1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah… Hosea 1:1a (NIV)
Wednesdays, 11:45 am somewhere in Fresno you’ll find the rowdiest, craziest, wildest group of pastors uncovering the mysteries of the universe, excavating solutions for what troubles the world. There’s laughter, there’s wisdom, there’s true brotherhood, and there’s mockery…a whole lot of mockery. The conversation is peppered with lines like: “You guys can’t handle this biblical insight I’m about to unleash! Why do I even come to this table? I’m surrounded by riffraff. Here I am sitting in the armpit of society!”—Mockery! But once in a while someone will share a nugget of deep truth, an insight so powerful, so profound that it warrants the response: “What you have said here today was not revealed to you by man but by God.” Trust me there’s a huge difference. A “God Word” is piercing. It speaks to your right-now condition. It can sooth what needs soothing or wound what needs wounding. It’s perfect.
The prophet Hosea has a Word from the Lord that comes to Him. It didn’t come from his own mind, it wasn’t copied from his friend’s homework, it wasn’t told to him by the local gossip. It came from God. A Word that existed first in the mind of God, it then became Hosea’s, who received it from God then given to the people. Now what the people did with it is uncertain. But the question more urgent for us is what do we do with God’s Word? Does it become yours? Do you hide it in your heart? Do you allow it to work in you what it must? The soothing Words are easy to receive and keep. But the wounding Words, well those are easier to reject, forget, and respond with, “That must have been from the devil.” “He mustn’t mean me.” “He’s talking to someone else.” But God’s Word always tells us exactly what we need to hear to move us along.
Questions to consider:
How does God speak?
What does it mean to receive God’s Word?
Why is it easy to not receive a wounding Word from God?
Why is a wounding Word important?
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