When the Lion Roars

 Rejection. We’ve all experienced it somewhere along the line. For some it is severe rejection. We feel it when we are the last chosen for a pick-up field game with friends or classmates. We feel it as teenagers when we can’t seem to connect with others as we want to. We feel it when we don’t get that job we applied for. Some feel it as they go through divorce, abuse in the home, or abuse in the neighborhood or even church. The hardest kind of rejection is when we have poured ourselves into another, loved them deeply and invested much time and even money into them only to have them walk away or worse yet, demean us and then walk away.

Hosea was talking to the Israelites. God invested in Abraham, his son Isaac, and then Jacob who He renamed Israel. Then God invested much time and resources into Jacob’s descendants as He freed them from the slavery in Egypt and led them to the Promised Land. After years of living in prosperity in the land, they wanted to be like other nations and have a king. So God gave them a king. They continued to want to be like other nations until there was no difference between them and the nations around them!

God continually sent prophets to warn them and help them turn their faces back to God, but the people rejected the prophets and their message. Finally, when God saw that they could not be turned back, He sent Hosea and in Hosea 11, we see God’s heart crying out from the pain of rejection. He has raised Israel up, taught her to walk, loved her, given her everything she could want. Yet Israel has chosen to reject Him. And He says, “But since my people refuse to return to me, they will return to Egypt (slavery) and will be forced to serve Assyria (a foreign political agenda). Hosea 11:5 “For my people are determined to desert me. They call me the Most High, but they don’t truly honor me.” Hosea 11:7 The God of compassion is hurting from the rejection much as a parent carries the pain of a wayward child. There is nothing a parent can do but pray and wait and hope. Anything they say or do pushes the child further away and makes the rejection deeper. All they want is for the child to return with a soft heart, able to love them again like they did as a child.

God says, “My heart is torn within me, and my compassion overflows. No, I will not unleash my fierce anger. I will not completely destroy Israel, for I am God and not mere mortal. I am the Holy One living among you, and I will not come to destroy. For someday the people will follow me. I, the Lord, will roar like a lion. And when I roar, my people will return trembling from the west. Like a flock of bids, they will come from Egypt (slavery). Trembling like doves, they will return from Assyria (foreign political agenda). And I will bring them home again,” says the Lord. Hosea 11:8b-11

Hosea still speaks to us today. Those who reject the ways of the Lord end up in all kinds of slavery. Addictions to wealth, status, power, food, drugs and alcohol to name a few. And they end up serving political agendas that are not of God’s design and become more and more restricting until the people are made into zombies not able to think for themselves or make choices. It is a little like a frog in water that is being heated. It doesn’t jump out because it doesn’t realize the danger until it is too late.

When a lion roars, we listen and we respond. When the lion roars, we will return from all that we have allowed to distract us and lead us away from Him and we will pay attention. He will then bring us back home to the completeness that He has designed us to be – to walk in His image. Oh that we would come willingly before He roars and experience His kingdom here and now! It is a kingdom filled with joy, peace, and love. The God who created us desires relationship with us and has gone to great lengths to keep the communications channel open and invite us home. How will we respond to Him?

Humble Hearts that Lead the Way

When the children of Israel were about to enter the Promised Land, the tribes of Reuben and Gad and some of the tribes of Manasseh wanted to stay on the land east of the Jordan. Moses initially thought they were being stubborn again about going into the land. However, the leaders of the tribes assured Moses that they would not only go with their brothers to conquer the land across the Jordan, but they would lead their brothers in battle. And they would not return until the Lord had conquered the land.

In their conversation with Moses, several times they said they would fight and the Lord would win the battle over their enemies and conquer the land. I have been pondering the power of prayer the past few days and as I read this scripture this morning, it occurred to me that this is the attitude of prayer. We fight the battle on our knees and God brings the victory and conquers territory for His kingdom. It is a heart of humble worship that gives God the glory for the win.

I wonder if that is the point where we so often fail. We pray for something or someone where we believe God is at work, and then are proud of ourselves when things begin to change. We take the credit and at best say that God gave us the ability to make it happen. But we fail to thank Him and give Him the glory for what He did! We receive so much by His hand that we think we did. It is like a two-year-old who tries to lift something heavy. The dad helps him lift it without the child realizing the dad is helping and he feels so proud of himself for being able to lift the heavy object!

Pride builds in us sometimes without us even being aware. When we lose sight of who God is and what He is doing and begin to think we are the ones making it all happen, we are in great danger of losing it all. We lose our desire and ability to pray and we take things into our own hands thinking we are the ones who can make it happen. This usually ends in disaster and some if not many people being hurt. When great leaders in the church fall, we can see this pattern emerge time after time. Pray bold prayers, see answers, believe we did great things and deserve great rewards, set ourselves up as “kings with kingdoms,” and then overstep and get caught and crash. The fall begins when we forget whose power we are operating in and fail to give Him the glory. It may come quickly or it may take a few years, but the fall comes. God sees the motives of our hearts. Do we?

Lord, help me to see you at work as the children of Israel saw you. I will fight on my knees and give you all the honor and glory for conquering the territory. I can lead my brothers and sisters into the fight, but only you win the victory. Help me to listen to your voice and be faithful to obey and always grateful for what you do in and through me. And may I always give you all the glory for only you are worthy of my praise. You are faithful and I trust you completely with all outcomes. Amen.

Hungry for Power

God’s wisdom never ceases to amaze me! As I read through His Word, I see Him tackle all the difficulties we need to overcome in this life. Hunger for power is one of them. Wars are caused by struggles for power – who gets to tell others what they can and cannot do. Divorce comes from struggles with power to control each other. Fights among neighbors and in communities come from struggles to control each other. Rebellion comes from a desire to have power over those who have power over us. When Jesus was tempted, the second temptation was to have authority or power over all the kingdoms of the world by worshiping Satan. 

Satan offers a counterfeit kind of power. It is an addiction – a deadly addiction. The more you have the more you want. You can never have enough until you have power over all the kingdoms of this world! Many people die in the struggle for power or end up in prison powerless behind bars.

There is a different kind of power – a true power. It comes from the source of power – God. When Elijah operated in God’s power, he called for the cessation of rain and it quit raining for 3 years. When he called on God to burn the sacrifice, God answered with fire that burned not only the sacrifice but all the water that had been poured over it and the altar itself. God answered powerfully. But Elijah made sure they knew it was God who had the power, not himself, and that he was operating in obedience to God who had called him to confront the evil around him.

When we operate in God’s power by being obedient to Him, the power does not consume us. We understand that the source of power is God and power belongs to God. It is very freeing to be able to live without struggling for power. God has made His power available to us to be used for the advancement of His kingdom. To access that power, we need to be in relationship with God and obedient to Him.

Nothing seems to anger God more than people abusing power and thereby hurting other people – especially in religious settings. He is quick to defend those without power (the orphan, the poor, the widow) and confront those who use their power to take advantage of the helpless. He calls us to join Him in taking care of the powerless.

Oh, that we as His Church would see that call and take the mission seriously to care for those who are vulnerable. He has placed us in this time and in this place to be His hands and feet taking His love and compassion to the world around us, to operate with humbleness in His power to extend His kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven! May we go in His power!