The Whirlwind

Hosea Hear the Word of the Lord, O children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the Land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the Land; there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.

Do you ever feel that the only consistent trait in your life is inconsistency? Me too.

I have several unfinished projects. I work short contracts in different states so I travel a lot and we have been remodeling our house for the last several months due to storm damage so life has been pretty erratic. Part of this seems good for me. It stretches my boundaries, forces me to try new things and gives me a sense of adventure.

But I have come to suspect that it is fueled by an inconsistent nature. I have fostered a lifestyle that allows me to be inconsistent. I hover around the edges of my life.

I have become a visitor.

If you follow this blog then you know that part of work being done is here is My Father loving me too much to leave me the way that I am. So to get to the real cause of this problem the Helper brings me to Hosea....

There is no steadfast love...

And for this, God has called me out. He is not interested in the excuses. He has heard them all.

And because of that, I run. The subconscious thought is this: If I cannot be found I cannot be held responsible.

Hosea What shall I do with you, O Ephrain?

What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes away early.

Therefore I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. And there she will answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt. And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me "my Husband".

Sow for yourself righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, that He may come and rain righteousness upon you.

What holds me to Him, what keeps me coming back is His overwhelming love for me. What causes me to run away? Knowing that I am not worth it.

Hosea When Israel was a child, I loved him. And out of Egypt I called my son. The more they were called, the more they went away; they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of kindness, with bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them.....

My people are bent on turning away from Me.

Return, O Israel, to the Lord you God, for you have stumbled because of you iniquity. I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely. I am like an evergreen cypress; from Me comes your fruit.

Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.

Father Your Word is like a mirror into my heart exposing the nature behind the actions. With tender, unrelenting love you pull my hands from my eyes and expose to me the dangers of my innermost being and I am undone by the things I find there. Layer upon layer you peal back the ugliness of pride, selfishness, self-destruction, willfulness, worldliness and compulsion to expose the beautiful spirit that lies within. Arise in Me O Lord and shine through the darkness of my flesh, expose Yourself in me and through me and rid me of all the garbage that lies between us until the day that we fall into One. Thank You for loving us all, for pursuing us all until we find ourselves lost in You.

Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and CHRIST will shine on you.