Hosea 14
Moment by moment we can drift away from communion with God. God likes us, especially since He sees us in ways that we don’t know ourselves. He sees us without our sin on. One day that is the way we will be. He sent His Son to rescue us so that we could be with Him forever. It’s not that He is lonely. It’s not that He needs us. He just likes us. This is the way He wanted things to be, that we would be with Him, without sin, forever. Right now, even though we are credited with Christ’s righteousness, and He paid our debt to divine justice, we still have sin on us in our behavior. Like a confused woman wandering the city streets in the heat of summer with layers and layers of vile clothing, we keep putting more sin on every day. God knows this. He still likes us, and He calls us home again all the time.
How can you come home to a faultless God when you are bloody from your own wicked stumbling? How does Gomer come home to Hosea again? If we can accept the fact that God likes us, and that He is intensely serious about wanting us to live in His house, the way home is not hard to figure out. Gomer should come to the door with an apology, and a willingness to sincerely believe that her disagreement with her husband is not some contest she needs to win. Hosea’s way is the right way for her, and her soul already knows that it is God’s way. That’s the way for Gomer to come home to Hosea. That’s the way for
It is not that God is unaware of
This commitment to bless us will not be stopped. Today it appears to us that our prayers our not being answered. Today we still struggle with both sin and weakness. Today we are still attracted to lies that harm us. One day this will all be over. On that new day, the Lord will be like the morning dew on His people. We will be so blessed by His Spirit, and we shall blossom like the lily. The lily has a big beautiful flower. The Lord is going to do great things with us. He will make us into a very fruitful branch of righteousness, with His Son as the source of all goodness. There will be a new age where this good seed of His love will cause a wonderful vine to grow that will spread across the land, and then return again to the presence of the Lord. There we will truly flourish and blossom, and the glory of God with His people will be known by everyone everywhere.
In that great day the fog of our present confusion will be utterly lifted. The blessed presence of God will be known in such a way that we will see that He is our all in all. Everything that the Lord has ever said about Himself is completely true. In that day we shall see and understand that the Lord has been the one who has taken care of us through the former days. Our idols brought us no profit at all. The Lord was the one who was looking after us all along. He gave us shelter and food. We will see a great abundance and know that all is truly well, and that all shall be well forever.
For today, as we struggle with impatience and resentment, rebelliousness and every unclean thought and action, we are helped by the Lord to see, and to have some measure of discernment about the things that are right in front of our face. Hosea is a good husband. Gomer should go home and listen to him. These other men she has been with are creepy. They don’t mind messing up other peoples lives. They are just stumbling transgressors who would drag down everyone with them in their fall if they could.
But if you can handle the truth of this, the enemies of God won’t be able to accomplish the disaster that they contemplate. Those who are in Christ will be brought through everything. We can’t see it all now, but our prayers have been answered and will be answered. We shall walk forever ever in the land of the living. The wounds of Jesus Christ really were for us – even for us. The fact is that God likes us, and He is not changing His thoughts on that matter any time soon. It is time for
posted by Pastor Magee @ 6:00 AM
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