Hosea 6 Devotional
by Pastor Lawrence
The love of God is strong and true, but, in this passage, the Israelites are still pursuing lesser lovers who are both false and impotent. Consequently, God has injured them in some way both through the “cutting” words of the prophet as well as through the physical fulfillment of those words, even bringing war and sickness to their hearths and homes. But instead of coming to their senses and returning to the Lord, they sought out the Assyrians for help, but the king of Assyria could not cure them or heal their wounds, as we learned in the previous chapter. Now the prophet is exhorting the people saying, “Come, let us return to the Lord, for it is He who has torn us to pieces and injured us in order that He also might heal us and bind up our wounds.”
The Lord alone can bring the restoration and revival that they need in order to once again live in the presence of a holy God and enjoy his fellowship. Since they had broken covenant with the Lord, in the same way that Adam had broken his relationship with the Lord in the Garden of Eden through his sin and unfaithfulness, the only way to make amends would be to acknowledge their sin, repent, and once again acknowledge Him as their Lord. Of course, that didn’t mean that they simply needed to give him lip service by offering him a sacrifice or two, but that they ought to pursue Him again as their lover, “pressing on to acknowledge Him.” For the Lord earnestly desires their love as much as he desires to lavish his love upon them.
And, truly, his love is wonderful. Listen carefully, here, to the promise of God’s love through the prophet Hosea, and spend some time meditating upon these precious truths that you might believe them for yourself and embrace the God of love. Hosea says, “As surely as the sun rises, God will appear.” In other words, if you are looking for your lover, you will not have to search far and wide for Him. His love is easily found by all who dwell upon the earth. And His love is both certain and constant as the day is long.
Using another analogy, the prophet says, “He will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.” As you might expect, any rain in a dry and arid land is a blessing to the people and to their crops, but the winter rains are the heaviest and most intense rains throughout the year, when the heavens open up pouring down the water of life to fill every lake, every stream and tributary. The spring rains also are a great blessing, for they are much needed right before the time of harvest to sustain life. Thus, God’s love to his people is both lavish and invigorating, refreshing them in every way.
The love of God’s people, on the other hand is “like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears.’ Truly, it is a wonder that the Lord desires our love at all, when it is so insignificant and beggarly. Even so, he both offers his love to us and so freely gives of Himself to us that we would be fools to continue turning to broken cisterns in search of water when his revitalizing grace is ready to be poured out upon any who return to Him and earnestly seek His face.