Overview of: HoseaToday's Reading:
Hosea 11:1-11
"God's Love for Israel"
Focus Verses: Hosea 11:8
8 "How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused."
Insight:
Hosea ends his prophetic message with song of God's love and compassion for his stubborn and unfaithful people. They don't deserve God's love, but God asks, "How can I give them up?" God's love and compassion flow out of his heart and his nature; his love and forgiveness are unearned and undeserved.
Response and Action:
God doesn't give up his people. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). God doesn't give up on me when I stumble, fall, turn away, or disobey. Even when I give up on myself, God doesn't give up on me. He calls me to repentance; he calls me to follow; he calls me to transformation; he calls me to maturity; he calls me to righteousness; he calls me to faith; he calls me to the life that he is able to restore and bless by the power and grace of his Holy Spirit.
O God, thank you for your grace and your persistence. Thank you for loving me with a love that never gives up. When I am tempted to give in or give up, remind me of your power and your promises. Give me a heart that perseveres and pursues what it true and what is best. Pick me up when I fall. Call me back to you when I wander. Help me to press on to take hold of all you have called me to be in Jesus. Through Christ, I pray. Amen.
Proverb for Today: Prov. 2:12-13
"Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse, who leave the straight paths to walk in dark ways..."
New Testament for Today: 1 John 4:9-10
9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
In Context: 1 John 4:7-21
Recommended Reading:
Never Beyond Hope: How God Touches & Uses Imperfect People
by J. I. Packer and Carolyn Nystrom
