Allure Me, O, My Lord!

Originally Published: October 30, 2007

“Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now. For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal. Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness. And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand. I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts. And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them. And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the Lord. Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali. For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.” (Hosea 2:6-17 KJV)

Yes, God is speaking of Israel in these verses, but let’s put that truth aside for the moment. These verses could be the ”femiinine” equivalent to the “prodical son”.

As a believer and follower of Christ Jesus, the scary part is that I can totally relate to the woman in these verses! Far too often I find myself feeling much like stubborn, hard-hearted Israel, always wandering after things that do not satisfy. Why? I know going into them that they won’t begin to touch on my real need, but I can’t seem to quench the desire. That desire for instant gratification of perceived needs and ”gotta haves”. Or, the desire for some type of spontaneious diversion from ever increasing weariness, pain, suffering and sorrow. I find myself actually believing that this immediate ”okay” thing or this immediate “good” thing, or worse, this immediate “not good at all” thing is an acceptable alternative for what I what I know is God’s “best” thing for my life. Woe is Israel! Woe is me!

Woe is me, because what I am doing is settling for an “idol”, and let’s call it what it truly is, what God says it is, worshipping Baalim! Now, none of us want to admit that we worship Baalim, but we do! Everytime we go for the instant or the immediate–everytime we go for that substitute, we are picking up “idols” and calling them our lovers. God helps us all, calling them our “god”.
Oh, I pray that you heard God refer to these “idols” as our lovers! Dear one, as believers when you and I hold those “idols” in our right hand we have entered into an adulterous affair. Why? Because we are the “bride” of Christ Jesus!

Marriage is a holy and sacred ”covenant” between a man and a woman, which was initiated, instituted and blessed by Almighty God. Marriage is a “blood” covenant. Marriage is a solemon and binding covenant and should only be entered into after having being been most seriously weighed and considered.

Please hear me, my intent is not to bring condemenation, but the truth is when we enter into this holy ”covenant” called marriage we are to be “virgins”. Yes, both the male and the female. The marriage covenant is not fully consummated nor binding until after the wedding night. The intimate ”knowing” of one another, with that blood evidenced is the final seal or stamp upon the marriage contract.

As believers, we are ”married” to Christ Jesus. Our marriage to Christ is the most holy, and sacred of all covenants. We enter into this convenant knowing that it was ”sealed” by the shedding of Our Lord’s own precious blood! Why on earth God would still claim us as His “bride”, I’ll never know, but God Himself is our Ishi, our Husband! To seek after other lovers is unthinkable, yet still we chase after them.

I’ll tell you the truth, I’m tired of chasing! I want to be hedged in! I need to be hedged in! Amen? That is not a bad thing. No! God’s hedge is a necessary wall of needed protection. Oh, and it is within the boundaries of that hedge that we find our place of comfort and rest! Glory to God, dear children, Christ Jesus is that Hedge!

You know, I want so badly to be “allured”! Don’t you? Oh, my heart and soul yearns to be adored and sought after. To be spoken gently to. Can’t you just hear the Lord whispering tenderly in our ears of His unfailing love?

How long will we run from His sweet wooing? I’ll tell you. We’ll run until God leads us to that “wilderness” place. Oh, I’ve been there. My pastor calls it a “dent” in the road. You’re going along thinking everything is just fine and ”Bam”! The good news is it’s not the bottomless pit!

Oh, you’ll think it is because you’re stuck, in a rut and going no where! Wilderness experiences can get ugly! How long did it take Israel? 40 years? Round and round they went, passing God’s best time after countless time! Going in circles is not good, but it does make you cry out to the only One who knows the Way out of your present wilderness!

The Valley of Achor–a Valley of Trouble! It was there that the fierceness of God’s wrath was poured out upon Achan for troubling Israel with his idolatry (Joshua 7). In that valley, in one day, Achan and his entire family lay dead under a heap of stones! Indeed, all Achan’s possessions including the very items he coveted were buried under that heap with him.

Oh, I pray you see the beautiful picture that God is painting for Israel. How well she remembers God’s fierce wrath! Now, our great God extends the Branch of peace and goodwill to Israel and all other weary idolators–all weary sinners! Now, instead of God’s wrath we graciously receive God’s mercy! God has done a new thing through His precious Son, Christ Jesus! it is through this Doorway of Hope that our God leads us–straight to His mercy and grace! What rest! I’ve been there, too. Why on earth I try to flee and chase after other gods is a complete and utter mystery to me.

Oh, here among the vineyards God has planted for my pleasure, I am like a young virgin, playing upon the string instruments, the tamborine shaking high over my head. My heart is light and I find myself merrily dancing–my feet barely touching the the rich furtile earth beneath me! I can’t help but sing the praises of my Lord and my God! What joy is mine inside these boundaries of God’s protective Hedge! Oh, the sweetness of God’s wooing!

Virgin? Did this person seriously say virgin? Yes! You see, my marriage to the Lamb has not been fully consummated. I await that day when I will be joined in the flesh as I am in the the spirit with my Beloved. How I long for that moment when I am ushered into His presence, for that instant I hear His voice, the sound of that trumpet and that shout! Then, my Savior, My Ishi will be mine forevermore!

Praise be to our God who has become our Salvation, Our Hope and our Ishi!

Pray for Israel!

Pray for me!

I’ll be praying for you!

Our All Merciful God!

Originally Published: October 20, 2007


If you are a believer who has experienced the merciful saving power and grace of Almighty God, through His Son, Jesus Christ, then your heart just naturally bleds for all lost sinners. Perhaps, like me, your heart bleds even more profusely for those young, foolish souls who leave this earth without any indication that they have ever called upon the name of Jesus. It is far worse if they perish having committed gross sins against the laws of man, or the commandments of God. That piercing of the heart is even more searing if such a foolish one happens to be particularly close to you–an acquaintance, a friend or a dear beloved one.

Shortly after moving back to my hometown the Lord permitted satan to “sift” me like wheat. I experienced a time of ”walking through that valley of the shadow of death.” Many of you will know what I mean by that phrase. The Lord used satan’s plans against me to “refine” me. As some may know, the refining process is quite often by fire, and believe me, fire burns! I know I have mentioned this before I know, but, beloved, fire can also heal and cleanse. Yes, the Lord gave His permission for me to pass through this valley of fire, but praise God, He did not leave me there. And, yes, He was there with me–always!

It was during that two year period I came face to face with the reality of sin’s consequences in a way I would have never otherwise understood. God gave me the bitter, but at the same time praiseworthy ”grace gift” of a tasting of the horrors hell holds for the lost.

Shortly after this experience, a young man in our area died while trying to escape the police. He tried to hide out in a pond behind the jewelry store he and a friend or friends had attempted to rob. He was later found by the police but, unfortunately, he perished in that pond.

I did not know this young man, but I can tell you his untimely death has haunted me. He was barely 16. That may sound like a responsible age to some of you, but when I look back at my own children at that age, I can remember full well how at times they were very foolish. No, they never did anything as drastic or desperate as robbery, thank God, but yes, kids do stupid things. I did, and so did you.

This tragic event brought to mind a close friend and neighbor who perished at the age of 17-18 many long years ago. His was probably the first person I knew who died at such a young age.

Then, a year later, almost to the date, the girl he was with (who had been hospitalized for months as the result of that accident that killed this young boy) was later killed in an automobile accident of the same nature (drinking and driving) almost in the exact place the first accident had taken place!

Another such tragedy was that of a lovely young woman who died of breast cancer in her late twenties or early thirties. I was told that she cursed God on her death bed. Oh, I grieved because I loved her. No, we weren’t close, she was a bit older, but, yes, I loved her and I knew she and her family very well. I know her last words must have wounded them to the very core.

Did God see my grief and pain? Does God see yours? Yes, Yes, Yes! I just have to tell you about the loving mercy of our God. A couple of days ago, I was listening to Real Family Life with Dennis Rainey (October 15, 16?). He and his guest were speaking on the brain development of a child to that of a full grown adult. His guest stated that doctors have now found that a person’s brain does not reach full development until their early to mid twenties.

I can personally attest to this truth. I clearly remember hitting age 21-22 and suddenly getting it! My parents weren’t complete morons! True, it was around that time that I came to know Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, but I definitely think this brain development thing had something to do with it, too!

As I pondered this new information I remembered God’s commands regarding offerings and those who could enter into the Promised Land. These passages can be found in Exodus 30:11-14:

“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them. This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the Lord. Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the Lord.”

Exodus 38:22-26:”And Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the Lord commanded Moses. And with him was Aholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a cunning workman, and an embroiderer in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and fine linen. All the gold that was occupied for the work in all the work of the holy place, even the gold of the offering, was twenty and nine talents, and seven hundred and thirty shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary. And the silver of them that were numbered of the congregation was an hundred talents, and a thousand seven hundred and threescore and fifteen shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary:A bekah for every man, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one that went to be numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men.”

and Numbers 14, especially verses 27-32:

“And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not. But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel. And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they. And Moses said unto the Lord, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;) And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou Lord art among this people, that thou Lord art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness. And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word: But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it: But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it. (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.) To morrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea. And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the Lord, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward which have murmured against me. Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised. But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise. I the Lord have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die. And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land, Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the Lord. But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still. And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly. And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the Lord hath promised: for we have sinned. And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the Lord? but it shall not prosper. Go not up, for the Lord is not among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies. For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned away from the Lord, therefore the Lord will not be with you. But they presumed to go up unto the hill top: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and Moses, departed not out of the camp. Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, even unto Hormah.”

Again, just this past Wednesday night in church our pastor spoke of a time long ago when he, by mere chance, (As if there were such a thing!) visited a Christian family who was so deeply grieved, believing their aged Christian relative was going straight to hell because on her death bed she was cursing like a sailor. Oh, God is so good, because just a few days prior to visiting this family my pastor had just finished reading an article in a Christian magazine that explained that many cancers and the resulting chemotherapies (especially those that were first used years ago) somehow effected a part of the brain that caused cursing, even if that person had never uttered a curse who before. My dear pastor went back to his room and brought that magazine and article to that grieving family. He was also able to share with them that God does not retract His free gift of salvation! Every sin–past, present and future that dear woman had ever committed or would commit until she drew her last breath had been nailed with Jesus Christ on that cross! Glory!

I rejoice that God was so precious in letting me hear these truths through very reliable sources. I rejoice, not because I know that my young friends will be in heaven or, in hell for that matter, but because I know God is good, full of compassion and mercy. I can rest and know the peace the surpasseth all understanding because I trust that He Who judges–judges justly and fairly, always taking every single detail in account!

Oh, I pray you will call on Him and trust Him with all your cares. He is so Faithful!


Jesus Christ Revealed Through the Study of God’s Word!