December Day 1

Hosea 1-3 - God told Hosea that his marriage would be an object lesson that illustrated the relationship of the Northern kingdom of Israel and God. God had provided well for them and had become wealthy and prosperous in the ways of the world, but had become spiritually bankrupt.  God would judge them, but one day God would restore them even though they chased after other false gods like a prostitute goes after other men.  Even though they would be exiled, God still loved them and would welcome them back when they turned back to him. 

Job 23 - Job felt confident that his heart was pure and that he had stayed on God’s path, so he didn’t understand why he was going through so much pain. He recognized that God is sovereign and can do what he pleases.  We may not understand our pain like Job.  We know that the enemy is the one who attacked Job though God allowed it to happen in order to test his faith.  In our times of trouble, we must learn to trust God even when we don’t understand. 

John 14:1-14 - Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us and in his timing we will join him.  Until then, he will do “even greater” things through us when we live in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Revelation 1:1-8 - Jesus gave this revelation to John to share with the church so we would know what is to come and how we should live.  Much of what we will read will be illustrations that are symbolic of things that will happen.  We don’t have to understand it all, but simply trust that God will give us understanding in his time.