Gomerisms

In my Hosea Bible study, today is about Gomerisms. 

What is a Gomerism? 

Like Israel, we are very capable of bad choices, falling away, and bad habits. 

In Hosea 2: 2 

“ But now bring charges against Israel-your mother- 

for she is no longer my wife, and I am no longer her husband

Tell her to remove her prostitute’s make up from her face and the clothing that exposes her breasts.

Why are we similar? Well we don’t always see God as husband ,there is not love there, there is only a submissive attitude such as a master or Lord instead of love. 

Though we should see him as Lord, there is a fine balance that includes LOVE not just submission but a reciprocity of LOVE and LOVE is a motivator. 

As I studied on, we were to read some scriptures and then put our interpretation beside them, then put our culture equivalent then put a % by what we struggle with , then write about the one with the largest % and talk about it with someone.  

Though I may struggle or have struggled with all of them, I picked the second one, mis-directing my worship which was originally Hosea 4:12 which if you read some Bible versions of it, you are like …. HUH? but it was great the way this writer (Jennifer Rothschild) help  me go through it and decipher how it could relate to the here and now. 

Hosea 4:12 (ASV) 

My people ask counsel at their stock, and their staff declareth unto them; for the spirit of whoredom hath cause them to err, and they have played the harlot, departing from under their God. ( Though I do not consult with idols or a “diviners rod” {psychic} I may as well if I am not consulting with God through giving him my time and worship. )

Though I don’t struggle with leaving God, or departing from him, I struggle with focus. I slowly allow other things to get in between me and my time alone with God, my worship, my quite time and before long, “I am mis-directing my worship” and serving other Gods… 

What are my potential God’s ? Biggest err, or form of whoredom is trusting in self-selfism ( I can do this) Which is ultimately a lack of faith and not trusting in God who is bigger and way more equipped to handle even the smallest of problems. 

Selfism

Family

Career

School 

Social Media 

What is your Gomerisim? What do you struggle with?  Are you trusting God like a Master that sits on a throne or are you treating him like a husband with love and trust? 

Gomerisms put us on the wrong path as they did the Israelites. We get so side-tracked and inward focused that we loose site of what we should be doing and who we are….. 

We are HIS…. and we should live like it. I am loved, I am accepted, I am complete !!!

 (Rom 9:24-26)

The Loneliest Day

While we know the crucifixion of Christ was horrible,  the day before when he knew his destiny and experienced the betrayal and hurt and loneliness of being Christ, must have been hard as well.

Have you ever felt betrayed? Well, Christ certainly did.....

We read Mark 14 in Life Group the other night and it resonated with me in a different way than usual.

Not only had he just left the Lords supper and knew someone had betrayed him, he also asked the disciples to stay awake and watch in  the garden and they fell asleep,

Then he spoke about Peter about to betray him also.

I have thought about this scripture and the fact that Jesus had to face his destiny in the garden of Gethsemane and anguished over it and accepting our sin, but I have never thought about how he knew Peter was going to betray him, Judas betrayed him. Some of his closest friends, his disciples, men he had poured into, and given himself to, betrayed him, fell asleep, hid and forgot him so easily.  People he had walked closely with, just forgot him so easily, but even more had complete disregard for all the teaching and warning and sovereignty of God.  To me, it had to be the Loneliest day, that day in the garden.  While going to the cross and all that pain was hard, facing it, and realizing the betrayal, the hurt and sin, must have been the loneliest day.

I can only expect that this hurt him and made him feel alone, and lonely that day. Not only did he know his destiny, he also knew that though he had poured so much into these guys, that they would betray him and not be by his side at all.

They lived with him and talked with him and walked with him yet betrayed him at the last minute...
Aren't we so much like the disciples....

 We all look at Judas as the bad guy, and while he was pretty pathetic, the other disciples were not much better.  I am not much better..... you are not much better, we betray Jesus and let him down daily.


We make promises to the Lord, then we just fall asleep and get over taken by this world and sometimes just forget about him. Then we wake up and we are just wandering in the wilderness like the Israelites.

Then sometimes, we are doing things for the Lord, serving, worshiping and before long we are not even worshiping him in our spirit. Its like the scripture says we worship him with our mouths but our hearts are far from him because we have busied our lives up so much with good things, but it's still too busy for God.

“‘These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;" Matt 15:8

All those extra things....

I like Facebook and social media, I feel that it connects us to friends far and wide and family from a distance and it has great uses to push agendas and political views etc... but all in all it is a time stealer. I see so many events, concerts and other things that I would like to go to but cannot.

Being a Pastor's wife of a church plant is not an easy job in discerning balance of God first, family & church. 'Being all things to all people' is no easy feat, but it is an amazing journey for sure! 

I find it hard to just do the things I am suppose to do with my family and my girls, and my husband and my church and any thing extra is an extra thing. There are extra events that one must discern and weigh out what is the best use of my time. Who is this impacting, or helping or is it feeding my own selfish desires?. Is it giving me needed down time or escape from reality time? Is it constructive and beneficial?

I have started praying that God will help me use each and every minute of my time constructive and beneficial to His Kingdom.

One thing I learned from 2015 is that life is short, life is fragile and the sting of death hurts.


Make the time count, make the days count. Let the people around you know they are important and they are loved.

We live in a fast paced society and as technology increases, our lives will continue to go at a faster pace. We must hold on to the things that matter, hold your loved one's close, and invest in others.

The term providing for your family has many meanings, just remember that providing for your family is more than just clothes, food, and shelter. That weighs the most on me, not the physical, or material things, but the internal, the actions of Love,  the meaningful stuff.... Am I doing enough? Am I intentional enough? Am I covering it all ? Then I realize there is no way to cover it all. There will be something along the way my children blame me for and I will never be perfect, but when I feel that way, I go and sit at the feet of Jesus and I pray for His strength to guide me.  I realize " I can do all things through Him" Phil 4:13... and I go on and keep on keeping on....

"Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God." Rom 8:27

I will leave you with my devotion that spoke clearly to my heart this morning and hopefully it will to yours as well.

"We run ahead of Him in a thousand and one activities, consequently we get so burdened with persons and with difficulties that we do not worship God, we do not intercede. If once the burden and pressure come upon us and we are not in the worshipping attitude, it will produce not only hardness toward God but despair in our own souls" ~ Oswald Chambers

Be ready, stay in Him by reading his word and praying, seek him daily. Paul said he had to die daily and renew daily. Try that.

So when I get burdened, I am reminded of God's love, and sovereignty and sometimes I just have to sit as his feet...... try it.

Go to Him today, give all to HIM !