Death is both a mystery and a fact of life. Having lost loved ones, most of us are no stranger to it, the reality of it, at the very least. Death is one of the few once in a lifetime experiences, perhaps the only experience impossible to live to tell. So, the tale of one’s death is entrusted to the living. Have we given proper thought, then, about the life we, sooner or later, will leave behind? Will we be remembered? If so, how? If not, why? Do the remains of our death accurately depict a life well led? Why go to great lengths, make great strides, hoping either matters? How is being remembered any good to the dead? Is it not man’s all to keep his fear in God and His commandments to the end? God through Paul reminds us that our present lives and bodies are His temple, temporary tangible dwelling places for His Holy Spirit. Knowing this alone, are we not compelled to preserve our bodies and souls in securing God’s constant abidance and be used as living testaments of God? Is this not also the conclusion of the matter? “For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” – Romans 14: 7-8 As death inconspicuously looms over matters of this life, let us never overlook or lose sight, but always look to matters beyond. God-willing, our life and death point the living to glorious skies.

"For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, And He ponders all his paths. His own iniquities entrap the wicked man, And he is caught in the cords of his sin. He shall die for lack of instruction, And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray." Aside from the loss of salvation, another of my greatest fears is memory loss. When I’ve forgotten something or seem to have misplaced something, regardless of the degree of significance, my entire being freezes up and quickly succumbs to panic and anxiety. In the midst of persuading myself to calm down, my mind naturally wanders off to God, seeking comfort and reassurance in the fact that God knows, never forgets, and is in control; He will allow me to recall thoughts and find things most necessary and in the timeliest manner. Similarly, we see God recounting through Hosea some of the earliest Israelite histories that the present-day Israelites (at the time of Hosea) should clearly commit to memory, learn and move forward from. These histories should not simply be left in the past and counterproductively repeated in the future. As modern-day followers of God, we learn not to follow in the Israelites’ footsteps. Yet, try as we might, do we not also find ourselves stuck in the same old sins? Do we not remember to change for a moment, then forget or overlook this commitment in the next? Sooner than any of us expects, we will have to stand before God, made fully accountable for our past and sin. While it is still called ‘Today’, should we not recount the error of our ways, turn away from them, lest it is too late, and God Himself turns away? “… I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbour, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Just as nothing escapes the eyes and mind of our LORD, may each breath we take be a remembrance unto Him.

At this juncture, it appears that, outwardly, God’s people did not forget their ritualistic offering of sacrifices (Hosea 5: 6). Inwardly, they had forsaken and abandoned God’s true mercy, had given up keen adherence to the knowledge of God – His truth (Hosea 4:1), which would in turn liken their sacrifices to mere acts of habitual vanity. God would rather our devotion to the preservation of upright hearts, pure and filled with truth and mercy, than sacrifice in surplus. Although God’s holiness compels Him to turn His face away from man’s stubborn cycles of sin, here in Hosea 6, prophet Hosea concisely illustrates the extent of God’s enduring righteousness. God alone has the power and authority to build up and destroy, reject and redeem, erase and save. What God requires of us is simply our honest admission of the error of our ways and the humble seeking of His forgiveness unto salvation. As weak and flawed individuals, we will never be able to achieve perfection in our Christian conduct and character. However, how faithful are we in our daily pursuit of God’s standard? Is our resolve as fleeting as early dew? Or, even in trials and affliction, tests of our faith, are we as resilient and relentless as lapping waves against a shore? May this short chapter be a hopeful reminder to us that our God has remained and continues to remain merciful and faithful to the chosen who ultimately and wholeheartedly choose to repent and return to Him, over and over again.

“The prince shall then be in their midst. When they go in, he shall go in; and when they go out, he shall go out.” – Ezekiel 46: 10 Intermittently highlighted throughout this chapter is the integration and interwovenness of the prince’s movements with his people. He is not exempt from the coordination of movements and activities within the temple – uses the same entry and exit routes as his people and does not make himself the exception to rules and regulations. As in Deuteronomy 17: 20, this prince is a royal whose heart is with his people, whose mind is not lifted above his brethren. This is a prince of the people, whose top priority is in living a life in sustained communion with his people. We go about our days differently – some of us start each day looking forward to the end, some of us move through the motions, and some of us work for meaning and sense of satisfaction. Regardless of perspective and approach, how often does the thought of Jesus cross our minds? With every next step, do we remember Him? Do we trust that Jesus, the Prince of Peace, is in and within our midst, in and amongst us, His people? Regardless of the furiosity or frivolity of our lives’ issues, are we living testaments of Jesus’ unwavering, most times seemingly unassuming, abidance? As we map out and carry out our heart’s plans everyday, weave in and out of crowds of distractions and commotion, may Jesus and His footsteps, in full view, remain.

“Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that Upon reading this verse, hymn 262, I Want a Principle Within, started playing in my mind.  Doing anything and everything under the sun that was seemingly right in their own eyes appears to be the signature trademark of the Israelite nation. As we readily and easily point out and analyse each of their sins, all their grievances, deliberate acts of disobedience, are we numb, ignorant or perhaps, in denial of those of our own? Or is pain synonymous with our plights? God’s decisive hand in sanctifying His holy and hallowed name shows us how powerless we are at redeeming ourselves, turning away from temptation for good, and how far we fall short of His standard, how far we’ve fallen from grace. God’s actions also give us a glimpse into His perspective – how He sees us. If we constantly see ourselves as God does, would we not, like Adam and Eve at the beginning of time, be ridden with shame and guilt, then be resolved to live lives of reconciliation with God? May the unspeakable holiness and sanctity of God and His name keep our sights unobstructed towards the stains in our slumbering souls.