Overview of: HoseaToday's Reading:
Hosea 1:1 – 3:5
"Israel's Adultery"
Focus Verses: Hosea 2:5-7
5 Their mother has been unfaithful and has conceived them in disgrace. She said, 'I will go after my lovers, who give me my food and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink.' 6 Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way. 7 She will chase after her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them. Then she will say, 'I will go back to my husband as at first, for then I was better off than now.'
Insight:
In the final days of the northern kingdom of Israel, Hosea, like Amos, warned of impending judgment. This judgment, Hosea said, would come at the hands of Assryia.
Hosea's marriage to an unfaithful spouse served as the prophetic illustration of Israel's unfaithfulness to God. The life of his wife, Gomer, was destroyed by her unfaithfulness. She did not realize Hosea's goodness to her until her adultery had left her destitute, naked, and auctioned as a slave.
When Hosea saw her being sold, he bought her, took her home, and restored her as his wife. In doing this, Hosea was acting out and proclaiming God's redemptive love for even those who are unfaithful to him.
Response and Action:
I need to thank God every day for the redemption I have in Christ. I need to be alert to the dangers of unfaithfulness to God. I need the wisdom to see how half-heartedness and compromise are self-destructive. I need to turn away from sin and turn to God.
How can I, like Hosea, be a demonstration of God's grace and redeeming love to those who are unfaithful to God? How can I be a living example of what it means to restore and an instrument of God's forgiveness?
O God, help me to turn away from what is wrong and do what is right. Help me to love you with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. Thank you for loving me even though I am a sinner. Thank you for the redemption you have made possible for me through Jesus. As I have received redemption, make me a vessel of your redeeming love. Help me, by your grace, to offer hope and forgiveness to others. Through Christ, I pray. Amen.
Proverb for Today: Prov. 1:10
"My son, if sinners entice you, do not give in to them."
New Testament for Today: Luke 15:17-18
17 "When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
In Context: Luke 15:11-32
Recommended Reading:
To Forgive Is Human: How to Put Your Past in the Past
by Michael E. McCullough, Steven J. Sandage, Everett L. Worthington
