Hosea 14:1-9

Hosea finishes His book with a message of hope.  He has confronted the people in their sin and idolatry.  He has warned the people of the consequences they will face because of their rebellion.  Now he wants to encourage the people to turn to the Lord so they will be able to experience His grace and forgiveness.  This is a message that all of mankind continually needs to hear.  God longs for us to repent of our sin, turn to Him so He can forgive our sin and receive our worship so that we might experience the joy of living in the way He created us to live.  Israel and most of mankind has been living in rebellion against the Lord.  This brings great sadness, fear, trauma and pain to all who live in this way.  God wants things to be much different than this.

WHAT GOD WANTS TO HEAR: God longs for His people to return to Him.  All who have sinned and rebelled against Him have been stumbling in their efforts to walk in this life.  This breaks the heart of God and inflicts great hardship on all who flee from the Lord.  God wants to hear His people ask for forgiveness.  He wants us to acknowledge our sin and our desperate need of forgiveness.  God wants to hear His people promise to follow Him, confess their sin and keep their promises.  He wants us to take our sin seriously and turn from it to follow Him.  God wants to hear His people reject all of their false hopes and false gods.  Israel had placed their hope in the armies of Assyria and they gave their worship to gods they had fashioned with their own hands.  God wants us to hope in Him alone and worship Him.  He is the hope for the hopeless and all the idols of our hearts are nothing.  He longs to hear us say exactly that.

WHAT GOD WANTS TO DO: God longs to be able to bless His people when they return to Him.  As a Father, God hates to see His children suffer.  Sin always leads to suffering and God desires that our suffering will lead us back to Him.  God wants to heal His people of their sin.  Sin is like a sickness that spreads to and ruins every aspect of our lives.  God wants to take all of that away from us.  God wants to love His people fully and freely.  God is love at the very core of His being and He longs to be able to express that love to His children.  God wants to turn from His anger over the sins of His people.  God is holy and He must hate sin.  Sin angers the heart of God and His holiness requires that He discipline those who live in sin and refuse to repent.  God does not want to be angry but He must be angry at sin.  God wants to refresh and restore His people.  He wants to be like a refreshing dew on a spring morning.  He wants to establish His people like a strong and productive tree that does not move in the storms of live but provides shelter and food for all around it.  God wants to shelter and protect His people from all who would harm them so that they can prosper in peace and worship Him with all their heart.  This is what God longs to do in the heats of all men.


WHAT GOD WANTS TO SAY: God longs to say to His people that they must repent and return to Him.  God wants to tell His people that He will have nothing to do with idols and to remind them that He is the one who cares for them.  We must always remember the care of the Lord and beware of the lies that idols try to tell.  He wants to tell His people that He is the source of nourishment, shelter and hope.  We must look to the Lord for our hope and help and worship Him alone for His abundant provision in our lives.  He wants to tell His people that they must understand these truths, trust these truths, follow these truths and never turn from these truths.  We stumble and suffer in this life because we do not listen to God’s instruction, do not believe His promises, do not obey His commandments and do not persevere in obedience.  God wants to call us to all of these things so we can rejoice in His salvation.

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