5 Thoughts from the Book of Hosea linger with me.
GRACE ... It's a Beautiful God Who pursues us when we are unlovely like Hosea's wife. "I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her." I will give her a door of hope. Hosea 2:14-15. And I will have mercy on No Mercy. And I will say to Not My People, You are my People." Hosea 2:23.
HOLINESS ... The Israelites in the Northern Kingdom of Israel wailed from their beds for new wine and new grain. They did not cry from their hearts over what affected them each day in their divided kingdom. Hosea 7:14. Repent! as the Great Story beckons. Hosea stayed faithful to God but his wife followed her lovers and forgot God while married to a man like Hosea---she was still an adulteress.
IDOLATRY ... "Consulting wooden idols. Asking diviner's wands to inform them. Playing the harlot, departing from God." God says: He will go away until you acknowledge your guilt and seek His Face. He does not say when you learn to be grateful or once you are doing well or when you do the right things. "Ephraim has hired lovers. Even though they hired allies among the nations. They multiplied altars for sin... They forgot their Maker while multiplying fortified cities." Hosea 8:8-10. They played the harlot and loved the earnings.
PROVIDENCE ... God yearns your way. From the days of old, your very first days, He was there. "Yet it is I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them in My arms; But they did not know that I healed them... And I bent down and fed them. Hosea 11:4
HOLY LOVE ... Do I feed on the wind? Hosea 12:1. Return to Kindness and Justice. Wait for your God continually. Hosea 12:6 Expect Him to do much. His Love is irresistible. No division, betrayal, or unreturned love can stop the Love of God planted in Hosea's heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment