Sunday's Message Thursday, Who is God

Citing 1 Kings 18:21, Stephen began Sunday's prayer of confession, calling us to look at our false gods. I thought again how some of us consider God as an option. Like the Israelites in Kings, we don't always realize our choices have consequences. We chose according to whim and appetite. "If the Lord is God follow Him, but if Ba'al is God, follow him." Glancing at my phone for the fifteenth time this morning, I wonder who or what I worship, who or what is my god. Am I following my phone? Really? Sigh.
Stephen spoke from Joshua 24 echoing 1 Kings. Choose, Joshua exhorts. God is a jealous God. Stephen went on to mention Hosea 11, that not only is God a jealous God but He leads us with cords of human kindness and ties of love. It is a treasured passage that shows a father leading a child, teaching them to walk. I imagine my own son looking up at me in delight as he takes his first steps. Did I look at my earthly father that way? How soon did I stray? How often do I stray from the path God sets before me? The example of Gomer in Hosea sharpens my hunger to do better.
But God doesn't stop with cords of kindness and love, He sent His Son, our Redeemer. He sent His Holy Spirit, our Counselor.
When we notice these things, oh, and when, when will I notice, but when we do, when I do notice, I must put aside all other gods including self-absorption, affectation, disinterest and scorn. Psalm 19 ends with a petition that asks God to forgive the Psalmist's hidden faults and to keep the Psalmist from willful sin. This is my petition, my prayer for today.
I will post more on this tomorrow as it is the same topic for Monday evening Bible Study.
Thanks for reading. BEV