In The Word
Read: Hosea 5:15-8:14
15 I will go away and return to My place
Until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face;
In their distress they will search for Me.
The Response to God’s Rebuke
6 “Come, let’s return to the Lord.
For He has torn us, but He will heal us;
He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.
2 He will revive us after two days;
He will raise us up on the third day,
That we may live before Him.
3 So let’s learn, let’s press on to know the Lord.
His appearance is as sure as the dawn;
And He will come to us like the rain,
As the spring rain waters the earth.”
4 What shall I do with you, Ephraim?
What shall I do with you, Judah?
For your loyalty is like a morning cloud,
And like the dew which goes away early.
5 Therefore I have cut them in pieces by the prophets;
I have slain them by the words of My mouth;
And the judgments on you are like the light that shines.
6 For I desire loyalty rather than sacrifice,
And the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
7 But like Adam they have violated the covenant;
There they have dealt treacherously with Me.
8 Gilead is a city of wrongdoers,
Tracked with bloody footprints.
9 And as a band of robbers lie in wait for a person,
So a band of priests murder on the way to Shechem;
Certainly they have committed an act of infamy.
10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing;
Ephraim’s infidelity is there, Israel has defiled itself.
11 Also, Judah, there is a harvest appointed for you,
When I restore the fortunes of My people.
Ephraim’s Wrongdoing
7 When I would heal Israel,
The wrongdoing of Ephraim is uncovered,
And the evil deeds of Samaria,
For they practice deception;
The thief enters,
A band of robbers attack outside,
2 And they do not consider in their hearts
That I remember all their wickedness.
Now their deeds surround them;
They are before My face.
3 With their wickedness they make the king happy,
And the officials with their lies.
4 They are all adulterers,
Like an oven heated by the baker,
Who stops stoking the fire
From the time the dough is kneaded until it is leavened.
5 On the day of our king, the officials became sick with the heat of wine;
He stretched out his hand with scoffers,
6 For their hearts are like an oven
As they approach their plotting;
Their anger smolders all night,
In the morning it burns like flaming fire.
7 All of them are hot like an oven,
And they consume their rulers;
All their kings have fallen.
None of them calls on Me.
8 Ephraim is himself thrown about with the nations;
Ephraim has become a round loaf not turned over.
9 Strangers devour his strength,
Yet he does not know it;
Gray hairs also are sprinkled on him,
Yet he does not know it.
10 Though the pride of Israel testifies against him,
Yet they have not returned to the Lord their God,
Nor have they sought Him, despite all this.
11 So Ephraim has become like a gullible dove, without sense;
They call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.
12 When they go, I will spread My net over them;
I will bring them down like the birds of the sky.
I will discipline them in accordance with the proclamation to their assembly.
13 Woe to them, for they have strayed from Me!
Destruction is theirs, for they have rebelled against Me!
I would redeem them, but they have spoken lies against Me.
14 And they do not cry to Me from their heart
When they wail on their beds;
For the sake of grain and new wine they assemble themselves,
They turn against Me.
15 Although I trained and strengthened their arms,
Yet they devise evil against Me.
16 They turn, but not upward,
They are like a loose bow;
Their officials will fall by the sword
Because of the insolence of their tongue.
This will be their derision in the land of Egypt.
Israel Reaps the Whirlwind
8 Put the trumpet to your lips!
Like an eagle the enemy comes against the house of the Lord,
Because they have violated My covenant
And rebelled against My Law.
2 They cry out to Me,
“My God, we of Israel know You!”
3 Israel has rejected the good;
The enemy will pursue him.
4 They have set up kings, but not by Me;
They have appointed officials, but I did not know it.
With their silver and gold they have made idols for themselves,
So that they will be eliminated.
5 He has rejected your calf, Samaria, saying,
“My anger burns against them!”
How long will they be incapable of innocence?
6 For from Israel comes even this!
A craftsman made it, so it is not God;
Assuredly, the calf of Samaria will be broken to pieces.
7 For they sow wind
And they harvest a storm.
The standing grain has no kernels;
It yields no grain.
If it were to yield, strangers would swallow it.
8 Israel has been swallowed up;
They are now among the nations
Like a vessel in which no one delights.
9 For they have gone up to Assyria,
Like a wild donkey all alone;
Ephraim has paid fees for lovers.
10 Even though they pay for allies among the nations,
I will gather them up now;
And they will begin to diminish
Because of the burden of the king of officials.
11 Since Ephraim has multiplied altars for sin,
They have become altars of sinning for him.
12 Though I wrote for him ten thousand precepts of My Law,
They are regarded as a strange thing.
13 As for My sacrificial gifts,
They sacrifice the flesh and eat it,
But the Lord has taken no delight in them.
Now He will remember their guilt,
And punish them for their sins;
They will return to Egypt.
14 For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces;
And Judah has multiplied fortified cities,
But I will send a fire on its cities, and it will consume its palatial buildings.
New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Walking In The Word
The Lord waits for us to turn back to Him. He waits for us to repent and truly seek Him. He uses people and circumstances to correct us and to get our attention. God waits for us to come to a point where we realize that we need Him: His healing, His touch, His provision, His mercy, His protection, His comfort, His grace, and His love. We have to decide to stop living for ourselves and to start living for Him; we must not just say, “I’m sorry,” and then repeat the sin or never stop committing the sin.
Most people inherently understand the concept of telling someone that they are sorry and asking for forgiveness, especially when there is conviction or correction involved. However, the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces repentance. True repentance requires action and change, not just words. It means that we stop walking in the sin that leads us away from God. It means that we change direction and start walking toward God in the ways that please Him. We turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of satan to God so that we may receive forgiveness. Have you been living in sin? Committing the same sin over and over again and just telling the Lord, “I’m sorry”? Don’t wait for Him to correct you and get your attention. Recognize the lie of satan, rebuke the enemy in the name of Jesus Christ, quote the Word of the Lord, act on His Word, and return to Him today in true repentance.