Hosea 6

I almost hate to move on after the last chapter. I’m still thinking back to the beautiful picture God painted in words of the love He wants from us and the myriad of ways we fall short of that.

This week isn’t a disappointment though.

Make sure to read the chapter. Prophecy holds so much beautiful poetic value.

The words of chapter 5 continue into chapter 6! The blessed assurance God leaves us with at the end of chapter 5 expands into a lovely pronouncement of the burial and resurrection. Of not only Christ, but our hearts and lives with Him.

“Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord;  his going out is sure as the dawn;   he will come to us as the showers,  as the spring rains that water the earth.”  V.3

I want to quote all of the first four verses, because in the midst of all the hard trial and discipline there is a worshipful expression of His goodness.

There is discipline. There is no way out of that. But He makes a way by coming as one of His people to bring them to Himself.

Verse 5 continues the warnings. And verse 6 is one many of us have probably heard before.

“For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,  the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. “

God is very clear about His expectations here. He wants us to know and love Him more than anything in life. More than the rules we follow. More than the religion we love.

He mourns for the evil we commit. That Israel rebelliously held to. He laments again the loss of the purity of His nation, and the lack of care for the knowledge of God.

And then there’s another preview of what will come after what is to come. A harvest, of restoration.

For you also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed,   when I restore the fortunes of my people.

It’s easy to get bogged down in the heaviness of prophecy, but the real weight of the message is in the hope of the Lord that we all are to be defined by.

God has made a way where there was no way for us. He is the only one able to accomplish. And He triumphantly rescues!

What do we hope in and for? Where do we put our trust?

Thank you, God, for fulfilling our needs even better than we could have asked for.