Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Hosea 14:1-4 -- On Returning to the Lord

"O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.
Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.
I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him."
Hosea 14:1-4


There are some interesting and cool things in here.  First, I like the statement in the first verse "thou hast fallen by thine iniquity."  God is basically telling us, guys, you screwed up.  Your life is in shambles.  Come back, make it right.

In the second verse "take with you words" and "render the calves of our lips" are referencing prayer I think... turning to the Lord, apologizing to him that we messed up so badly when he warned us ahead of time.  Instead of sacrificing the burnt sacrifice of a calf to the Lord, we need to make the sacrifice of humility in prayer, or as stated elsewhere, a broken heart and a contrite spirit).  If we ask the Lord to take away our iniquity, and we are truly repentant and trying to change, he will.

The third verse emphasizes repentance and not letting things come before God or get in the way of that relationship.  We too often let earthly things take precedence in our lives, when only the things of God carry that eternal weight of importance.  I like also the comment that God helps the fatherless.  God is always watching over people who are truly in need, even when we as a society fail them.  God connects with us individually, and doesn't let anyone "fall through the cracks."

The last verse is amazing, because even though we totally screwed up, as noted in the first verse, God isn't angry anymore.  He loves us and just wants us to come home... and he will "heal [our] backsliding."  That is the coolest part because sometimes when we screw up we just have no idea how to get ourselves out of the pit we just dug for ourselves.  God however, knows how to heal *everything,* including self-induced falls, and if we turn to him he will make things okay again.

Today, let's return to the Lord.  Let's go to him in prayer.  Let's make sure he comes first, and let's listen and work and let his healing happen in our lives.

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