Dew in the Sunlight

"'O Israel and Judah, what should I do with you?' asks the Lord. For your love vanishes like the morning mist and disappears like dew in the sunlight." Hosea 6 & 7

On one of my visits to an elderly church family member, I greeted her with the familiar, "How are you doing?" Her response was priceless. "I'm finer than frog's hair!" she said. I had never heard that expression before. At first, I didn't know if that was good or bad, but her big grin gave it away. Basically, it means that one is doing tremendously well. The turn of phrase is meant to draw special attention to the intensity of how good one is feeling. Words can paint both beautiful and disturbing scenes in our minds.
 
As God was giving his message to Hosea the prophet for his people, he used powerful expressions that hit us as hard as hit them thousands of years ago. God was describing their love for him using everyday realities as a point of constant reminder -- vanishing mist, dew in the sunlight. Here one minute, gone the next. Later on, he adds that they are "as useless as a crooked bow." Whoa, that's not good. These descriptions are intentionally harsh as was his promise to use a net to "bring them down like a bird from the sky." If only they would have listened...
 
Reading this I began to wonder what turn of phrase God would use to describe my love for him these days. What about you? What would he say about our readiness for Kingdom use and his response to our lives? Try these on for size to see if they fit. My love for God is as deep as the ocean and as sure as the tides. I'm as ready for use as a newly fire-forged sword in the hands of a great warrior. God said, "I will raise you up like a sharp mountain peak piercing the sky."   

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