I desire faithful love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God instead of entirely burned offerings.
Hosea 6:6 (ceb)
Before getting to the unfaithfulness of the people, God has some choice words of judgement to His priests.
They are not interceding for the people to God, but interceding for themselves to false gods! They are oppressing God’s beloved rather then helping them. They are leading people astray rather than to God.
And the results are disastrous; not just for the priests, but for Israel, too!
“O LORD, send us faithful leaders who point people to Jesus! Point people to You!”
I desire faithful love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God instead of entirely burned offerings.
Hosea 6:6 (ceb)
Hosea is the first of “The Book of the Twelve” or the “Minor Prophets” (though not chronologically first).
It shares a shocking command from God for the prophet in regard to his family in the first three chapters and then a series of collected “sermons,” warning Israel of God’s coming punishment and their exile; pleading with them to repent.
Yet they won’t and what is prophesied will come to pass.
Yet, even then, God’s love and grace will prevail and restoration will take place.
Through it all, God is good and faithful, even if His people aren’t.
I desire faithful love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God instead of entirely burned offerings.
Hosea 6:6 (ceb)
Hosea is one of those Bible books that often gets overlooked. There are some difficulties in it and, like most prophets, some of the things he has to say, well, don’t sound nice!
It’s as if what God has to say isn’t what we want to hear!
But it is something we need to hear – and then obey!
Hosea speaks to a people who have been grossly unfaithful to God, “whoring” after other gods and nations; being appallingly unfaithful in every way to the God to loves them.
He also warns Israel of the coming disaster – being conquered and deported to Assyria.
Yet, the story does not end in Assyria, but with the assurance of a coming Messiah, through Whom God’s loving covenant will be renewed – forever!
Our faithlessness as a people and as the Christian Church has plenty to heed from what God says through Hosea. Although we do not fear deportation again, we are called to be faithful in our love and commitment to God and His good, righteous Word and Law!
May we be so faithful!
Thank You, Lord God, for Your faithful and never-ending love for us!
Jesus riding into Jerusalem “triumphantly” on Palm Sunday must have been strange.
Yes, He was entering as King, but He was also entering knowing that before the week’s end, He would be abandoned, denied, suffer ruthlessly, and die horribly.
Of course, He would also share a Last Meal with His disciples, conquer sin, death, and the devil, but the bad coming would still have be endured; and that wasn’t something to look forward to.
Yet He did it.
Willingly. Humbly. Obediently. Lovingly.
His love for us was showing through His obedience to the Father’s will.
That’s just amazing!
“Enter, Lord Jesus, into our hearts and help us love so obediently as You did!”
God’s mercy is enormous: the Bible describes His forgiving of our sins in many ways. Ways that deal thoroughly with the sin that so easily clings to us.
As we are at the beginning of our Lenten journey with our new series, “O LOVE, How Deep, How Broad, How High,” we look today upon His great love and how through it, He richly provides me with all that I need to support this body and life. (Meaning to the First Article of the Apostles Creed.)
In this series we will explore the vastness of God’s love for His people, the lengths that He went through to assure our presence with Him eternally, and how that love affects us and our living.
