Hosea – Page 3 – Me From the Inside Out

Faithful Love: Week 2, Friday – Do Not Be Deceived

Posted on May 7, 2021May 2, 2021 by

READ: HOSEA 4:15-19; PSALM 47; SOAP: PSALM 47:8

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. ¹⁶Israel is stubborn, like a stubborn heifer. So should the Lord feed her like a lamb in a lush pasture? ¹⁷Leave Israel alone because she is married to idolatry. ¹⁸When the rulers of Israel finish their drinking,
off they go to find some prostitutes. They love shame more than honor. ¹⁹So 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.
¹Come, everyone! Clap your hands! Shout to God with joyful praise! ²For the Lord Most High is awesome. He is the great King of all the earth. ³He subdues the nations before us, putting our enemies beneath our feet. ⁴He chose the Promised Land as our inheritance, the proud possession of Jacob’s descendants, whom he loves. Interlude ⁵God has ascended with a mighty shout. The Lord has ascended with trumpets blaring. ⁶Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises! ⁷For God is the King over all the earth. Praise him with a psalm. ⁸God reigns above the nations, sitting on his holy throne. ⁹The 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.”
Check out the full LGG Blog

REFLECTION QUESTION: WHAT CORRELATION, IF ANY, DO YOU SEE BETWEEN OUR TWO PASSAGES TODAY? IS THE COMPARISON HELPFUL? IF SO, HOW?

Faithful Love: Week 2, Thursday Idols, Then and Now

Posted on May 6, 2021May 2, 2021 by

READ: HOSEA 4:1-14; MICAH 6:8; SOAP: HOSEA 4:12

Hosea 4:1-14
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. ²You make vows and break them; you kill and steal and commit adultery. There is violence everywhere— one murder after another. ³That 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. ⁵So you will stumble in broad daylight, and your false prophets will fall with you in the night and I will destroy Israel, your mother. ⁶My 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. ⁷The 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. ¹⁰They 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. ¹²They 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. ¹³They 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.
¹⁴But 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.
See other comparisons in today’s LGG Blog: Idols, Then and Now

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.

Bible study, LGG Study

Faithful Love: Week 2, Wednesday Go Again and Love

Posted on May 5, 2021May 2, 2021 by

READ: HOSEA 3:1-5; JEREMIAH 3:6-10; SOAP: HOSEA 3:1-5

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.” ²So I bought her back for fifteen pieces of silver and five bushels of barley and a measure of wine ³Then 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.” ⁴This shows that Israel will go a long time without a king or prince, and without sacrifices, sacred pillars, priests, or even idols! ⁵But 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
⁶During 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. ⁷I thought, ‘After she has done all this, she will return to me.’ But she did not return, and her faithless sister Judah saw this. ⁸She 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. ⁹Israel 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. ¹⁰But 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.”
For more insight on what God was thinking read today’s devotional

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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Bible study, LGG Study

Faithful Love: Week 2, Monday Whom Will We Love Most?

Posted on May 3, 2021May 2, 2021 by

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.

READ: HOSEA 2:2-13; SOAP: DEUTERONOMY 30:19-20

Hosea 2:2-13, Charges against an Unfaithful Wife
“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. ³Otherwise, 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. ⁴And I will not love her children, for they were conceived in prostitution. ⁵Their 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. ⁷When 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.’ ⁸She 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. ¹⁰I will strip her naked in public, while all her lovers look on. No one will be able to rescue her from my hands. ¹¹I will put an end to her annual festivals, her new moon celebrations, and her Sabbath days—all her appointed festivals. ¹²I 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. ¹³I 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. –
Read the rest of the LGG devotional –

SOAP: Deuteronomy 30:19-20
New Living Translation

¹⁹“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and 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! ²⁰You 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)

Bible study, LGG Study

Faithful Love: Week 1, Friday Children of the Living God

Posted on May 2, 2021May 2, 2021 by

READ: HOSEA 1:8-2:1; EZEKIEL 37:20-28; SOAP: HOSEA 1:10

Hosea 1:8-2:1
After Gomer had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she again became pregnant and gave birth to a second son. ⁹And 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.’ ¹¹Then 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. –
To find out how – Read Today’s LGG devotional

Reflection Question: What promises does God make at the end of Hosea 1? What do these promises tell us about the heart of God?

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Bible study, LGG Study

Faithful Love: Week 1, Thursday God Extends Mercy

Posted on April 29, 2021April 29, 2021 by

READ: HOSEA 1:6-7; 2 CHRONICLES 29:1-2 AND 32:20-23; SOAP: HOSEA 1:7

Soon Gomer became pregnant again and gave birth to a daughter. And the Lord said to Hosea, “Name your daughter Lo-ruhamah—‘Not loved’—for I will no longer show love to the people of Israel or forgive them. ⁷But I will show love to the people of Judah. I will free them from their enemies—not with weapons and armies or horses and charioteers, but by my power as the Lord their God.”

Hezekiah Rules in Judah

Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became the king of Judah, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. ²He did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight, just as his ancestor David had done.

Then King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz cried out in prayer to God in heaven. ²¹And the Lord sent an angel who destroyed the Assyrian army with all its commanders and officers. So Sennacherib was forced to return home in disgrace to his own land. And when he entered the temple of his god, some of his own sons killed him there with a sword.

That is how the Lord rescued Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem from King Sennacherib of Assyria and from all the others who threatened them. So there was peace throughout the land. ²³From then on King Hezekiah became highly respected among all the surrounding nations, and many gifts for the Lord arrived at Jerusalem, with valuable presents for King Hezekiah, too.

“The expression of God’s love is certainly unconditional, but our enjoyment of that love is conditional and depends on our faith and obedience.
Read the full devotional

Reflection Question: How did God say He would show love to the people of Judah? We invite you to share your response in the comment bar.

Bible study, LGG Study

Faithful Love: Week 1, Wednesday And on That Day

Posted on April 28, 2021April 27, 2021 by

READ: HOSEA 1:3-5; 2 KINGS 17:21-23; SOAP: HOSEA 1:5

So Hosea married Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she became pregnant and gave Hosea a son. ⁴And the Lord said, “Name the child Jezreel, for I am about to punish King Jehu’s dynasty to avenge the murders he committed at Jezreel. In fact, I will bring an end to Israel’s independence. ⁵ (And on that day) I will break its military power in the Jezreel Valley.” Hosea 1:3-5

For when the Lord tore Israel away from the kingdom of David, they chose Jeroboam son of Nebat as their king. But Jeroboam drew Israel away from following the Lord and made them commit a great sin. ²²And the people of Israel persisted in all the evil ways of Jeroboam. They did not turn from these sins ²³until the Lord finally swept them away from his presence, just as all his prophets had warned. So Israel was exiled from their land to Assyria, where they remain to this day. 2 Kings 17:21-23

And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel. – Hosea 1:5
Read why in today’s LGG Devotional

Reflection Question: How did God respond to Israel’s sin? Did God give Israel opportunities to repent? (see vs 5-20 to answer the second question)

Bible study, LGG Study

Faithful Love: Week 1, Tuesday Provoking the LORD

Posted on April 27, 2021April 27, 2021 by

READ: HOSEA 1:2 AND 1 KINGS 15:33-16:7, 1 Kings 16:23-34; SOAP: 1 KINGS 16:26

When the Lord first began speaking to Israel through Hosea, he said to him, “Go and marry a prostitute, so that some of her children will be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning against the Lord and worshiping other gods.”

Baasha son of Ahijah began to rule over all Israel in the third year of King Asa’s reign in Judah. Baasha reigned in Tirzah twenty-four years. ³⁴But he did what was evil in the Lord’s sight and followed the example of Jeroboam, continuing the sins that Jeroboam had led Israel to commit.

This message from the Lord was delivered to King Baasha by the prophet Jehu son of Hanani: ²“I lifted you out of the dust to make you ruler of my people Israel, but you have followed the evil example of Jeroboam. You have provoked my anger by causing my people Israel to sin. ³So now I will destroy you and your family, just as I destroyed the descendants of Jeroboam son of Nebat. ⁴The members of Baasha’s family who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and those who die in the field will be eaten by vultures.”

⁵The rest of the events in Baasha’s reign and the extent of his power are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Israel. ⁶When Baasha died, he was buried in Tirzah. Then his son Elah became the next king.

⁷The message from the Lord against Baasha and his family came through the prophet Jehu son of Hanani. It was delivered because Baasha had done what was evil in the Lord’s sight (just as the family of Jeroboam had done), and also because Baasha had destroyed the family of Jeroboam. The Lord’s anger was provoked by Baasha’s sins.

16:²³Omri began to rule over Israel in the thirty-first year of King Asa’s reign in Judah. He reigned twelve years in all, six of them in Tirzah. ²⁴Then Omri bought the hill now known as Samaria from its owner, Shemer, for 150 pounds of silver. He built a city on it and called the city Samaria in honor of Shemer.

²⁵But Omri did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, even more than any of the kings before him. ²⁶He followed the example of Jeroboam son of Nebat in all the sins he had committed and led Israel to commit. The people provoked the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, with their worthless idols.
Hosea 16:25-26 – Read the rest of the story

Can you believe what God told Hosea to do? He had to marry a what? A prostitute? That´s a strange command.
Read the devotional

Reflection Question: What did Omri do to provoke the anger of God? – Also, feel free to share your thoughts on Hosea’s situation. Responses can be made in the comment bar.

Bible study, LGG Study

Faithful Love: Week 1, Monday – Salvation is Found in the Lord

Posted on April 26, 2021April 25, 2021 by

WELCOME TO DAY 1 OF OUR JOURNEY THROUGH HOSEA! I’M SO GLAD YOU’VE JOINED ME AND PRAY THAT TOGETHER WE WILL GROW DEEPER IN OUR FAITH AND UNDERSTANDING OF GOD’S FAITHFUL and Redeeming LOVE.

Read: Hosea 1:1 (if you like suspense, only read verse 1 today – otherwise, spoiler alert!) and 2 Kings 14:23-29; SOAP: Hosea 1:1

The Lord gave this message to Hosea son of Beeri during the years when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah, and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel. Hosea 1:1 (NLT)

Jeroboam II Rules in Israel

Jeroboam II, the son of Jehoash, began to rule over Israel in the fifteenth year of King Amaziah’s reign in Judah. He reigned in Samaria forty-one years. ²⁴He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. He refused to turn from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had led Israel to commit. ²⁵Jeroboam II recovered the territories of Israel between Lebo-Hamath and the Dead Sea, just as the Lord, the God of Israel, had promised through Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath-hepher.

²⁶For the Lord saw the bitter suffering of everyone in Israel, and that there was no one in Israel, slave or free, to help them. ²⁷And because the Lord had not said he would blot out the name of Israel completely, he used Jeroboam II, the son of Jehoash, to save them.

²⁸The rest of the events in the reign of Jeroboam II and everything he did—including the extent of his power, his wars, and how he recovered for Israel both Damascus and Hamath, which had belonged to Judah—are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Israel. ²⁹When Jeroboam II died, he was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. Then his son Zechariah became the next king.

Throughout the book, Hosea will show us that salvation is found in turning to the Lord and away from our sin. …
Read More

Reflection Question: Today’s SOAP passage is short and maybe less than exciting, but what, if anything, stands out to you about God and Hosea? I invite you to share your thoughts in the comment bar.

Want to know more? Read 2 Chronicles 26-28