Tragic Memory Loss
Text: Hosea 2:1-13 Theme: The results of forgetting God Key verses: “Rebuke your mother…for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove her adulterous look…and the unfaithfulness…Otherwise I will strip her naked…I will make her like a desert…and slay her with thirst.” (v. 2-3) “Then she will say, ‘I will go back to my husband as at first, for then I was better off than now.’ She has not acknowledged that I was the one who gave her the grain…who lavished on her the silver and gold…” (v.8) “So now I will expose her lewdness…I will stop her celebrations…I will ruin her vines…I will punish her for the days she burned incense to the Baals; she decked herself with rings and jewelry and went after her lovers, but me she forgot.” (v. 10-13) What God Said to Me: Dwayne, I will not be easily forgotten. People may manage to put me out of their minds for a little while. But if they belong to me, if they are my children, if they are a part of my bride, the church, I will make them remember me. Israel and Judah forgot me, but I never forgot them. They wished I had forgotten them, as I stripped from them everything they had gained by dishonest and immoral means. But no such luck on their part. No, they didn’t know what was good for them, but I did. I do. I didn’t make them return to me. But I gave them every reason to want to. That’s the job of a faithful husband, a loving father. That’s what I was to them. That’s what I am to you and to my church today. What I Said to God: Thank you, loving and awesome Father and God and Husband, for speaking so clearly to me. You have reminded me in no uncertain terms over the past few days that I am to meet every early morning with you. You have so much to teach me. I so appreciate your patience with me and your determination not to allow me or any of your children to forget or ignore you. You are our life, our source, our joy, our future! You are our God, and I humbly submit my life and my day to you. Protect my family and remind them of your ways today as well. I love you!