Choose God...So He Can Help You Make Righteous Choices

Hosea 2:7-8 - She will chase after her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them. Then she will say, 'I will go back to my husband as at first, for then I was better off than now.' She has not acknowledged that I was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil, who lavished on her the silver and gold-- which they used for Baal.

 

Hosea was given a message for the people of Israel who had taken all the blessing God as providing…and offering them to Baal. They had chased after whatever they had wanted to….turning only to God when they had reached the utter bottom. God wanted them to know that he still loved them…but they would have to repent of these behaviors and turn back to God first.

 

It has always amazed me how forgiving God is.  We go our own ways…sinning in the process multiple times…only realizing what we have done after we have reached a super low point.  God is always there with a huge vat of forgiveness…and lobes us in spite of our mistakes.

 

What we should keep foremost in our mind is a way to keep righteous choices a part of our daily lives.  We choose so many times to fall to our earthly desires instead of letting God free us from those bad choices before we make them.  I will be the first to admit that I have made that mistake…probably more times that the Israelites.  I need to remember to fall at his feet in gratitude each morning….as a preventative measure against letting my spirit get so far tangled in sin that I don’t even see the wrong in what I have done.

 

This is the time of year when satan wins so many earthly battles.  The desire to give back a little of the blessings God gave us is quickly replaced with materialism…and the desire to give good things to our children.  It make us forget the real reason we celebrate Christ’s birth. It makes us forget that those first three presents given Jesus had real purpose for later in his life.

 

Father…thank you for the reminder that this season is not about gifts…but the salvation that those gifts predicted. Forgive me for the times when I have made choices before you have given me clear answers.  Help me to stay so focused on you that I praise you for my blessings more than I ask you forgiveness for the things I have been convicted of doing wrong. Amen.