Day 340

OYB - December 6

Devotional Old Testament New Testament Psalm Proverb

My people are being destroyed because they don't know me. . . .

A story was once told of a couple who had won a free trip on a cruise ship. They never appeared with the others for the magnificent meals of steak and lobster. Instead, they ate every meal in their room, rationing out cheese and crackers they had brought with them. Someone asked them why they had not gone to the sumptuous feasts that were prepared for them daily. The man and his wife were utterly shocked to learn that the meals had been included in the price of the cruise!

How many Christians are living on spiritual "cheese and crackers" when they could be enjoying "steak and ice cream"? They simply lack the knowledge of what belongs to them in Christ. God, however, delights to see His children gain knowledge of their inheritance and then walk in that light. John said, "How happy I was to meet some of your children and find them living in the truth, just as we have been commanded by the Father" (2 John 1:4).

The other side, unfortunately, is represented by those who reject knowledge, as described in Hosea 4:6. They have been taught the truth and have rejected it in unbelief. Their lack of knowledge of God and His ways destroys them.

Come on down to the galley. The banquet table is spread for you!

Hosea 4:1-5:15

God’s Controversy with Israel

1Listen to the word of the Lord, O sons of Israel,

For the Lord has a case against the inhabitants of the land,

Because there is no faithfulness or kindness

Or knowledge of God in the land.

2There is swearing, deception, murder, stealing and adultery.

They employ violence, so that bloodshed follows bloodshed.

3Therefore the land mourns,

And everyone who lives in it languishes

Along with the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky,

And also the fish of the sea disappear.

4Yet let no one find fault, and let none offer reproof;

For your people are like those who contend with the priest.

5So you will stumble by day,

And the prophet also will stumble with you by night;

And I will destroy your mother.

6My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Because you have rejected knowledge,

I also will reject you from being My priest.

Since you have forgotten the law of your God,

I also will forget your children.

7The more they multiplied, the more they sinned against Me;

I will change their glory into shame.

8They feed on the sin of My people

And direct their desire toward their iniquity.

9And it will be, like people, like priest;

So I will punish them for their ways

And repay them for their deeds.

10They will eat, but not have enough;

They will play the harlot, but not increase,

Because they have stopped giving heed to the Lord.

11Harlotry, wine and new wine take away the understanding.

12My people consult their wooden idol, and their diviner’s wand informs them;

For a spirit of harlotry has led them astray,

And they have played the harlot, departing from their God.

13They offer sacrifices on the tops of the mountains

And burn incense on the hills,

Under oak, poplar and terebinth,

Because their shade is pleasant.

Therefore your daughters play the harlot

And your brides commit adultery.

14I will not punish your daughters when they play the harlot

Or your brides when they commit adultery,

For the men themselves go apart with harlots

And offer sacrifices with temple prostitutes;

So the people without understanding are ruined.

15Though you, Israel, play the harlot,

Do not let Judah become guilty;

Also do not go to Gilgal,

Or go up to Beth-aven

And take the oath:

“As the Lord lives!”

16Since Israel is stubborn

Like a stubborn heifer,

Can the Lord now pasture them

Like a lamb in a large field?

17Ephraim is joined to idols;

Let him alone.

18Their liquor gone,

They play the harlot continually;

Their rulers dearly love shame.

19The wind wraps them in its wings,

And they will be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

The People’s Apostasy Rebuked

1Hear this, O priests!

Give heed, O house of Israel!

Listen, O house of the king!

For the judgment applies to you,

For you have been a snare at Mizpah

And a net spread out on Tabor.

2The revolters have gone deep in depravity,

But I will chastise all of them.

3I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me;

For now, O Ephraim, you have played the harlot,

Israel has defiled itself.

4Their deeds will not allow them

To return to their God.

For a spirit of harlotry is within them,

And they do not know the Lord.

5Moreover, the pride of Israel testifies against him,

And Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity;

Judah also has stumbled with them.

6They will go with their flocks and herds

To seek the Lord, but they will not find Him;

He has withdrawn from them.

7They have dealt treacherously against the Lord,

For they have borne illegitimate children.

Now the new moon will devour them with their land.

8Blow the horn in Gibeah,

The trumpet in Ramah.

Sound an alarm at Beth-aven:

“Behind you, Benjamin!”

9Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke;

Among the tribes of Israel I declare what is sure.

10The princes of Judah have become like those who move a boundary;

On them I will pour out My wrath like water.

11Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment,

Because he was determined to follow man’s command.

12Therefore I am like a moth to Ephraim

And like rottenness to the house of Judah.

13When Ephraim saw his sickness,

And Judah his wound,

Then Ephraim went to Assyria

And sent to King Jareb.

But he is unable to heal you,

Or to cure you of your wound.

14For I will be like a lion to Ephraim

And like a young lion to the house of Judah.

I, even I, will tear to pieces and go away,

I will carry away, and there will be none to deliver.

15I will go away and return to My place

Until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face;

In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.

2 John 1:1-13

Walk According to His Commandments

1The elder to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth; and not only I, but also all who know the truth, 2for the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever: 3Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

4I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have received commandment to do from the Father. 5Now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another. 6And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.

7For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. 9Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. 10If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; 11for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.

12Though I have many things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, so that your joy may be made full.

13The children of your chosen sister greet you.

Psalms 125:1-5

PSALM 125

The Lord Surrounds His People.

A Song of Ascents.

1Those who trust in the Lord

Are as Mount Zion, which cannot be moved but abides forever.

2As the mountains surround Jerusalem,

So the Lord surrounds His people

From this time forth and forever.

3For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest upon the land of the righteous,

So that the righteous will not put forth their hands to do wrong.

4Do good, O Lord, to those who are good

And to those who are upright in their hearts.

5But as for those who turn aside to their crooked ways,

The Lord will lead them away with the doers of iniquity.

Peace be upon Israel.

Proverbs 29:9-11

9When a wise man has a controversy with a foolish man,

The foolish man either rages or laughs, and there is no rest.

10Men of bloodshed hate the blameless,

But the upright are concerned for his life.

11A fool always loses his temper,

But a wise man holds it back.