The change in the desert

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Bible Passage 1: Hosea 2 : 14 a

Today I would like to talk about the way God works from my life experience and also from the Bible. The context is rather spread out in the Bible and therefore we would look into multiple passages. It starts in one desert and ends in another garden.

In the story of Hosea, we have Lo-Ammi (Not my people) and Lo-Rummani (Not loved) the children of the prostitute wife of Hosea being asked to talk to their mother. The situation in his house has come so worse that the children have to intervene in their mother’s life. But does this story have more to do with faith than just a broken marriage? I would share my thoughts about some key elements that stand out in this chapter and relate to my life and the Christian walk.

The first thing that is done here is that there is a thirst given in the life of Israel to seek the Lord and this is where we understand that just because we are interested in Christianity, we do not be Christians. Being a follower of God does mean more than a bunch of rules and obligations. Gomar, was married to the prophet Hosea in her sins. Hosea 1:2. This is like what God did for us in the past, 2000 plus years ago. Romans 5:8 says that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. But this message if not understood properly we would not be followers of Christs but rather people who call themselves Christians. Once someone is in Christ , they affiliate to a church and are busy with the church. They have a lot of emotional meets with God in the Church. Please do not get this wrong, we need people to do work in the Church, but remember you are engaged to Christ and not to Church. Gomer, did what she had to do in order to be a wife, she bore kids to him, and took care of the house and stayed with him. But she was adulterous and went back to the world she came from. God says this to her and the people of Israel and by extenstion the Christians, you are not my people, you are not my loved ones even if you have given me children and live with me , yet do not know me. Hosea 1

Hosea 2: 5 Food and Water

The first desert is the desert of Haran. This is where Abraham received the call from God and so had moved away into the wilderness so that he would reach Canaan. This was from Iraq to Turkey to Israel. This is not an easy travel and so Abraham had to have his fathers house in Haran to a more miserable Canaan as it was famine soon. You see, the first step to understanding how God works is to understand what famine and desert is. You get no voice from God. You may be bored of messages.

The bread of life is the word of God and like many devoted preachers tell, they cannot be responsible to give you the word of God from the morsel they get. You see, when paul tells us “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you“ Philippians 2:12,13 we must get to know what it means to work out our salvation. When we want God to work out in our lives, we must listen to God and this is a difficult task to do, and that is why the grace of God is required. But how could we recognise the voice of God from the various voices in our life, even for the mere factor of hunger and pain, our brains send out voice like signals and clog our mind.

For those who have used a natural language user interface like Siri by Apple would release that on the first day you would have to use Siri for a lot of times till the software understands your accent and dialect. This is the same thing for us humans , although in the opposite manner, to understand God’s voice. You see, till we practice to listen to the voice of God only then would we be able to obey him. To do this first of all, we have to do this in a secluded environment, incase of Siri, in a quiet room so that it understands to recognise your voice.

In spiritual sense, we cannot isolate and move to mountains although there are some people who in the past have gone and done that, and some understood to listen to God , others just had a horrible supernatural / unknown experience where they misinterpreted the whole thing and left God. This is where the idea of a spiritual desert comes in. This is the period in which God trains your ears to listen to him and be able to understand him very well. The more you seek him, the more would you understand him, and remember, God would not teach you a doctrine that would have not been given in the past to elders and apostles, but rather help you understand it better. A well known illustration of the Christian life is the idea of marriage, we are betrothed to Christ in the fact we accept Christ as the Lord of our lives, and like Rebecca in Genesis 25:58 agreed to leave her family and go to Isaac, so we do agree to leave our past and go the Jesus. This is the first desert. This step is similar to Abraham’s. When Abraham’s was like a family, Rebecca is alone. The time when you leave to make path for your Lord is the time you decide to change your future. This is the only easiest step to the desert , trusting him blindly. We see Isaac, who at the same time is wondering what sort of women he is going to get in his life, would she be fairer or of a decent behaviour?

Hosea 2:5 Refreshing drink / Hosea 2:6 Blocking ways

The second desert is Jacob’s desert, where he sees to meet the divine nature of Lord. The man over here is a thief of spiritual blessings. He knows that only God could actually bless him, because he has probably seen Isaac and Jacob and their life in God. But this desert is the time where God has to let him know of his approval. This sleep was to get over his fears and hope to reach somewhere. Genesis 28:11 Do you realise how tough it is to sleep with a rock as a pillow? Worse was he did not know where he was nor had an understanding of how much more to go. This is the second call into the desert.

Hosea 2:5 Wool and Linen / Chasing Lovers
The third desert is the desert of rejection / betrayal. Joseph is rejected and sold as a slave to the Ishmaelites. This is a painful process, where standing up and looking at the promises that God does for you. You see, young Joseph was battling this whole idea even to trust God and family, one his father knowing the hostility of his brothers send him carelessly, his mother dies long time back, his brothers wanted to kill him, they sold him to their distant relatives, all for 20 silver coins. How cheap and worthless had his life become? Do you think he had issues of trust and hope - and lack of shelter and clothing?  This is the third step.

Hosea 2:5 Olive Oil (An anointing ) / Losing way

The next desert we see is the desert of the Israelites and this portion is going to be a bit hard as we must keep to the flow of how the word of God goes. I could be wrong in my interpretation but it does sound right to me at the moment I am writing this and so, I proceed forward. The Israelites moved from Egypt into the Sinai peninsula to mount Sinai. this mountain is somewhat a reason why they took 40 years because they were circling this mountain and its valleys for a very long time. But this is not the point here. The point is more explained in a biblical hermeneutic means to our daily lives. The Israelites were called and chosen to the great work of leading a God based people and this was their first step into the work they had to do with their lives. Step of faith and persuasion of Moses led them to the sea where they started to see the work of God in their lives. The first one is the calling and the dedication with the baptism into the sea 1 Corinthians 10:2 and their move to faith. Further down this message, I would show the next step in this process.

From this four passages we took a look at the deserts in Christian walk, we have understood some key times in our lives when the desert is needed and what happens in them. This is a deeper explanation. There are other desert too .1 Kings 14:8

Hosea 2: 7,8 - 14,15,16 - Similar to the prodigal son Luke 15:18

From the first desert we have talked in this message, we see Abraham and Rebecca, moving into the promised land . So he goes to meditate and pray and as an answer to his prayer God helps him lift his eyes, Genesis 25:63 , he only in his prayer did he see Rebecca. You see, his meditation did not let him loose, but rather made him hear God and accept the fact that God was sovereign over his life.

The second desert Jacob understands the nature of God and sees the sovereignty of Lord. He moves to understanding the holiness of God. There, he builds an altar, something he would do many times from now. The first of his acts as a patriarch.  Hosea 2:15 I will make the valley of Achor - the hardship a doorway,

The third desert brought pain and lack of covering but ended in him being a covering for many nations and his family. Hosea 2:15 She will call me as when she began to seek me. She will not call me master, but will call me personally, ISHI --> ABBA

The fourth desert brought change into peoples lives. They in the baptism did not change, but rather take on the seal that they were new people. They had been washed by the blood of the lamb but they did not complete the change required to reach Canaan. This was their own mistake. They were rebellious to change. Change however in a believers life does not happen at the baptismal pool, but rather with the walking with Christ. They had taken 40 years to learn that and none of them except Joshua and Caleb entered the promised land. Numbers 32: 11- 12 Now another hermeneutics we see here is that the old man dies in the desert and the new man enters the promise land. The sins of the past if must be put to death , it must be brought to the desert. This is initiated in baptism, but it is only fulfilled in the desert walk.

Hosea 2: 17-23 / Returning 19: Forever, i will betroth you. In Righteousness and Justice.

Compare the words in the passages to the ones in Galatians 5:22 and 1 Corinthians 12:8. This is a blessing. This is how god crowns his glory on his children.

Galatians 5: 22 1 Corinthians 12:8

Sing, Hope, Expect, Peace, Safety, Stability, Righteousness, Sound judgment, faithfulness, love, pity, mercy, lovingkindness. This would lead you to be in self control, be joyful and praise him, and glorify him.

She will KNOW Me and she will call me ISHI. She will call me not by my official designation, but by the personal revelation she has of me.

Lastly, i will return to her wheat, Vines, and oil.

A man walked into the desert to be tempted by the devil, he overcame the devil even after 40 days of fasting. This man, just before he went to a garden took the bread made from wheat, the wine made from vines and gave it to his disciples. Since, they needed to do his work he poured the oil , the anointing of the Spirit on them so that they may be powered. You see, the desert is the best place to hear the voice of God and not the place where you loose but where you gain all that God has for you. This is your call, you could like me run away and lose it for many years, but if you get this, then move with him. Do not worry where the desert would be, because in Matthew 4 : 1 it says, the Spirit of the Lord led Jesus to the desert.


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