"I am like a moth to Ephraim, like rot to the people of Judah." -- God (Hos. 5:12)
Moths are nasty creatures.
They distract us, aggrevate us, and sometimes even startle or frighten us. Moths seek out and devour our clothing, our tapestries -- the work of our hands -- the things that we have made.
Yet there are times when the work of our hands, our own human efforts, need to be ruined and undone. There are times when our brilliant ideas and accomplishments need the humiliation that a moth can bring.
Sometimes... God himself is that moth -- that moth in our lives.
As I continue to ponder the effect that consumerism and materialism and individualism have reeked within the church (IC and EC alike), it "feels" like our God-who-is-like-a-Moth is needed more than ever.
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'God-who-is-like-a-Moth'
remember the names of god teachings from the 80's? that one was sort of over-looked ... ;)
Posted by: tammy | July 17, 2004 at 09:00 PM
You seem to have forgotten the other part of Hosea's description: God-who-is-like-rot.
What to make of that? I'm not sure. Apparently the prophet was more intimate with God than I!
Posted by: Mark Redfearn | July 17, 2004 at 10:06 PM
as i was re-watching LOTR last night i saw the moth fly to help gandalf and it reminded me of this post. i liked that tiny touch of god/good that came from that picture. thank you!
Posted by: bobbie | July 18, 2004 at 11:00 AM
Tammy, I'm cracking-up, laughing, just thinking about how fun it would have been to insert this into that "names-of-God" thing! Hey! Maybe we could write a worship chorus to go along with it?!
Posted by: Chris (DesertPastor) | July 19, 2004 at 04:34 PM
What do you think, Mark? Would the "God-who-is-like-rot" kinda mess-up the positive-confession crowd who only associate rot with the Devil who comes to steal, kill, and destroy? Surely the same God who will "rebuke the canker-worm" on our behalf couldn't himself be like rot, could he? ;)
Posted by: Chris (DesertPastor) | July 19, 2004 at 04:38 PM
woa this is a cult?
Posted by: james | July 27, 2006 at 06:22 PM