Today's reading from the Chronological OT/NT Reading Plan is: Hosea 12-14, Romans 16
Happy Monday Everyone! Happy Canadian Thanksgiving to all of you - North and South of the border! With my firefighter husband out many, many hours this week fighting blazing wildfires, I sure have much to be thankful for this morning as he and the other firefighters are safe. I pray you all have been able to take some time as well to reflect on your thankfulness this weekend as well. If not - it's not too late!
Today I want to reflect on some chunks of scripture that really spoke to me. The wrath of God against Israel is a starting point.
Hosea 13:5 & 6
5 I cared for you in the desert,
in the land of burning heat.
6 When I fed them, they were satisfied;
when they were satisfied, they became proud;
then they forgot me.
Verse 6 especially here - "when I fed them, there were satisfied; when they were satisfied they became proud; then they forgot me."
Everything, everything we have and are passes through the sovereign hands of God. Nothing happens - good or bad - without his express permission. Yet how often do we become satisfied and proud of our station in life, our static spirit life, our dependance on God. This complacency is what happened to the Israelites and still happens to us today. Evidence again on how God's word is still so very applicable to us today. The same struggles and stumbling thousands of years apart - with the common thread of humanity. But there is hope...
Hosea 14:1-5
1 Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God.
Your sins have been your downfall!
2 Take words with you
and return to the LORD.
Say to him:
“Forgive all our sins
and receive us graciously,
that we may offer the fruit of our lips.[h]
3 Assyria cannot save us;
we will not mount war-horses.
We will never again say ‘Our gods’
to what our own hands have made, for in you the fatherless find compassion.”
4 “I will heal their waywardness
and love them freely,
for my anger has turned away from them.
5 I will be like the dew to Israel;
he will blossom like a lily.
Like a cedar of Lebanon
he will send down his roots;
I love this passage. There are the answers so clearly laid out for us in struggling times!!
2 Take words with you
and return to the LORD.
Say to him:
“Forgive all our sins
and receive us graciously,
that we may offer the fruit of our lips.[h]
And then God's response to this?
4 “I will heal their waywardness
and love them freely,
for my anger has turned away from them.
Verse 4 gives me goosebumps whenever I read it. The use of "heal" here is so profound for me. He doesn't say - when they ask - I will forgive them. He says he will "HEAL their waywardness". "And love them freely". A truly repentant heart, going to God seeking forgiveness will receive healing and a love that is completely free of any strings or even any ties to past transgressions.
I am so thankful that the God of the Israelites that loved them freely is the same God I serve. That I too can come to him with words of repentance - as a sinner - and receive healing and God's grace-filled love is still overwhelming. These are messages that I have heard and heard throughout my life as a believer, but I still find it humbling. I still love to read it and soak in the truth of it.
And to close - Romans 16:25-27
25 Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, 26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him— 27 to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.
Tomorrow's passage: Micah 1-3, Acts 21:1-17
1 comment:
Great post Jody. Those verses all jumped out at me too. I, too, love the phrase "heal your waywardness". What a beautiful picture that is! We cannot cure ourselves. Our sin sick nature can only be healed by God Himself.
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