Use God's Power To help You Keep Your Promises

Hosea 10:8-9 - The high places of wickedness will be destroyed-- it is the sin of Israel. Thorns and thistles will grow up and cover their altars. Then they will say to the mountains, "Cover us!" and to the hills, "Fall on us!"  "Since the days of Gibeah, you have sinned, O Israel, and there you have remained. Did not war overtake the evildoers in Gibeah?

 

God had given Israel so much….but he couldn’t bear watching them give thanks to the idols and gods they were worshiping instead of him. The more he blessed them…the more praise and they gave the heathen gods they worshiped.  He called their hearts false.  He was tired of their empty promises.  He was brokenhearted because they deserted him…worrying about the heathen gods more than they did him.  He was going to let thorns and thistles grow up around the altars they gave away his praise and sacrifices.

 

I couldn’t help but think of the children’s story Sleeping Beauty. I could see the pictures from that story where the thorns grew so tall they blocked the prince’s way to save the sleeping girl. She laid there sleeping for years before one brave prince decided to chop his way through the thorns and wake her up with a kiss.  I know it’s a stretch…but the thorns reminded me that I let myself be tricked so many times….yet God in his perfect timing always finds a way to cut through the thorns I have allowed to let me fall asleep in his love….and wake me up.  

 

I also thought of the way we make New Year’s resolutions…and break them as soon as our willpower gives out. The promise we made demands too much …and we let it go…never to keep our promise to our self. Rick Warren reminded me as I was reading his book, The Daniel Plan, that I don’t have to do anything on my own anymore.  God is there…in the form of his Holy Spirit to help me keep any promise I made to him….or the people around me that I am trying to love.

 

It is a reminder that I need to always shout out the biggest raise I can find in my heart to God. The things have are because God loaned them to me…whether I deserved them or not. He owns them…and will use them to spread his kingdom if I listen to him tell me how to use each one. I must guard against any thorns or thistles growing up around my heart and tricking me into using them for my own gain.

 

Father…thank you for the reminder that everything I have comes from you.  Forgive me for the times that I have used them for my own satisfaction and contentment.  Forgive me for not guarding my heart from satan’s tricks and lies and confusions.  Help me to focus so intensely on you that I give praise to you for everything you allow to bless my life.  Help me to use all the things you have give me to spread the truth about your love to others.  Amen.