Hosea 6:1-7:16
Help for healing
God wants to bring healing to our lives. The people knew that if they truly returned to God, he would heal them (6:1).
If you want God’s healing, you need to cry out to him from your heart. God’s complaint against his people in this passage is that, ‘They do not cry out to me from their hearts’ (7:14b). ‘Instead of crying out to me in heartfelt prayer, they whoop it up in bed with their whores’ (v.14, MSG).
The first three verses of chapter 6 appear to describe the painful process by which the Lord restores us to himself when we slip away from him. However, there is no acknowledgment of sin or deep repentance. It may be Hosea putting the people’s shallow confession into words: ‘Your declarations of love last no longer than morning mist and predawn dew’ (6:4, MSG).
What is clear is that God is interested in the heart, not superficial action: ‘I’m after love that lasts, not more religion. I want you to know God’ (v.6, MSG). He is concerned about a relationship with him that comes from the heart.
His complaint is that ‘none of them calls on me’ (7:7). There is an arrogance, an independent spirit in humankind that refuses to ‘return to the Lord… or search for him’ (v.10). He says, ‘I long to redeem them… but they turn away from me’ (vv.13–14). You can receive healing and forgiveness from God for all the things you do wrong – but you need to cry out to him from your heart (v.14).
As Joyce Meyer writes, emotional ‘healing does not come easily and can be quite painful. Sometimes we have wounds that are still infected, and before we can be thoroughly healed, those wounds must be opened and the infection removed. Only God knows how to do this properly. As you seek God for the healing from your hurts, spend time with God in His Word and wait in His presence. I guarantee you will find healing there!’
Lord, I want not only to know you but also to press on to know you better (6:3). I cry to you from my heart for healing, restoration and revival. Help Lord!
Pippa Adds
Hosea 6:6
‘For I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’
The dictionary says mercy is ‘compassion shown to enemies or offenders in one’s power’. Shakespeare said of mercy: ‘It is twice blest: It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.’ Our world is in desperate need of mercy.
Verse of the Day
‘… I cry to you for help, O Lord’ (Psalm 88:13).
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