Hosea 10:12

Hosea 6:6

For I desire mercy and not sacrifice,
And the knowledge of God
More than whole burnt offerings.

Personal Challenge

Our God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is merciful. He puts up with us as we continue to seek after our own ways and our own desires. He patiently waits for us to turn to Him and to share His truths with others so that they might turn to Him as well. He desires that we show mercy to those around us. He desires this more than seeing us practice the traditions of our churches which often turn us into legalistic people. He desires that we know Him more than offering all kinds of sacrifices to Him hoping to earn His favor. Jesus left us two commands to live by. They are to love our God and to love our neighbor. This is how we learn to be merciful. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Hosea 6:3

Let us know, let us pursue
That we might know the Lord.
We shall find Him ready as the daybreak,
And He will come to us
As the early and latter rain to the earth.

Personal Challenge

Throughout the scriptures, we are encouraged to pursue God as if He is an evasive creature that tries to hide from us. However, the scriptures also teach us that God is ever-present and waiting for us. Which one is it? I will go back to the scripture that calls upon us to pursue God as a hunter tracks the game that he is pursuing. It is not that God is hiding from us at all. He is everywhere. He is in our loved ones. He is in our neighbor whom we are commanded to love, He is in the beauty of His creation. Just as pursuing the deer in the wilderness, the pursuit is not about the deer revealing itself to us, it is about us learning more and more about that deer, its characteristics, its behaviors, its essence, until we see the deer where it has always been. Our pursuit of God is about us changing to be able to see Him where He is already all around us. This is how we should pursue Him. Glory be to God!

Hosea 2:20-22

I will betroth you to Myself in faithfulness,
And you shall know the Lord.
“It shall come to pass in that day,” says the Lord,
“That I will listen to heaven,
And it shall listen to the earth.
The earth shall listen to the corn,
And the wine, and the oil;
And they shall listen to Jezreel.”

Encouraging Words

What is the most intimate and permanent relationship called out in the scriptures? Marriage! God looks upon His relationship with the Church, His people, as a marriage. It is based on and filled with, love. It is permanent, no matter how unfaithful we may be in our lives. God loves us! God desires to be in a relationship with us. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner, and forgive me for my unfaithfulness to you!

Sirach 50:22-24

And now bless the God of all,
Who does great things in every way,
Who exalts our days from our birth
And deals with us according to His mercy.
May He give us gladness of heart,
And may there be peace in our days,
In Israel as in the days of old.
May He entrust with us His mercy,
And let Him redeem us in our days.

Encouraging Words

Our God is all and in all. He is the creator and sustainer of everything past, present, and future. We are His children, His beloved and we can put our trust and hope in Him, for He will give us peace in our days and redeem us for Himself. Glory be to God!

Sirach 39:33-35

All the works of the Lord are good,
And He will supply every need in its hour.
No one can say, “This is worse than that,”
For all things will be well pleasing in their time.
So now sing praise with all your heart and voice,
And bless the name of the Lord.

Encouraging Words

We still live in the age of instant gratification, even though the COVID pandemic has forced us to put much on hold and to have to be patient. We are an inpatient people. We want things and we want them now. God has continually told us throughout the history of mankind that if we trust in Him, He will supply our needs. That trust also means that we believe that He knows best about what we need. We always want more than we need. He promises to fulfill our needs, not our wants. Now is the time to praise Him, to thank Him, to trust in Him, and to glorify Him.

Sirach 39:1-3

How different is the man who devotes himself
To the study of the law of the Most High.
He will seek out the wisdom of all the ancients And be occupied with their prophecies.
He will preserve the discourse of notable men
And penetrate the subtleties of parables.
He will seek out the hidden meanings of proverbs
And be engaged in the riddles of parables.

Personal Challenge

I have found in my journey through this life that the more that I get to know my God, the less I know Him. God is so great, so much more than us finite humans can ever be or comprehend. Every little bit more we learn about Him, the more we realize how much more there is to learn. The more that I think that I am in a relationship with Him, the more I realize how far away from Him I am. This is why we never stop being devoted to the study of Him and where we are in our relationship with Him. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Sirach 37:13-15

Stand firm on the counsel of your heart,
For no one is more faithful to you than it.
For a man’s soul sometimes tells him more
Than seven watchmen sitting high on a watchtower.
And in all matters, pray to the Most High
That He may direct your way in truth.

Encouraging Words

Jesus promised us that if we believe in Him, then He would give us a new heart. He, through His work and the gift of the Holy Spirit, has removed our heart of stone and replaced it with a heart of flesh, a heart that belongs to Him. That is why this passage tells us to listen to the counsel of this new heart for it is the counsel of our Lord. Glory be to God!

Sirach 36:1-4

Have mercy on us, O Lord, the God of all, and look upon us,
And put Your fear on all the nations.
Raise Your hand against foreign nations
And let them see Your power.
As in us You have been sanctified before them,
So in them may You be made great before us.
Let them know You as we also have known You,
For there is no God but You, O Lord.

Encouraging Words

When we proclaim that God loves all of His creation and that Jesus has redeemed it from death, we are not just talking about people. We are talking about all of creation. One aspect of creation that we coexist with are the nations that have formed throughout the history of mankind, the governments that have ruled in those nations, and the works that they have done. In this passage, Sirach pleads on behalf of the nations of his time and that they will submit to God. We too should be praying for the nations of our day and that they will see God for who He is and bow down before Him. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Sirach 35:7-10

Glorify the Lord with your generosity,
And do not reduce the firstfruits of your hands.
In every gift let your face be cheerful,
And sanctify your tithe with gladness.
Give to the Most High as He has given to you,
And give to Him with generosity, according to your windfall.
For the Lord is He who repays,
And He will repay you sevenfold.

Encouraging Words

We are so very blessed by our Lord, whether we choose to acknowledge Him as our Lord or reject Him. No matter what, He still loves His creation and chooses to bless us. In response to Him, we can either go on enjoying those blessings and ignoring Him or use our lives and the blessings bestowed on us to bless and glorify others. This passage provides many ways that we can glorify our Lord with the blessings bestowed upon us. Glory be to God!