DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 18:
WORD OF WISDOM
Fire burns if you believe it or not, the earth is round whether you believe
it or not, and Jesus Christ is Lord of all whether you believe it or not.
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DAILY DEVOTION
A Tender Heart
"And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave; and Saul went
in to cover his feet: and David and his men remained in the sides of the
cave. And the men of David said unto him, Behold the day of which the LORD
said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that
thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then David arose, and
cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily. And it came to pass afterward,
that David's heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt."
1 Samuel 24:3-5
The jealous Saul took an army of three thousand men out, not to fight
Israel's enemies, but to kill David. The threat was so great that David had
to hide his family outside the country, and he and a small group of men
lived in the mountains and caves. If they went to a city, spies would tell
Saul, and he would show up. On one occasion, David was hiding in a cave with
some of his men when Saul's army came near. Saul went inside the cave, not
knowing that the very man he was trying to kill was there. David's men
advised him to kill Saul while he had the chance, but David refused, instead
cutting a piece off the bottom of Saul's robe. After Saul left the cave,
David revealed himself, and showed Saul the piece of his robe he had cut
off-proof that Saul's life had been in David's hands.
Even though it was only David's restraint that kept Saul alive, David still
felt guilty even about the small step he had taken against the king. Despite
all that he had endured and the unfairness of his circumstances, David's
heart was still tender. He had not seared his conscience by justifying evil
toward others because of the evil done toward him. There is plenty of hurt
in the world around us. We need to be aware of the impact we have on others.
We must remain sensitive to the way our words and actions impact others.
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DAILY BIBLE READING FOR WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 18:
Hosea 1-3 New King James Version (NKJV)
Hosea's Unfaithful Wife
1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of
Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of
Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
The Family of Hosea
2 When the Lord began to speak by Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea:
"Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry
And children of harlotry,
For the land has committed great [a]harlotry
By departing from the Lord."
3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and
bore him a son. 4 Then the Lord said to him:
"Call his name Jezreel,
For in a little while
I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu,
And bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.
5
It shall come to pass in that day
That I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel."
6 And she conceived again and bore a daughter. Then God said to him:
"Call her name [b]Lo-Ruhamah,
For I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel,
[c]But I will utterly take them away.
7
Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah,
Will save them by the Lord their God,
And will not save them by bow,
Nor by sword or battle,
By horses or horsemen."
8 Now when she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. 9 Then
God said:
"Call his name [d]Lo-Ammi,
For you are not My people,
And I will not be your God.
The Restoration of Israel
10
"Yet the number of the children of Israel
Shall be as the sand of the sea,
Which cannot be measured or numbered.
And it shall come to pass
In the place where it was said to them,
'You are [e]not My people,'
There it shall be said to them,
'You are sons of the living God.'
11
Then the children of Judah and the children of Israel
Shall be gathered together,
And appoint for themselves one head;
And they shall come up out of the land,
For great will be the day of Jezreel!
The Lord's Love for His Unfaithful People
2 Say to your brethren, [f]'My people,'
And to your sisters, [g]'Mercy is shown.'
God's Unfaithful People
2
"Bring[h] charges against your mother, [i]bring charges;
For she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband!
Let her put away her harlotries from her sight,
And her adulteries from between her breasts;
3
Lest I strip her naked
And expose her, as in the day she was born,
And make her like a wilderness,
And set her like a dry land,
And slay her with thirst.
4
"I will not have mercy on her children,
For they are the children of harlotry.
5
For their mother has played the harlot;
She who conceived them has behaved shamefully.
For she said, 'I will go after my lovers,
Who give me my bread and my water,
My wool and my linen,
My oil and my drink.'
6
"Therefore, behold,
I will hedge up your way with thorns,
And [j]wall her in,
So that she cannot find her paths.
7
She will [k]chase her lovers,
But not overtake them;
Yes, she will seek them, but not find them.
Then she will say,
'I will go and return to my first husband,
For then it was better for me than now.'
8
For she did not know
That I gave her grain, new wine, and oil,
And multiplied her silver and gold-
Which they prepared for Baal.
9
"Therefore I will return and take away
My grain in its time
And My new wine in its season,
And will take back My wool and My linen,
Given to cover her nakedness.
10
Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers,
And no one shall deliver her from My hand.
11
I will also cause all her mirth to cease,
Her feast days,
Her New Moons,
Her Sabbaths-
All her appointed feasts.
12
"And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees,
Of which she has said,
'These are my wages that my lovers have given me.'
So I will make them a forest,
And the beasts of the field shall eat them.
13
I will punish her
For the days of the Baals to which she burned incense.
She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry,
And went after her lovers;
But Me she forgot," says the Lord.
God's Mercy on His People
14
"Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
Will bring her into the wilderness,
And speak [l]comfort to her.
15
I will give her her vineyards from there,
And the Valley of Achor as a door of hope;
She shall sing there,
As in the days of her youth,
As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.
16
"And it shall be, in that day,"
Says the Lord,
"That you will call Me [m]'My Husband,'
And no longer call Me [n]'My Master,'
17
For I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals,
And they shall be remembered by their name no more.
18
In that day I will make a covenant for them
With the beasts of the field,
With the birds of the air,
And with the creeping things of the ground.
Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth,
To make them lie down safely.
19
"I will betroth you to Me forever;
Yes, I will betroth you to Me
In righteousness and justice,
In lovingkindness and mercy;
20
I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness,
And you shall know the Lord.
21
"It shall come to pass in that day
That I will answer," says the Lord;
"I will answer the heavens,
And they shall answer the earth.
22
The earth shall answer
With grain,
With new wine,
And with oil;
They shall answer [o]Jezreel.
23
Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth,
And I will have mercy on her who had [p]not obtained mercy;
Then I will say to those who were [q]not My people,
'You are [r]My people!'
And they shall say, 'You are my God!' "
Israel Will Return to God
3 Then the Lord said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by a
lover[s] and is committing adultery, just like the love of the Lord for the
children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the
pagans."
2 So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and one and
one-half homers of barley. 3 And I said to her, "You shall stay with me
many days; you shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man-so, too,
will I be toward you."
4 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince,
without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim. 5 Afterward
the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David
their king. They shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days.
Footnotes:
a.Hosea 1:2 Spiritual adultery
b.Hosea 1:6 Lit. No-Mercy
c.Hosea 1:6 Or That I may forgive them at all
d.Hosea 1:9 Lit. Not-My-People
e.Hosea 1:10 Heb. lo-ammi, v. 9
f.Hosea 2:1 Heb. Ammi, Hos. 1:9, 10
g.Hosea 2:1 Heb. Ruhamah, Hos. 1:6
h.Hosea 2:2 Or Contend with
i.Hosea 2:2 Or contend
j.Hosea 2:6 Lit. wall up her wall
k.Hosea 2:7 Or pursue
l.Hosea 2:14 Lit. to her heart
m.Hosea 2:16 Heb. Ishi
n.Hosea 2:16 Heb. Baali
o.Hosea 2:22 Lit. God Will Sow
p.Hosea 2:23 Heb. lo-ruhamah
q.Hosea 2:23 Heb. lo-ammi
r.Hosea 2:23 Heb. ammi
s.Hosea 3:1 Lit. friend or husband
