Blossom like a flower

I recently came across this verse…and it’s my new favorite!

Hosea 14:4-5

I will heal their waywardness

I will love them freely

I will turn my anger away from them

I will be like dew to Israel and

He will blossom like a flower. 

This verse is so beautiful because it’s God’s promise of love, healing and restoration in spite of our disobedience and sin.

If you are familiar with the book of Hosea, you already know that God tells the prophet Hosea to marry an active prostitute.  He even buys her again when she returns to prostitution to demonstrate God’s jealous love for Israel.   At the end He could have easily said “Forget you, you stubborn and rebellious people” but the Lord was compassionate and forgiving, and promises to help them.  To heal their waywardness, no longer angry but loving them with all of His heart.  I couldn’t ask for a more hopeful closing to the story of Israel’s infidelity. 

Although being compared to a prostitute is not something many aspire to – I think God chose this deeply personal illustration to demonstrate his relationship to Israel and even the church. The Lord uses a jealous husband to show that he is a jealous God.  Giving anything else the love, respect, praise, glory, or worship that God alone deserves is spiritual adultery.   It was easy to see in the Old Testament when there were other gods of nations that Israelites would worship instead of HIM. God calls it spiritual adultery.  He is a jealous God (Exodus 20:5, James 4).

Similarly in Mozambique ancestor worship, visiting witch doctors for help, or calling up a dead relative is a fairly common occurrence…and not as strange as it sounds to the Western mind.   These practices are the traditional  and cultural norm in many, and are often accompanied by communal pressure.   And even in churches many people are trusting in traditional healers instead of in the Lord. 

And So I am praying this prayer of renewal and promise over Mozambique.  That God would heal them of the ties they have to ancestor worship and with witch doctors.

  Do we really believe that God will heal our waywardness?  Our addictions, bad habits, impure thoughts, etc.?  The things we say there’s no way God can love me because of This whatever it may be?

Even though you treasure things more than me, you love your sin more than Me- I will redeem you, renew you and restore you.  I will heal you.  I love you and I will not be angry with you any longer.

What a promise!

My life...on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

I've been here in Vilanculos for two months and in my blog I want to give an accurate picture of what I am doing here, including things from my daily life and ministry as well.

  I’ve started up bible studies with ladies from the church…which has been challenging as many do not know how to read and have minimal if any Scriptural knowledge.  A few weeks ago a friend from the States visited and made the statement that the average American Christian has enough biblical knowledge to teach a bible school here…which I think is an accurate portrayal of just how little people know.  In some ways it makes teaching people  easy because almost any bible story is new.   But its also challenging because I cannot refer to other bible stories as examples.  For instance David and Goliath is well known, but here people  just do not have that same background.  They don’t value biblical stories in the same way because they don’t know them.    Also, people here either speak Portuguese and/or Sitchwa- a local Mozambican tongue.  Therefore 2 interpreters are needed for bible studies.   Fortunately I can speak Spanish which is similar to Portuguese; sometimes the words are very similar and other times not so much. 

  One group is in Pambarra- a town 18km away and they are the most consistent group.  The other group is in Vilanculos, where there have been different people hosting the study but no one has really committed to coming every week.   In Pambarra Mama Eliza, a woman old enough to be my mother, is one of my favorites because every week she says thank you for coming and teaching.  Even though she only speaks Sitchuwa I can see how she listens intently and soaks it in.  Her hunger and attitude of gratitude speak volumes; she values the teaching of the Word.  One of my challenges is simplifying the message so that it is easy to translate, with  examples that listeners can relate to, without diluting the power and truth of the gospel.  

There is a group of early teenage girls and I am hoping to start something with them as well.  They are literate and they have more free time than the older women.   Plus I think it’s a great age to reach as they are open to learning and are not set in their ways, the way adults are.

Hopefully this gives you an idea of what I am doing and give you insight to how you can pray for me.  God Bless.