Friday Reading: Hosea 11:1-2
Key Verse: Hosea 11:1
1 When Israel was a child, then I loved him and called My son out of Egypt.
Devotion:
Isn’t it amazing how quickly some things can change – one minute everything seems to be going according to plan and the next minute everything seems to be falling apart! Today has been one of those days when things have seemed to be falling apart most of the time and I now feel like I have not spent enough time with the Lord today! The more things seem to go wrong the more we seem to pull back from doing our normal things we do and end up fire-fighting most of the time. God would rather that we start our days off with Him and finish our days with Him.
That does not mean that we can then spend the rest of the day doing what we like because that would then be like trying to live two lives, one saying that you serve God and the other serving our other gods. When the Israelites came into foreign land they were told not to go after the local people and not to follow their gods. God knew that many would give into the temptation of the land but He also knew that they would not realise just how much they could damage themselves until they did the wrong thing and things fell apart!
What will He have to do for us before we will realise that we are doing the wrong things? What will He have to let into our lives before we see how wrong we have gone? How long will it take before we see how far we have strayed from His path He has laid down before us?
No it is not all doom and gloom! God has light up the path that we should be walking; He has given us His Word, the instructions, the solutions to our problems, His love, His peace and His forgiveness! We just have to take that truth and believe it, use it and aim for what He has before us. He has loved us from the beginning; we are the ones that have walked astray.
Points to Ponder:
Are you running after false gods?
Are you ready to follow God in everything?