I’ll tell You, there would be no way I, or any human being, could put up with what You put up with.  I mean, these pharaohs, the Israelites and millions of others worshiping other gods, gods that don’t even exist, should be locked up.

There is no way anyone can even begin to fathom Your love for mankind.  We can’t understand it because we can’t love like You do.  The closet we got on earth to Your love is a mother’s love for her children, which is basically the same, but their love isn’t even close to the love You have.

I am just so glad and appreciative that You love me still, even after the bad things I had done in my past.

I just hope that someday, before Jesus comes, that people will realize that there is no life without You.

This is the last book of Hosea so we will next go to…

Hosea 14
The Call to Repent

1 O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.

2 Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.

3 Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.

4 I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.

5 I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.

6 His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.

7 They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.

8 Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found.

9 Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.

Karnak

The colossal Egyptian temple complex of Karnak at Thebes was not among the original Seven Wonders of the World, unlike the Great Pyramid of Giza.

 Many tourists today, however, find the scale and grandeur of Karnak beyond anything they have ever seen.  Its hypostyle hall – framed by pillars 80 feet high and encompassing 54,000 square feet – reflects the pride and ambition of Pharaohs Seti I and Ramses II, who were largely responsible for construction it.

Officially, such monuments were meant to honor the gods—in this case, Amun, the New Kingdom’s supreme deity. But because pharaohs claimed Amun as their father and patron, they were in fact glorifying themselves as well as the god when they erected such tributes to him.

Karnak was the site of a dramatic annual ceremony called the Opet Festival, which occurred in the season when the Nile flooded, an occasion of utmost importance for the ancient Egyptians and a time of thanksgiving.

 The pharaoh accompanied an image of Amun from the god’s Great Temple at Karnak to the Luxor Temple at the far end of Thebes. There the king underwent a mysterious ritual that seemingly renewed his powers and confirmed that he was the god’s true son and heir.

Priests of Amun, who oversaw bakeries, breweries, and other assets within the temple complex, took this occasion to share their bounty with the people, who received bread and beer and expressed their thanks by praising Amun and his earthly embodiment, the pharaoh.

…the Book of Joel.