Then the Lord said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is . . . committing adultery. . . ." So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver (Hosea 3:1-2).
THEME
FAITHFULNESS
Mary Ann Evans, better known as English novelist George Eliot, wrote on May 5, 1880, to her friend Barbara Bodichon about her marriage. "By the time you receive this letter I shall . . . have been married to Mr. J. W. Cross . . . who . . . sees his happiness in the dedication of his life to me."
Hosea continued to love Gomer, his adultrous wife. His love and faithfulness became God's object lesson to Israel. Although Israel had been a wayward wife and chased after other gods, God was still faithful and loving.
Stories of unfaithfulness to God abound; men and women continually seek intimacy with each other and with gods of their own making instead of with the One who truly cares.
The unfaithfulness of Judas must have hurt Jesus deeply. He had shared His life with him. At their last meal together, they dipped their bread into the bowl at the same time; their hands may have touched. Later, in the garden, Judas kissed Jesus, but it was a kiss of betrayal. Even though Judas double-crossed His loving friend for monetary gain, Jesus probably grieved when He heard that Judas hanged himself.
Like a faithful spouse, God listens for the phone to ring, for the sound of tires on gravel, for any sign that we have returned. When we finally come home, He quietly asks where we have been. He hugs us, tells us good night, and says, "I love you. I will always be here."
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AUG 12
HOSEA 1 & 3
You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory (Psalm 73:24).
When we reflect on the past, things often look much different than when they happened. For instance, a young woman cried when she broke up with a young man to whom she had been engaged. Yet later she told me that she looked back on that heartache with gratitude. Today she has a fine Christian husband, and the former suitor turned out to be irresponsible and has been divorced twice.
When Hosea wrote the book that bears his name, he saw the earlier events of his life quite differently than when he lived them. He had married a girl named Gomer, only to see her become unfaithful to him, bear children by other men, and sell herself into ritual prostitution. With a broken heart, he had continued his ministry while loving her and longing for her restoration.
The day finally came when he was able to purchase her freedom and bring her home. The Lord enabled Hosea to see his relationship with Gomer as a dramatic portrayal of God's relationship with His unfaithful people Israel. I believe that's why Hosea could say early in the book that the Lord, knowing all that would transpire, had in His wise providence directed the prophet to enter this marriage.
In heaven, we'll be able to look back and see God's purposes in the things that happened here on earth. With this assurance in mind, we can look forward in confidence, saying with the psalmist, "You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory."
--H.V.L.
Never be afraid to entrust an unknown future to an all-knowing God.
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AUG 13
PSALM 107:1-15
His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness (Lamentations 3:22-23).
Hudson Taylor, the founder of the China Inland Mission, wrote the following in his journal: "Our Heavenly Father is a very experienced One. He knows very well that His children wake up with a good appetite every morning. He always provides breakfast for them, and He does not send them supperless to bed at night. . . . He sustained three million Israelites in the wilderness for forty years. We do not expect He will send three million missionaries to China; but if He did, He would have ample means to sustain them all. . . . Depend on it. God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply."
Hudson Taylor had an absolute trust in the faithful God, and the Lord marvelously blessed the work he established.
We may be weak, but our heavenly Father is all-powerful. Our feelings may fluctuate, but He never changes. Even creation is a record of His steadfastness. That's why we can sing, "Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest, / Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above, / Join with all nature in manifold witness / To Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love."
"God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Co 1:9). Our strength for the present and our hope for the future are not based on our own perseverance, but on the fidelity of God. At every turn of the road we can count on the Father's faithfulness.
--P.R.V.
He who abandons himself to God, God will never abandon.
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AUG 14
HEBREWS 6:7-12
God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love
(Hebrews 6:10).
A. C. Dixon told the story of Johanna Ambrosius, the wife of a poor farmer who lived in the German Empire during the latter part of the nineteenth century. She and her husband spent many long hours in the fields, so she knew little of the outside world. But she had the soul of a poet. With her hope in God, she wrote down the thoughts that filled her heart. She had great sympathy for the struggling people around her, and her mother-heart expressed its joys and sorrows in poetry. Somehow, a bit of verse she had written found its way into print and later into the hands of the Empress of Germany. Impressed by the beauty of what she read, she asked that the author be located. On finding Johanna and learning of her meager lifestyle, the Empress expressed her love for the woman by supplying her immediate needs and by giving her a pension for life.
God calls many of us to serve Him in obscure places where no one expresses gratitude or even seems to notice what we do. But God observes everything we do to help bear the burdens of others, and He will reward us for our labors. He sees our struggles, knows the load we carry, and takes note of our faithfulness. He cares for us in our pilgrimage and will make it all worthwhile when He comes again.
Our eternal pension is guaranteed. God will not forget our "work and labor of love."
--P.R.V.
Work for the Lord--the pay may not be much, but the retirement plan is out of this world.
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AUG 15
MATTHEW 24:42-47
A faithful man will abound with blessings (Proverbs 28:20).
God's Word commends faithfulness. The parables in Matthew 24 and 25 about being ready for Christ's sudden appearing point out that those who faithfully do their tasks receive the Lord's approval. Day by day, in good fortune or in bad, whether feeling good or a little down in the dumps, we are to continue steadfastly doing the job God has given us.
After the tragic bombing of a marine base in Beirut in October 1983, the steadfastness of one young soldier moved and heartened the American people back home. He had been critically wounded in the explosion of the revamped hotel where he and his fellow marines had been staying. Many of his buddies had been killed. He was covered with bandages and a jungle of tubes was attached to his body. Unable to speak, he indicated he wanted to write something when visited by General Paul X. Kelly, Commandant of the Marine Corps. Painfully he wrote the words SEMPER FI, a shortened form of the U.S. Marine Corps motto, SEMPER FIDELIS, which means "Always faithful."
Those of us in the Lord's army can learn from this young man's example. We too may have come under heavy attack. Our "wounds" may be many. Some of our beloved fellow soldiers may fall in battle. Even so, we are to be faithful to the end. An attitude of determined loyalty should fill our hearts and drive us onward no matter what the circumstances. Yes, SEMPER FIDELIS, "always faithful," is also the Christian's motto.
--D.C.E.
The proof of our faith is our faithfulness.
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AUG 16
JOHN 19:25-30
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith (2 Timothy 4:7).
In 1981 Bill Broadhurst entered the Pepsi Challenge 10,000-meter road race in Omaha, Nebraska. Ten years earlier, surgery for a brain aneurysm left him paralyzed on his left side. But on a misty July morning, he stood with 1,200 lithe-looking men and women at the starting line. The gun cracked. The crowd surged ahead. Bill threw his stiff left leg forward and pivoted on it as his right foot hit the ground. His slow plop-plop-plop rhythm seemed to mock him as the pack disappeared into the distance. Sweat rolled down his face, pain pierced his ankle, but he kept going. Six miles, two hours, and twenty-nine minutes later, Bill reached the finish line. A man approached from a small group of bystanders. Bill recognized him from pictures in the newspaper. "Here," the man said. "You've worked harder for this than I have." With those words, Bill Rodgers, the famous marathon runner, put his newly won medal around Broadhurst's neck, proclaiming him a winner.
The sight of Jesus hanging "helpless" on a cross looked like a tragic defeat. But three little words from His lips amounted to a victory shout: "It is finished!" Three days later the truth of His words would be known. The empty tomb confirmed His claim. He had finished His work by defeating death and atoning for sin.
The Christian life is not a race to see who comes in first, but an endurance run to see who finishes faithfully. Remaining faithful to the finish makes us true winners.
--D.J.D.
We are judged by what we finish, not by what we start.
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AUG 17
MATTHEW 25:14-30
"Well done, good and faithful servant" (Matthew 25:21).
Speaking in Edinburgh, missionary John Williams held his audience spellbound with thrilling accounts of God's work among the tribespeople of the New Hebrides Islands. A soft-spoken missionary followed Williams with a brief report of his work. In a low and trembling voice he said, "My friends, I have no remarkable success to relate like Mr. Williams. I've labored for Christ in a far-off land for many years and have seen only small results. But I have this comfort: when the Master comes to reckon with His servants, He will not say, 'Well done, thou good and successful servant,' but 'well done, thou good and faithful servant.' I have tried to be faithful!"
From Jesus' story in Matthew 25 we learn that unequal gifts exercised with equal diligence will receive equal reward. In the parable, talents represent God-given abilities to carry out God-assigned responsibilities. What's important is not how much we accomplish, but our motives and the quality of our labors. Alexander MacLaren wrote, "Christ rewards not action, but the graces that are made visible in the action; and these can be seen in the tiniest as in the largest deeds. A light that streams through a pinprick is the same that pours through the widest windows."
We need not feel inadequate if we have been diligent in serving Christ. Although it's rewarding to see large results, in God's eyes faithfulness that produces even small results is a job well done.
--D.J.D.
Work done well for Christ will receive a "well done" from Christ.
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AUG 18
2 TIMOTHY 4:1-8
I planted . . . but God gave the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6).
A deacon rebuked an elderly preacher one Sunday morning before the service. "Pastor," said the man, "something must be wrong with your preaching and your work. There's been only one person added to the church in a whole year, and he's just a boy." The minister listened, his eyes moistening and his thin hand trembling. "I feel it all," he replied, "but God knows I've tried to do my duty." On that day the minister's heart was heavy as he stood before his flock. As he finished the message, he felt a strong inclination to resign. After everyone else had left, that one new boy came to him and asked, "Do you think if I worked hard for an education, I could become a preacher--perhaps a missionary?" Again tears welled up in the minister's eyes. "Ah, this heals the ache I feel," he said. "Robert, I see the Divine hand now. May God bless you, my boy. Yes, I think you will become a preacher."
Many years later an aged missionary returned to London from Africa. People spoke his name with reverence. Nobles invited him to their homes. He had added many souls to the church of Jesus Christ, reaching even some of Africa's most savage chiefs. His name was Robert Moffat, the same Robert who years before had spoken to the pastor on that Sunday morning in the old Scottish church.
Our service for Christ may sometimes seem fruitless. We wonder if anything significant is happening. But if we are faithful, God will give the increase.
--D.J.D.
Faithfulness is God's requirement, fruitfulness is His reward.
