7 “I want to heal Israel, but its sins are too great. Samaria is filled with liars. Thieves are on the inside and bandits on the outside! 2 Its people don’t realize that I am watching them. Their sinful deeds are all around them, and I see them all.
Psalm 9:15-16
The nations have fallen into the pit they dug for others. Their own feet have been caught in the trap they set. 16 The Lord is known for his justice. The wicked are trapped by their own deeds.
Proverbs 5:22
An evil man is held captive by his own sins; they are ropes that catch and hold him.
The problem among the people and leaders of Israel was they forgot that the LORD saw and remembered their sin. Read the rest of today’s blog
Reflection Question: In our reading from Hosea today, what did the people fail to consider? Is it important to remember that the Lord sees and knows and sees all that we do and think? Why or why not?
Read: Hosea 6:4-11; Galatians 6:14-16; and SOAP: Hosea 6:6
Hosea 6:4-11
“O Israel and Judah, what should I do with you?” asks the Lord. “For your love vanishes like the morning mist and disappears like dew in the sunlight. 5 I sent my prophets to cut you to pieces— to slaughter you with my words, with judgments as inescapable as light. 6 I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings. 7 But like Adam, you broke my covenant and betrayed my trust.
8 “Gilead is a city of sinners, tracked with footprints of blood. 9 Priests form bands of robbers, waiting in ambush for their victims. They murder travelers along the road to Shechem and practice every kind of sin. 10 Yes, I have seen something horrible in Ephraim and Israel: My people are defiled by prostituting themselves with other gods!
11 “O Judah, a harvest of punishment is also waiting for you, though I wanted to restore the fortunes of my people.
Galatians 6:14-16
14 As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died. 15 It doesn’t matter whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation. 16 May God’s peace and mercy be upon all who live by this principle; they are the new people of God.
One day, while I was praying – and complaining abundantly to the Lord for the many hardships I had to go through – I asked Him: “What else do You want from me?”
REFLECTION QUESTION: WHAT DOES GOD DESIRE FROM HIS PEOPLE MORE THAN SACRIFICES? HOW CAN YOU ALIGN NOT JUST YOUR ACTIONS TOWARD HIM, BUT YOUR HEART AS WELL?
5 “Hear this, you priests. Pay attention, you leaders of Israel. Listen, you members of the royal family. Judgment has been handed down against you. For you have led the people into a snare by worshiping the idols at Mizpah and Tabor. 2 You have dug a deep pit to trap them at Acacia Grove. But I will settle with you for what you have done. 3 I know what you are like, O Ephraim. You cannot hide yourself from me, O Israel. You have left me as a prostitute leaves her husband; you are utterly defiled. 4 Your deeds won’t let you return to your God. You are a prostitute through and through, and you do not know the Lord.
5 “The arrogance of Israel testifies against her; Israel and Ephraim will stumble under their load of guilt. Judah, too, will fall with them. 6 When they come with their flocks and herds to offer sacrifices to the Lord, they will not find him, because he has withdrawn from them. 7 They have betrayed the honor of the Lord, bearing children that are not his. Now their false religion will devour them along with their wealth.
8 “Sound the alarm in Gibeah! Blow the trumpet in Ramah! Raise the battle cry in Beth-aven! Lead on into battle, O warriors of Benjamin! 9 One thing is certain, Israel: On your day of punishment, you will become a heap of rubble. 10 “The leaders of Judah have become like thieves. So I will pour my anger on them like a waterfall. 11 The people of Israel will be crushed and broken by my judgment because they are determined to worship idols. 12 I will destroy Israel as a moth consumes wool. I will make Judah as weak as rotten wood.
13 “When Israel and Judah saw how sick they were, Israel turned to Assyria—to the great king there— but he could neither help nor cure them. 14 I will be like a lion to Israel, like a strong young lion to Judah. I will tear them to pieces! I will carry them off, and no one will be left to rescue them.
15 Then I will return to my place until they admit their guilt and turn to me. For as soon as trouble comes, they will earnestly search for me.”
18 For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth. 20 But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. 21 He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.
4 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stay true to the Lord. I love you and long to see you, dear friends, for you are my joy and the crown I receive for my work.
Philippians 3:18-4:1
Reflection Question: According to the SOAP passage, God wanted Israel (His people) to do 2, really 3 things. What were they?Ladies, remember – the answer to the reflection question and sharing your SOAP or takeaway from the day’s journey can be encouraging to the rest of us.
Be sure and check out today’s LGG very helpful Blog –
15 “Though you, Israel, are a prostitute, may Judah not be guilty of such things. Do not join the false worship at Gilgal or Beth-aven, and do not take oaths there in the Lord’s name. 16 Israel is stubborn, like a stubborn heifer. So should the Lord feed her like a lamb in a lush pasture? 17 Leave Israel alone because she is married to idolatry. 18 When the rulers of Israel finish their drinking, off they go to find some prostitutes. They love shame more than honor. 19 So a mighty wind will sweep them away. Their sacrifices to idols will bring them shame.
Hosea 4:15-19 New Living Translation
For the choir director: A psalm of the descendants of Korah.
1 Come, everyone! Clap your hands! Shout to God with joyful praise! 2 For the Lord Most High is awesome. He is the great King of all the earth. 3 He subdues the nations before us, putting our enemies beneath our feet. 4 He chose the Promised Land as our inheritance, the proud possession of Jacob’s descendants, whom he loves. Interlude5 God has ascended with a mighty shout. The Lord has ascended with trumpets blaring. 6 Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises! 7 For God is the King over all the earth. Praise him with a psalm. 8 God reigns above the nations, sitting on his holy throne. 9 The rulers of the world have gathered together with the people of the God of Abraham. For all the kings of the earth belong to God. He is highly honored everywhere.
Psalm 47
In today’s verses, Hosea gives Judah a warning, similar to that of 1 Corinthians 15:33 that says “Do not be deceived: Bad company ruins good morals.”
The Lord’s Case against Israel 4 Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel! The Lord has brought charges against you, saying: “There is no faithfulness, no kindness, no knowledge of God in your land. 2 You make vows and break them; you kill and steal and commit adultery. There is violence everywhere— one murder after another. 3 That is why your land is in mourning, and everyone is wasting away. Even the wild animals, the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea are disappearing. 4 “Don’t point your finger at someone else and try to pass the blame! My complaint, you priests, is with you. 5 So you will stumble in broad daylight, and your false prophets will fall with you in the night and I will destroy Israel, your mother. 6 My people are being destroyed because they don’t know me. Since you priests refuse to know me, I refuse to recognize you as my priests. Since you have forgotten the laws of your God, I will forget to bless your children. 7 The more priests there are, the more they sin against me. They have exchanged the glory of God for the shame of idols.
8 “When the people bring their sin offerings, the priests get fed. So the priests are glad when the people sin! 9 ‘And what the priests do, the people also do.’ So now I will punish both priests and people for their wicked deeds. 10 They will eat and still be hungry. They will play the prostitute and gain nothing from it, for they have deserted the Lord to worship other gods. “Wine has robbed my people of their understanding. 12 They ask a piece of wood for advice! They think a stick can tell them the future! Longing after idols has made them foolish. They have played the prostitute, serving other gods and deserting their God.13 They offer sacrifices to idols on the mountaintops. They go up into the hills to burn incense in the pleasant shade of oaks, poplars, and terebinth trees. “That is why your daughters turn to prostitution, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.
14 But why should I punish them for their prostitution and adultery? For your men are doing the same thing, sinning with whores and shrine prostitutes. O, foolish people! You refuse to understand, so you will be destroyed.
New Living Translation
Micah 6:8
No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good and this is what he requires of you to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
New Living Translation
I think Hosea’s time was very similar to what we experience today: A lack of faithfulness or steadfast love.
REFLECTION QUESTION: WHAT THINGS IN YOUR OWN LIFE CAUSE YOU TO TURN AWAY FROM GOD OR LEAD YOUR HEART INTO IDOLATRY? – I KNOW THIS ONE IS TOUGH, BUT WHETHER YOU SHARE YOUR ANSWER HERE OR NOT – I ENCOURAGE YOU TO CONSIDER IT AND WRITE IT IN YOUR OWN PRIVATE JOURNAL OR AT THE VERY LEAST TALK TO GOD ABOUT IT IN PRAYER. I BELIEVE WHEN WE SEE AND NAME THE PROBLEM IT’S HALF THE BATTLE.
Then the Lord said to me, “Go and love your wife again, even though she commits adultery with another lover. This will illustrate that the Lord still loves Israel, even though the people have turned to other gods and love to worship them.” 2 So I bought her back for fifteen pieces of silver and five bushels of barley and a measure of wine 3 Then I said to her, “You must live in my house for many days and stop your prostitution. During this time, you will not have sexual relations with anyone, not even with me.” 4 This shows that Israel will go a long time without a king or prince, and without sacrifices, sacred pillars, priests, or even idols! 5 But afterward the people will return and devote themselves to the Lord their God and to David’s descendant, their king. In the last days, they will tremble in awe of the Lord and of his goodness.
Hosea’s Wife Is Redeemed – Hosea 3:1-5; NLT
Judah Follows Israel’s Example
6 During the reign of King Josiah, the Lord said to me, “Have you seen what fickle Israel has done? Like a wife who commits adultery, Israel has worshiped other gods on every hill and under every green tree. 7 I thought, ‘After she has done all this, she will return to me.’ But she did not return, and her faithless sister Judah saw this. 8 She saw[a] that I divorced faithless Israel because of her adultery. But that treacherous sister Judah had no fear, and now she, too, has left me and given herself to prostitution. 9 Israel treated it all so lightly—she thought nothing of committing adultery by worshiping idols made of wood and stone. So now the land has been polluted. 10 But despite all this, her faithless sister Judah has never sincerely returned to me. She has only pretended to be sorry. I, the Lord, have spoken!”
Jeremiah 3:6-10 New Living Translation
Poor Hosea received another command from the Lord: “Go again and love a woman who is an adulteress.”
REFLECTION QUESTION: WHAT LESSON COULD HOSEA AND GOMER POSSIBLY LEARN FROM GOD’S COMMAND TO HOSEA, “GO AGAIN AND LOVE?” – leave your thoughts in the comment bar
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Hosea 2:14-23The Lord’s Love for Unfaithful Israel
14 “But then I will win her back once again. I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her there. 15 I will return her vineyards to her and transform the Valley of Trouble into a gateway of hope. She will give herself to me there, as she did long ago when she was young, when I freed her from her captivity in Egypt. 16 When that day comes,” says the Lord, “you will call me ‘my husband’ instead of ‘my master.’ 17 O Israel, I will wipe the many names of Baal from your lips, and you will never mention them again. 18 On that day I will make a covenant with all the wild animals and the birds of the sky and the animals that scurry along the ground so they will not harm you. I will remove all weapons of war from the land, all swords, and bows, so you can live unafraid in peace and safety. 19 I will make you my wife forever, showing you righteousness and justice, unfailing love and compassion. 20 I will be faithful to you and make you mine, and you will finally know me as the Lord. 21 “In that day, I will answer,” says the Lord. “I will answer the sky as it pleads for clouds. And the sky will answer the earth with rain. 22 Then the earth will answer the thirsty cries of the grain, the grapevines, and the olive trees. And they in turn will answer, ‘Jezreel’—‘God plants!’ 23 At that time I will plant a crop of Israelites and raise them for myself. I will show love to those I called ‘Not loved.’ And to those I called ‘Not my people,’ I will say, ‘Now you are my people.’ And they will reply, ‘You are our God!’”
Hope. I read today´s Scripture, and my heart fills with hope. God is telling Israel that, once it has felt the discomfort of its deprivation, then it will listen to the voice of God again, and He will allure it back to Himself.
Welcome to Week 2 of Faithful Love! This week we will pick up where we left off in Hosea and ‘journey through’ chapter 4. We will also make some stops in Deuteronomy, Jeremiah, Psalms, and Micah. So grab your Bible, your journal, and a favorite pen, and let’s see what God has for us. I pray He will open our minds and enlighten our hearts to how deep and faithful His love is, and how He longs for His children to be faithful to Him.
“But now bring charges against Israel—your mother—for she is no longer my wife, and I am no longer her husband. Tell her to remove the prostitute’s makeup from her face and the clothing that exposes her breasts. 3 Otherwise, I will strip her as naked as she was on the day she was born. I will leave her to die of thirst, as in a dry and barren wilderness. 4 And I will not love her children, for they were conceived in prostitution. 5 Their mother is a shameless prostitute and became pregnant in a shameful way. She said, ‘I’ll run after other lovers and sell myself to them for food and water, for clothing of wool and linen, and for olive oil and drinks.’ 6 “For this reason I will fence her in with thornbushes. I will block her path with a wall to make her lose her way. 7 When she runs after her lovers, she won’t be able to catch them. She will search for them but not find them. Then she will think, ‘I might as well return to my husband, for I was better off with him than I am now.’ 8 She doesn’t realize it was I who gave her everything she has—the grain, the new wine, the olive oil; I even gave her silver and gold. But she gave all my gifts to Baal. 9 “But now I will take back the ripened grain and new wine I generously provided each harvest season. I will take away the wool and linen clothing I gave her to cover her nakedness. 10 I will strip her naked in public, while all her lovers look on. No one will be able to rescue her from my hands. 11 I will put an end to her annual festivals, her new moon celebrations, and her Sabbath days—all her appointed festivals. 12 I will destroy her grapevines and fig trees, things she claims her lovers gave her. I will let them grow into tangled thickets, where only wild animals will eat the fruit. 13 I will punish her for all those times when she burned incense to her images of Baal, when she put on her earrings and jewels and went out to look for her lovers but forgot all about me,” says the Lord.
New Living Translation
God paints Israel as an adulterous wife who is no longer worthy to be compared to a wife. –
19 “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessingsand curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! 20 You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
REFLECTION QUESTION: IS GOD JUSTIFIED IN THE WAY HE REBUKES ISRAEL’S ADULTERY? WHY OR WHY NOT? (Use the comment bar to share your answers)
Faithful Love started off with a bang. If you weren’t familiar with the book of Hosea, you may have been surprised by God’s call on Hosea to marry Gomer, a prostitute, and to have children with her. You may have also found it surprising or even disheartening to read that he would no longer show mercy to Israel – and perhaps like me, you found hope in our Friday’s SOAP verse to learn that edict would not last forever. Whatever your thoughts, I hope you’re ready to dive into week 2 tomorrow, and I really hope you will take a minute to share whether you were surprised, disheartened, encouraged, or left with questions – or your overall takeaway from week one. I’m dying to know!
PRAYER FOCUS: LET’S SPEND TIME PRAYING FOR OUR COUNTRY EVERY DAY THIS WEEK.
Week 2 Challenge: Are there any areas of your life that you have not surrendered in obedience to God? Take some time in prayer, asking God to show you the reason you’re clinging to old ways and to help you relinquish control.
After Gomer had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she again became pregnant and gave birth to a second son. 9 And the Lord said, “Name him Lo-ammi—‘Not my people’—for Israel is not my people, and I am not their God.
10“Yet the time will come when Israel’s people will be like the sands of the seashore—too many to count! Then, at the place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ it will be said, ‘You are children of the living God.’11 Then the people of Judah and Israel will unite together. They will choose one leader for themselves, and they will return from exile together. What a day that will be—the day of Jezreel—when God will again plant his people in his land.
2“In that day you will call your brothers Ammi—‘My people.’ And you will call your sisters Ruhamah—‘The ones I love.’
New Living Translation
God is not like us. When He makes a promise, we can be sure He will keep it until it is fulfilled. –
Me From the Inside Out 