There are so many different ways to know people. You can know a list of facts about a person, but that’s not the same as knowing the exact shade of blue in their eyes, their specific sense of humor, or the way they hold their shoulders when they’re tired. That is the knowing of intimacy and deep friendship.
Have you ever considered how God wants us to know Him like that?
Hosea gives a prophetic image of a God who is angry, yes, but also grieved. In our reading today, the CSB titles the section beginning with Hosea 6:4 “The LORD’s First Lament.” Here we’re given one image after another of God experiencing betrayal and sorrow. “Your love is like the morning mist and like the early dew that vanishes” (Hosea 6:4). In this we’re shown a glimpse of His desire for His people, for “faithful love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings” (v.6).
We aren’t making burnt offerings these days, but how often do we make sacrifices by trying to do all the right things for God? Throughout our messy history, we’ve devised all kinds of ways to try and stay on God’s good side. We wonder if praying the right prayers, reading the Bible, going to church, and doing good deeds will be enough. Some of us spend our whole lives wrestling with guilt and shame for what we don’t do. And some of us give up trying at all.
But these small lines in Hosea paint a different picture. The God who knows us so intimately that hairs on our head are numbered wants to be seen and known by us (Luke 12:7). What do we do with the idea of an infinite God identifying with our hurts, to the point of becoming human to suffer with us, “despised and rejected…a man of suffering who knew what sickness was” (Isaiah 53:3).
You can hear echoes of the Lord’s lament when Jesus quotes Hosea right back at the Pharisees who criticized His disciples for violating a small Sabbath rule. “If you had known what this means…” He says this to people who knew Scripture better than just about anyone (Matthew 12:7)!
When we meet a God who wants to be sought and known, then we can hear the call to repentance in His lament. We don’t have to settle for just knowing about God in the form of facts and theological ideas. We don’t have to stay in a cycle of sacrificing and striving to try and keep God from getting mad at us either.
Hosea offers us a different invitation: “Let us strive to know the LORD. His appearance is as sure as the dawn. He will come to us like the rain, like the spring showers that water the land” (Hosea 6:3).
Leave a Reply
54 thoughts on "A Call to Repentance"
If only the entire world could love like God
It’s always a needed reminder that my actions are not enough. I need to KNOW him.
Lord Jesus I want to linger in your presence today. To know you intimately.
I’m realizing that the gospel story – Jesus coming down to rescue us and bear our sins – runs rampant throughout scripture – Old Testament and New.
God wants nothing more than for us to have a close and intimate relationship with Him. One where we trust in Him and follow Him in everything He is asking.
See Him and know Him
What an insanely beautiful book Hosea is! God longs for us to know Him, God lived and experienced all our griefs and sorrows for us, God radically forgives all our wrongs against Him and just wants us to find Him and love Him
❤️
Three things I pray for you. At the end of your life: Fought the fight., Finished the race. , Kept the faith. You can do it in Christ.
Steadfast and not sacrifice… surrender not striving – God I want this if I keep seeking your face there is perfect love this side of heaven!
One day at a time… God goes before you and HE will never leave you!
This is amazing!! God is so with you in this journey.
❤️
This is so true. I grew up in a Christian home and was saved at a young age, but I ended up straying from my faith and never truly had a relationship with God. I got sober 8 months ago and gave my life back to Christ. I pray everyday that he will continue to draw me closer to him.
❤️
It is truly His kindness that leads us to repentance – a kindness that we do not deserve but He so faithfully extends to us every day.
♥️
❤️
This was so good! My husband struggles with knowing that God forgives us and never leaves us..what a beautiful message about the Lords love for us. What a beautiful reminder about having an intimate relationship with the Lord.
Thank you for sharing!!!! I sometimes have trouble understanding but your deep dive was very clear and much appreciated! Thank you also for all your insights!
I’m a day behind, but so was struck by 6:2 that I felt compelled to comment. I’ve read Hosea multiple times, but seemed to have missed this prophetic verse. I have verses 3 and 6 underlined…but verse 2 is so good and points us to the cross and resurrection: “After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.” (NRSV) Thanks be to God! I love that last part, “that we may live before him.” Without the cross and resurrection we were doomed to be apart from God forever, but He made the way for us to be near him.
Love this thought Karen. My footnotes say this verse “shows that even after this fierce slaying (v1) they are not beyond the Lord’s healing.” Thank God for his grace and mercy on us.
( I wrote this in the morning after reading the replies, but I’m just posting now.) Kelly, I am unworthy too. Melanie, I also need for Him to create a clean heart in me. My mother in law referred to this Scripture in Ezekiel years ago when speaking to me: 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I have read and listened to a lot of His Word, but I am not proud to say that I’m not changed like I should be. My counselor, that I was seeing after my husband’s affair, said that I know about God but don’t know Him. I pray that God will forgive me and change me and all that are in the same situation.
May my words, thoughts, actions, and interactions become pleasing to Him. Amen. I
I read another devotional from Proverbs 31 ministries on the First 5 app or you can find at their website. The study just started on Colassians. After reading that I have this song in my head. I definitely need to show more mercy at times and be more like Jesus. https://youtu.be/fkYL1b7MCEw God bless you all today.
My dear sisters, I pray at the end of the day that we will all come back to God, repent, and realize how much He really does loves us. ❤️
I do t always think about How God desires is to love him, and how he has feelings, just like us. I pray I would learn to love him more.❤️
If only you know that I will have mercy and not sacrifice, you wouldn’t condemn the guiltless (Matthew 12:7). Jesus justifies His disciples as guiltless for their hunger. He is truly our defender in the face of the law/ rules/ regulations here. He sees the true needs of His people deep down and pardon them as guiltless! People are so critical and judgmental towards people, but praise God that He is not like us. May we choose mercy toward others and condemn them not if we see our brothers/sisters stumble.
❤️
.
WOW!!! Jen’s message was deep and insightful. I got a lot out of it and felt like she could read me. When she asked, “What do we do with the idea of an infinite God identifying with our hurts, to the point of becoming human to suffer with us…”. I had to really contemplate on this. Also, her second to last paragraph I had to copy because I wanted to be able to refer back to it, it’s some powerful stuff.
Be blessed and let the Lord shine on your day today, sisters.
❤️❤️❤️❤️
Philippians 3:14 Came to mind. “Let us press on toward the goal to win the prizeFor which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. This was my senior quote when I graduated from high school. 1986.
Wow ERB thank you for this amazing information! Bless you!
I loved all your comments today on Hosea! Thank you, ERB, for digging in and sharing. “Only the atoning substitute of Jesus, crucified in our place under the new covenant, makes God forget our sin.”
God, I want to see and know you….It was a revelation for me today to consider that this is what God seeks above all else. To be seen and known. Just like us. While reading Deuteronomy, I asked my friend with whom I was doing the study if what we were reading was a lot like being a parent. It was a little hard for me to relate to as I don’t have children. But Hosea is giving me fresh perspective with which to view God’s response. I know firsthand what it feels like to want to be seen and known. And, as a spouse, I can understand the perspective of God as husband, too. I’m grateful for the ways the Bible can help us understand God from whatever position we’re at in life.
Thank you Lord for this word today oh how I need this. Thank you for your sacrifice. I want to know you better I desire to do to hear what you are saying to me I desire a deeper relationship with a living God
Hosea 6:3 really spoke to me this morning. “Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us PRESS ON to acknowledge Him. It sound hard, it sound like arduous work. Then there is this amazing promise! “As surely as the sun rises, he will appear…
If we press on and follow Him even when it’s hard, even when He feels so far, and we feel like we are failing. If we keep pushing, He will appear! As sure as the sun rises He will appear!
What an encouragement, in these hard times; just what my soul needed this morning❤️
In the mental health community… or even in good Christian effort we acknowledge our desire to be seen, known, and loved. These are our truest desires. Today, it strikes me that God desires the same — for Himself!! I love that.
“Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord” (Hosea 6:3) …”knowing” God isn’t something that just happens. We have to want it and we have to pursue it, that requires action on our part. Do we want to know Him more – then we have to spend more time with Him – in the Word and in prayer. The awesome part of it all is that God DESIRES us! He wants to us to know Him, He wants us to pursue Him, He wants to bless us! Why? Because He loves us, and He loves us so much that He sent Jesus to die for our sin!… Father God, please remind me each day how much you love me and that Jesus willingly went to the cross making it possible for me to have a close “knowing” relationship with You. Take away all my distractions so that I can and will pursue You. In Jesus Name, Amen. ❤️
from yesterday…
I loved so many comments and insights SARAHJOY, so helpful! (The feather story struck me deeply and I feel also applies to words spoken carelessly, even if not specifically gossip.)
I want to thank all of you who prayed for me yesterday; I went into my meeting with MAURA’s and KELLY’s words carrying me and know others (e.g. VICTORIA E) were praying in the midst. Sadly, I don’t think it went the way I’d hoped and for some reason, I got triggered early in the meeting and started to cry which derailed the conversation (I hate talking about PMS but,…I think that had some part ; as did listening to emotional worship music….? LESSON LEARNED.)
K SWENSON…I’m praying.
How often do I take my COSTLY deliverance for granted. Lord thank you for laying down YOUR life just so I could be with you. What a love, what a cost! Thank you, thank you, thank you <3 I pray I grow closer to You each and every day. Keep my eyes fixed on You over everything else
I was very intrigued by today’s verses in Hosea, specifically in Chapter 7 so I read the WHOLE chapter!! What stood out to me was the analogies about the Oven, the Bread & the Dove… so I looked up some commentary to help me grasp a deeper more insightful understanding and WOW!!!! Here is what I came across & read. (commentary by enduring word)
“A Heart like an Oven.
1. (1-3) The sinful ignorance and willful blindness of Israel.
a. They do not consider in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness: The problem among the people and leaders of Israel was they forgot – willfully – that the LORD saw and remembered their sin. We often deliberately forget that the LORD sees and remembers when we sin. It may be secret before men, but not before God – He says, “they are before My face.”
i. The believer today should ask themselves: Have you forgotten? Do you think God doesn’t see? Do you think God is blind to your adultery? Do you think it goes unnoticed? Do you think God’s eyes are closed? There are many church-going people today who think that God forgets or never sees such things, because they do them and then they come to church and make a profession of godliness, pretending that those things are never part of their life.
ii. There is a precious promise for those who come to God under the New Covenant: For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more (Jeremiah 3:14). We often wish that time would make God forget our sin, but it doesn’t. Only the atoning substitute of Jesus, crucified in our place under the New Covenant makes God forget our sin.
b. When I would have healed Israel: God was willing to heal Israel from their sin and its effects, but not as long as they acted as if God did not see their sin. They had to treat God as He really is, a God who sees and remembers unrepentant, uncovered sin.
c. They make a king glad with their wickedness: This phrase, together with princes have made him sick (Hosea 7:5) and all their kings have fallen (Hosea 7:7) probably all refer to one of the successful assassination plots against the throne of Israel during the ministry of Hosea. Since there were four kings violently overthrown during his ministry, it’s hard to exactly know which one he means.
2. (4-7) Israel’s heart is inflamed after idols.
a. Like an oven heated by a baker: Israel was inflamed with desire and passion after idols like the coals of a freshly stoked fire, ready to bake bread.
i. Paul used the same image of “burning lust” in 1 Corinthians 7:9: but if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
b. None among them calls upon Me: Israel could not be hot, like an oven after idols and also call upon the LORD. They did in fact continue to sacrifice to the LORD (Hosea 5:6) but it was empty ceremony, not a true calling upon their covenant God.
The uncooked bread.
3. (8-10) The pride and stubbornness of Israel.
a. Ephraim is a cake unturned: The idea is of a “half-baked” cake. In that day, bread was often prepared as a cake that was cooked on both sides, something like a pancake. In thinking they can serve both the Lord and idols, Israel is like an unturned pancake – burned on one side, uncooked on the other.
b. Aliens have devoured his strength, but he does not know it: This makes the tragedy of Israel’s ruin worse. The nation is being ravaged by sin but does not know it. They should know it, because even the pride of Israel testifies to his face – yet in their blind ignorance they do not return to the LORD their God.
i. Man has an amazing ability to deceive himself when he is in sin. Well did Jeremiah say, The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9). Considering how easily we deceive our self, and how our sin can be apparent to everyone but us, Israel’s condition isn’t unusual:
· Burned and ruined – but he does not know it.
· Strength devoured – but he does not know it.
· Aging and weakening – but he does not know it.
· Pride testifies against him – but he does not know it.
ii. It was said of Samson after Deliliah cut his hair: But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him Judges 16:20). This is where the people of Israel – and some followers of God today – were. They are far from God and already suffering the effects, but they can’t see it.
c. Yes, gray hairs are here and there on him, yet he does not know it: Israel is as foolish as an old man who thinks and acts like he is still young.
Silly like a dove.
1. (11-12) Like a dove, Israel flies about to the nations.
a. Ephraim also is like a silly dove, without sense: Hosea piles image upon image. Now Israel is like a bird fluttering about, confused and without direction. They think they can escape God by running to other nations, but the Lord says, “I will spread My net on them.”
b. I will chastise them according to what their congregation has heard: Israel’s guilt is increased according to what they have heard. Greater knowledge means great accountability. As Jesus said, for everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more (Luke 12:48).
2. (13-16) In running to the nations, Israel has run away from God.
a. They return, but not the Most High: Israel saw their problem, but not their sin. When God’s hand is against man, he easily sees he has a problem but often does not see it as sin against the LORD. So when Israel had problems, they wailed upon their beds, but not to the LORD. They sought remedies, but not from the Most High.
b. They are like a treacherous bow: Hosea adds another image, of a faulty bow that won’t shoot an arrow straight. Everything that comes from Israel misses the mark, because they are like a treacherous bow. They are like a useless and dangerous weapon.”
I don’t mean to “jump the gun” on our study, but I just found this commentary super insightful!!! Hope you do too!!! Many Blessings dear sisters!!!
Thank you so much for sharing… wow. How very blessed we are to live on this side of the cross
Deep knowing. Intimacy does not come through simply knowing someone’s name and interests. Growing close often comes through shared life, especially the messy stuff. God sticks with us through our sin continuing to call us to an abundant, fulfilled life. He wants us to want Him, and He pursues us over and over.
What wondrous love is this, o my soul!
❤️
Lord I need you. I want to know you more and just rest in your presence and love. Holy Spirit come. Amen
God just wants us to really love Him and really know Him. He’s a good father so our actions can’t earn or lose His love. ❤️
❤️❤️❤️
❤️
Amazing reminder of where my true hope is…seeking Him
Thank you Lord for the sacrifices you have made for us. Lead us to love you like you love us
A call to reptent! Lately I just keep asking create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me. God is so good, but when I do t see his goodness come to pass it hard. Really hard!!! It’s not for me to understand but continue to trust. By His stripes I am healed. I will keep asking and waiting and learning more of my God
❤
But he was pierced because of MY rebellion, crushed because of MY iniquities; punishment for MY peace was on him, and…the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all
Inconceivable love.
Relentless grace.
Mercy beyond imagination.
I am so unworthy yet so thankful.
Thank you Lord for taking my burdens and sins upon yourself. Thank you for wanting me more than my sacrifices. Lord I want to know you more than I want your blessings.