Spiritual Intersections
I love spiritual intersections--you know the place--where you're reading and studying one thing and God lets it run into something else that is spiritually relevant. Recently, a study group I'm in completed No More Idols by Kelly Minter, which is an eye-opening study. The truth it contains makes it worth the indigestion that follows. That study overlapped the beginning of our Sunday school study of the book of Jeremiah, which details the exile of Judah through the prophetic utterances of Jeremiah, the weeping prophet. I, too, have wanted to weep as I've seen God's yearning for His peculiar people, His righteous anger at their rejection of Him in favor of powerless idols, and His compassionate longing for their return to His grace and favor. I really want to weep when I see myself in the portraits painted for me by God through the history of His chosen people.
Phrases from the book of Hosea also intersect here and jump out at me showing Israel's favoritism of idols over God: "They speak mere words, with worthless oaths they make covenants; and judgment sprouts like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field" (Hosea 10:4, NASB). This passage makes me think of our generation. How careless are we with our words and our promises? What kind of poisonous weeds will we cultivate from what we are sowing? Then I see the idolatry in chapter 13; God says in verse four that He has been their God since the land of Egypt and that they weren't to know any god but Him because no other god could offer salvation. The next words are truly heartbreaking. God speaks to the children of Israel and says, "I cared for you in the wilderness, in the land of drought." Then He comments on the return for His actions: "As they had their pasture, they became satisfied, and being satisfied, their heart became proud; therefore, they forgot Me" (13:5-6). Don't we often do the same? We cycle through famine to plenty to rebellion to destruction in need of rescue, yet we don't see that we are at the same intersection the children of Israel were in Jeremiah and Hosea. Intersections are places that urge caution, and spiritual intersections are God's way of warning us that if we don't stop and turn in the right direction, we will be injured because we did not heed the opportunity for safe passage. When I see these intersections, I'm learning to cautiously seek God's direction for my life.
Phrases from the book of Hosea also intersect here and jump out at me showing Israel's favoritism of idols over God: "They speak mere words, with worthless oaths they make covenants; and judgment sprouts like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field" (Hosea 10:4, NASB). This passage makes me think of our generation. How careless are we with our words and our promises? What kind of poisonous weeds will we cultivate from what we are sowing? Then I see the idolatry in chapter 13; God says in verse four that He has been their God since the land of Egypt and that they weren't to know any god but Him because no other god could offer salvation. The next words are truly heartbreaking. God speaks to the children of Israel and says, "I cared for you in the wilderness, in the land of drought." Then He comments on the return for His actions: "As they had their pasture, they became satisfied, and being satisfied, their heart became proud; therefore, they forgot Me" (13:5-6). Don't we often do the same? We cycle through famine to plenty to rebellion to destruction in need of rescue, yet we don't see that we are at the same intersection the children of Israel were in Jeremiah and Hosea. Intersections are places that urge caution, and spiritual intersections are God's way of warning us that if we don't stop and turn in the right direction, we will be injured because we did not heed the opportunity for safe passage. When I see these intersections, I'm learning to cautiously seek God's direction for my life.
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