Rays of Hope ~ Tim Stockton
I’m sure there are many who have turned on a TV to watch an old show of a criminal doing what they do best and then the cops take off in hot pursuit after them. A crime was done. A law was broken and it is the job of the cop to eventually apprehend the guilty one. In the same way God is after all of us. There is none good, no one perfect, all have sinned, which is breaking the laws of God that do not change. The awesome thing about this pursuit is that we can keep running but the moment we surrender instead of getting the consequences we deserve we can be forgiven.
John 14:6 Christ lets us know that He is the only way, the Truth, and the life. Hosea 4:1 teaches that God was bringing three charges against the people of Israel: 1. They have no truth; meaning they are believing whatever they want to be true, doing whatever they think is right; and having faith in that which is deception. 2. They are showing no mercy; they have no compassion or willingness to be forgiving and 3. There is no knowledge of God in the land.
God has shown us through the prophet Micah in 6:8 of what is good and what He does REQUIRE of us; which is essential, ordered, expected, and necessary. The three things required are basically the three charges in Hosea’s time for not having it; that was to do justly (seeking truth), to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. To walk humbly would have to have one to stop running from God and submit to His will and in so doing gaining more knowledge of Him. Proverbs 2:1-5 teaches how to pursue and to search for the hidden treasure which is the knowledge of God. There are 7 things we need to do: “If you receive my words, and treasure my commands within you, so that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding, Yes if you cry out for discernment and lift up your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; THEN you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. If we begin to pursue after this treasure we will soon realize it is one that has to be constantly pursued. The fullness of the treasure will never come to completion until the race of this life is run. How many treasure chests of blessings are still buried because we have stopped the pursuit?
~TRS 9/11/23
Rays of Hope 