The Faithful Love of God

 

I've set a 2021 spiritual goal for myself which is to study, in depth, 4 minor prophets from the Old Testament.  I've completed Hosea about a week ago and I've just completed a study on Obadiah.  I'm going to share some of the main points I received from the book of Hosea which I supplemented with material from Faithful Love devotional.

This Scripture in the photo above seems to sum up the book of Hosea very well. 

The name Hosea simply means "salvation".  It comes from the same root as Joshua and Jesus!  I think that's very telling. Hosea shows us that salvation is found in turning to Christ and away from sin. 

Hosea was a prophet/ministered during the time of the "divided monarchy"...there was civil war going on.  Israel was the North and Judah was the south.  Israel was under Jeroboam III and they prospered materially and politically but they also were involved in major moral and spiritual decay. They  turned away from God because they were comfortable..they didn't really "need" God. 

We do this too when we put things before God (idols)....when those things become a priority before God. 

Hosea also shows us that God redeems us! Hosea believed this when he used his own money to buy back Gomer!  She was an adulteress but he bought her back anyways. It's hard to be faithful to the unfaithful but that is exactly what God does for us....He bought us with the blood of His precious Son....our Redeemer Jesus Christ. 

Hosea then cautions Judah about following Israel's ways (chapter 4). This shows us that only in God do we have abundant life. 

In the next few chapters, Hosea warns Israel to turn back to God. God is always compassionate and His mercies are new every morning! God's compassion for Israel was bigger than His anger. In Hosea 10 we learn that God blessed Israel with material riches.  But instead of giving thanks to God for these, Israel chose to make alters to false gods!  Sometimes we take God's blessings and use them in ungodly ways.....and when this happens there will be consequences for our sin!  God does forgive us when we repent but He doesn't take away the consequences.  For Israel, the consequence was captivity!

And yet...there is always hope. Hosea 11 shows us that Goes does not give up on His people!! 

Hosea warned the Israelites again and again about going back to God and  giving up their idol worship. God used extreme ways to make them turn their hearts back towards Him.  God didn't abandon them!  They abandoned God. God was going to send them back to their tents and they would lose all of their material possessions. We never lose God though!  NOTHING can separate us from the Love of God (Romans 8:28).  However, "there's times God allows us to suffer so we can see what's in our hearts". 

A summary:

• Keep God's commands
• Come humbly before God
• Recognize our sin and repent of it
• Recognize our dependence on God's grace.

God does offer us the gift of repentance and restoration and if we are wise, we will accept it.  He is a merciful God!