Tuesday, December 15, 2020

Hosea for Today: Part III of III

Prepare for Harvest Time

 


“Come on, Man! Let’s return to God.

    He hurt us, but He will heal us.

He hit us hard,

    but He’ll put us right again.

In time we’ll feel better.

    By His return He’ll have made us brand-new,

Alive and on our feet,

    fit to face him.

 

We’re ready to study God,

    eager for God-knowledge.

As sure as dawn breaks,

    so sure is His daily arrival.

He comes as the rain,

    as spring rain replenishing the dry ground.”

 

“What am I to do with you, false clerics?

    What do I make of you, ecclesiasts?

Your declarations of love last no longer

    than the morning mist and predawn dew.

That’s why I use prophets to shake you to attention,

    why my words cut you to the quick:

To wake you up to my judgment

    blazing like a laser.

 

I’m after love that lasts, not mere religion.

    I want you to know Me, not show off at prayer meetings.

You broke the covenant—just like Adam!

    You broke faith with Me—ungrateful wretches!

 

“Washington has become Crime City—

    Bribery on the streets, money in the palms.

It used to be robbers who mugged pedestrians.

    Now it’s gangs of poli-ticks

assaulting the righteous on their way to Shechem.

    Nothing is sacred to them.

 

“I see shocking things in this country of liberty:

    Celebrants in a religious whorehouse,

    moreover, clerics in the mud right there with them.


 

“You’re as bad as the worst of them, Judas.

    You’ve been sowing wild oats. Now it’s harvest time.”


Pray. Repent. Seek Me.



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