I will fence her in with thorn bushes...

October 30, 2018

This is an old message, but it is good, especially in light of all that is about to happen.

​There has been A LOT on my mind the last couple of weeks. God's word is piercing my heart, and maybe for the first time - THE FEAR OF THE LORD is entering me. I know that God is God. He is holy. He is just. And I know that the same things that made Him angry in the past, makes Him angry now. I tremble because we are doing those same things. Sweet Jesus! But then I came to realize that even though we prostitute ourselves, even though we follow after other lovers, even though we go the wrong directions, God still loves us, and He will intervene on our behalf. We don't realize that all we have came from God, not our (job-talent-intelligence-money-looks-whatever you think prospered you). We may not like the intervention, but He is so kind and gracious to stop us from our madness. Listen to what God is going to do for His people who have been unfaithful to Him.

In Hosea, God talks about us saying, "Their mother is a shameless prostitute and she became pregnant in a shameful way. She said, "I'll run after other lovers and sell myself to them for food and water, for clothing of wool and linen, and for olive oil and drinks." - What are we running after that we think supplies these things? -

"For this reason I will fence her in with thorn bushes. I will block her path with a wall to make her lose her way. When she runs after her lovers, she won't be able to catch them. She will search for them but not find them. Then she will think, 'I might as well return to my husband, for I was better off with Him than I am now.'

She (we) doesn't realize it was I who gave her everything she has - the grain, the new wine, the olive oil; I even gave her silver and gold. But she gave all my gifts to Baal.

"But now I will take back the ripened grain and new wine I generously provided each harvest season. I will take away the wool and linen clothing I gave her to cover her nakedness. I will strip her naked in public, while all her lovers look on. No one will be able to rescue her from my hands. I will put an end to her annual festivals, her new moon celebrations, and her Sabbath days - all her appointed festivals. I will destroy her grapevines and fig trees, things the claims her lovers age her. I will let them grow into tangled thickets, where only wild animals will eat the fruit. I will punish her for all those times when she burned incense to her images of Baal, when she put on her earrings and jewels and went out to look for her lovers but forgot all about Me," says the LORD.

BUT THEN I will win her back once again. I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her there. I will return her vineyards to her and transform the Valley of Trouble into a gateway of hope. She will give herself to Me there, as she did long ago when she was young, when I freed her from her captivity in Egypt. When that day comes, " says the LORD, "you will call Me 'my husband' instead of 'my master.'" Hosea 2

Wow! God is going to take away every good thing He has ever given us so that we will come to a place where we want Him again. Then He is going to romance us there in the desert. The world will see us naked and destitute, but God will see His bride. Humble. Contrite. Beautiful.

He loves us so much. It is passages like this one that give me such hope. God loves us - even when we are lusting after other lovers.

Thank you, Jesus!

Terri