Day 8/19 – An Illustration of Grace

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Thoughts from the Diary of a Desperate Man by Walter A Henrichsen (“Walt”)
An Illustration of Grace
Day Two Hundred Thirty-one

“The Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry, for the land commits great harlotry by forsaking the Lord.”‘ Hosea 1:2

God commanded His prophet Hosea to enter into a marriage with Gomer that was not only dishonoring to the husband, but was against custom, legal sense, and reason. He woos to himself a worthless woman and yokes himself to her in a nonsensical marriage. God uses this marriage to depict to the nation of Israel how He views His relationship with her. Israel, the whore, lusts after other gods and sells herself to a never-ending string of lovers. Still God elects Israel to be His bride, the object of His affection. No reason for such love can be given other than to say that it serves His purpose. Grace has no rationale.

Among people love is awakened by something in the beloved that is attractive. A helpless, cooing child evokes the desire to reach out and take the little one in your arms. Nothing in people evokes such a response from God. Objectively, we merit only condemnation and banishment from His presence. Notice God’s commitment to His faithless wife Israel. “And I will betroth you to me for ever; I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall know the Lord.” 305 In her wretched, miserable plight, God takes her under His legal protection forever. This Divine initiative the Bible calls grace.

Gomer did not warrant Hosea’s commitment to her. Israel did not warrant God’s commitment to her. You do not warrant God’s commitment to you. You are the object of God’s grace.

305 Hosea 2:19-20

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Psalm 103-104 1 Corinthians 2 (New King James Version)

Psalm 103-104
Praise for the Lord’s Mercies
A Psalm of David.
103
Bless the Lord, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
2
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
3
Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
4
Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
5
Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
6
The Lord executes righteousness
And justice for all who are oppressed.
7
He made known His ways to Moses,
His acts to the children of Israel.
8
The Lord is merciful and gracious,
Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.
9
He will not always strive with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever.
10
He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor punished us according to our iniquities.
11
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;
12
As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
13
As a father pities his children,
So the Lord pities those who fear Him.
14
For He [a]knows our frame;
He remembers that we are dust.
15
As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16
For the wind passes over it, and it is [b]gone,
And its place remembers it no more.
17
But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
On those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children’s children,
18
To such as keep His covenant,
And to those who remember His commandments to do them.
19
The Lord has established His throne in heaven,
And His kingdom rules over all.
20
Bless the Lord, you His angels,
Who excel in strength, who do His word,
Heeding the voice of His word.
21
Bless the Lord, all you His hosts,
You [c]ministers of His, who do His pleasure.
22
Bless the Lord, all His works,
In all places of His dominion.
Bless the Lord, O my soul!
Praise to the Sovereign Lord for His Creation and Providence
104
Bless the Lord, O my soul!
O Lord my God, You are very great:
You are clothed with honor and majesty,
2
Who cover Yourself with light as with a garment,
Who stretch out the heavens like a curtain.
3
He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters,
Who makes the clouds His chariot,
Who walks on the wings of the wind,
4
Who makes His angels spirits,
His [d]ministers a flame of fire.
5
You who [e]laid the foundations of the earth,
So that it should not be moved forever,
6
You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
The waters stood above the mountains.
7
At Your rebuke they fled;
At the voice of Your thunder they hastened away.
8
[f]They went up over the mountains;
They went down into the valleys,
To the place which You founded for them.
9
You have set a boundary that they may not pass over,
That they may not return to cover the earth.
10
He sends the springs into the valleys;
They flow among the hills.
11
They give drink to every beast of the field;
The wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12
By them the birds of the heavens have their home;
They sing among the branches.
13
He waters the hills from His upper chambers;
The earth is satisfied with the fruit of Your works.
14
He causes the grass to grow for the cattle,
And vegetation for the service of man,
That he may bring forth food from the earth,
15
And wine that makes glad the heart of man,
Oil to make his face shine,
And bread which strengthens man’s heart.
16
The trees of the Lord are full of sap,
The cedars of Lebanon which He planted,
17
Where the birds make their nests;
The stork has her home in the fir trees.
18
The high hills are for the wild goats;
The cliffs are a refuge for the rock[g] badgers.
19
He appointed the moon for seasons;
The sun knows its going down.
20
You make darkness, and it is night,
In which all the beasts of the forest creep about.
21
The young lions roar after their prey,
And seek their food from God.
22
When the sun rises, they gather together
And lie down in their dens.
23
Man goes out to his work
And to his labor until the evening.
24
O Lord, how manifold are Your works!
In wisdom You have made them all.
The earth is full of Your possessions—
25
This great and wide sea,
In which are innumerable teeming things,
Living things both small and great.
26
There the ships sail about;
There is that Leviathan[h]
Which You have [i]made to play there.
27
These all wait for You,
That You may give them their food in due season.
28
What You give them they gather in;
You open Your hand, they are filled with good.
29
You hide Your face, they are troubled;
You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.
30
You send forth Your Spirit, they are created;
And You renew the face of the earth.
31
May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
May the Lord rejoice in His works.
32
He looks on the earth, and it trembles;
He touches the hills, and they smoke.
33
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
34
May my meditation be sweet to Him;
I will be glad in the Lord.
35
May sinners be consumed from the earth,
And the wicked be no more.
Bless the Lord, O my soul!
[j]Praise the Lord!
Footnotes:
• Psalm 103:14 Understands our constitution
• Psalm 103:16 not
• Psalm 103:21 servants
• Psalm 104:4 servants
• Psalm 104:5 Lit. founded the earth upon her bases
• Psalm 104:8 Or The mountains rose up; The valleys sank down
• Psalm 104:18 rock hyraxes
• Psalm 104:26 A large sea creature of unknown identity
• Psalm 104:26 Lit. formed
• Psalm 104:35 Heb. Hallelujah

1 Corinthians 2
Christ Crucified
2 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the [a]testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of [b]human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
Spiritual Wisdom
6 However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God [c]ordained before the ages for our glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 But as it is written:
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the [d]Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. 16 For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
Footnotes:
• 1 Corinthians 2:1 NU mystery
• 1 Corinthians 2:4 NU omits human
• 1 Corinthians 2:7 predetermined
• 1 Corinthians 2:13 NU omits Holy