While many proverbs give instruction about what kind of person you should be, this passage has more of a focus on the kind of person you should avoid. It seems like easy enough advice to follow, and has convincing incentives too. Why would you carry an incredibly heavy and exhausting load if you didn’t have to, or willingly put yourself into a dangerous situation?

The decisions made in the first days set the trajectory for a new leader and send a signal to all. Hezekiah’s priorities were proclaimed in the first month of his reign. He opened and restored the doors to the temple and called on the priests and Levites to make it functional once again.

Change expert John Kotter claims that major transformation initiatives most often fail because the critical first step in the process is skipped or executed poorly. The first step is “Establishing a sense of urgency.” (1) In other words, get people’s attention. Make them see why it is in their best interests to commit to the change.

The people of Judah were living in perilous times. The northern kingdom was occupied territory and many had been uprooted and relocated far away. The south was a vassal state of Assyria, and the people there had only to look north to see how things could get gravely worse.

The prophet Hosea lived in a time of political turmoil, an era when the people of his nation were more concerned to serve the gods of power and material wealth than to walk in the ways of the God of Israel. They were, in a word, unfaithful.

Hosea is the unfortunate prophet called to deliver the unwelcome message that Israel’s unfaithfulness was a great grief to God.

“I will … make the Valley of Trouble a door of hope” (v 15).

This promise of hope comes in the context of a season of trouble caused by the wayward infidelity of God’s people. In Hosea’s metaphor, the unfaithful wife has been severely disciplined for her promiscuity; the nation of Israel for allowing Baal worship to flourish.

When’s the best time to sing? Anytime!

Psalm 11 was written when David was in fear for his life – trying to avoid being killed by King Saul (cf. 1 Samuel 18-20). It’s simultaneously a lament and a song of trust – an expression of grief and a declaration of confidence in God.