Hosea 14:1-9.  Here we are at the end of Hosea.  Today’s reading seems pretty straight forward.  It divides into three sections.  Verses 1-3 are a challenge by Hosea, verses 4-8 are a promise by God, and verse 9 is a concluding remark by Hosea.

At the end of yesterday’s reading we were left with a pretty gruesome picture, Israel was going to be destroyed, and that happened in 722 BC when Israel fell to the invading Assyrian army.  Then they were scattered through out the Assyrian empire.  Here in verses 1-3 Hosea calls the people to turn from their evil rebellious ways.  Notice in verse 1 that he reminds them it is their fault, they are guilty.  In verse 2 Hosea tells them to take only word with them.  They had been spending a lot of time and stuff worshipping false gods, making all kinds of offerings (including their own children).  Hosea remind them that restoration of their relationship with God would be based on God’s grace, his goodness.  The only thing they could really offer God was respect, the fruit of their lips.  Jesus told a group of religious leaders that what comes out of the mouth starts in the heart (Matthew 12:34).  In verse 3 we also see that turning back to God involves turning away from the old things we had lived for.  In this case Israel had turned to Assyria for help and had also trusted in their own military power.  Hosea challenges them to look away from these old distractions.  In reality, in history, when it was all said and done Israel really had no ally, they were like orphans.  But that’s OK because god loves the orphans.

In verses 4-8 we see a reversal of all the punishing things that happened in the history of Israel (many of which were mentioned in the book).  God will heal them spiritually, God will love them unconditionally, God will not get mad any more.  God will cause their physical land to bloom and grow and he will make Israel a spiritually beautiful garden too, the whole world will notice (v. 7).  In verse 8 God promises to Ephraim that he will care for them.

Finally in verse 9 Hosea challenges each individual to see the wisdom in following God and to actually live for God.  There is a final warning though that rejecting god will lead to disaster.

It is interesting that there is a challenge to the individual; even in the opening words of the chapter where Israel is challenged to return to God we need to realize it is one person at a time.  But Hosea and God both use terms related to the nation too, Israel and Ephraim.  I wonder if there isn’t a hint at a restoration of the nation here as well as the people.  It’s kind of like what I was saying at the end of yesterday’s post.  God had made promises to the nation of Israel and there is no reason to think he will not fulfill them too.  The fix for the Israelite society will start with the people turning back to God.  Our society is broken too.  We have idols they are called “Me” and “Mine”.  And we commit all sorts of evil to serve them.  The fix for our society is the same as the fix for the Israelite society and in fact the fix for the whole world, the world needs Jesus, we need Jesus, but not in our own proud “see what I have to offer you” way.  We need to return to God realizing that a relationship with him is a free gift from him.  Then as we serve him in humility and as we serve others the way Jesus would thing may et a little better.  In the end though we will need God to step in personally and restore our land and the rest of the world too.

God help me be a light to the world.  Let them see the reality of you through me.  Help them see that your ways are right.  Help them desire to walk with you.  Thank you for the warning help me listen each day.