he killed them, they sought him; they repented and sought God earnestly. In spite of all this, they still sinned; despite his wonders, they did not believe. So he made their days vanish like a breath, and their years in terror. When he killed them, they sought him; they repented and sought God earnestly.

Numbers 11:33 While the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD struck down the people with a very great plague.

John 12:37 Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him,

Proverbs 1:32 For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them;

Numbers 14:35 I, the LORD, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all this wicked congregation who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.”

Judges 3:9 But when the people of Israel cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel

Judges 10:10 And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD, saying, “We have sinned against you, because we have forsaken our God and have served the Baals.”

Hosea 5:15 I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me.

Hosea 7:14 They do not cry to me from the heart, but they wail upon their beds; for grain and wine they gash themselves; they rebel against me.

It is our tendency to live for self and deny God access to leading our daily lives. History is full of examples where man, in the midst of God’s hand at work, turns away from God and doing what seems right in their own eyes. We so easily follow that which is not of God. Do we think God has somehow changed and no longer requires our whole heart, mind and soul? Do we think we are different and God’s commands to humbly serve, trust in, rely on, cling to, honor, follow and obey Him do not apply? Do we think He has watered down what a dedicated life to Him should look like? I can remember when you were thought to be a Jesus follower if you went to Sunday School, Sunday morning church, Sunday evening church, Wednesday evening bible study, another bible study during the week, and spoke frequently about God in your life. Now it seems you are considered a Jesus follower if you attend Sunday morning church once per week. It seems as though the church has adopted this lower expectation and I fear it is at the cost of many souls forever lost. Now is the time to repent, return and follow God with an earnest desire to humbly serve, honor, follow and obey Him.

Running Away

” I will return again to my place,
until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face,
and in their distress earnestly seek me.”

Hosea 5:13
When Ephraim saw his sickness,
and Judah his wound,
then Ephraim went to Assyria,
and sent to the great king.
But he is not able to cure you
or heal your wound.
For I will be like a lion to Ephraim,
and like a young lion to the house of Judah.
I, even I, will tear and go away;
I will carry off, and no one shall rescue.
I will return again to my place,
until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face,
and in their distress earnestly seek me.

Isaiah 1:5
Why will you still be struck down?
Why will you continue to rebel?
The whole head is sick,
and the whole heart faint.
From the sole of the foot even to the head,
there is no soundness in it,
but bruises and sores
and raw wounds;
they are not pressed out or bound up
or softened with oil.

Ezekiel 6:9
how I have been broken over their whoring heart that has departed from me and over their eyes that go whoring after their idols. And they will be loathsome in their own sight for the evils that they have committed, for all their abominations. And they shall know that I am the Lord. I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them.”

Are you looking for God to return into your life? Are you wondering where God is in your life? Why does it seem like there are times when God seems so far away? When it says “I have been broken over their whoring heart that has departed from me and over their eyes that go whoring after their idols” – does it speak to your heart? God is alive, He sees all, He knows all and nothing is shielded from His seeing and knowing. He knows our commitment, our desire, and our thoughts. Knowing this He sent His son to be a sacrifice so that we could have communion with Him. He did this out of grace and mercy to draw unto Him a people who want to humbly serve Him, who desire above all else to honor and glorify Him, who live for Him and His purpose. If God seems far away or distant it is not because of Him not pursuing in love, but rather because of our want to do what is right in our own eyes without giving any thought to service to Him. I can’t even comprehend how much time I’ve wasted on things that bring no honor or glory to God. How much time have I spent thinking about temporary things this side of eternity without any thought to serving Him and what His purpose is. Many times we are reminded in scripture how generations lost all knowledge and understanding of God and yet I wonder how it looks in God’s eyes to see a generation with God’s word so easily available yet treated as nothing more than dust on table.