Hosea 6:1 NLT “Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces; now he will heal us. He has injured us; now he will bandage our wounds.”
Do you wonder why it says things like this in the Bible? When you don't have the context around these words, it would seem like God is not a God of love and yet we know that is not true. But why would God tear us to pieces or injure us? Why would He reject us?
God sent the prophet Hosea to tell Israel that He was not pleased with them because of their unfaithfulness [Hosea 2]. God was watching the way they were living, and He said they have forgotten Him, they have turned their back on Him and run off with other lovers. They had rejected God and He likened them to a prostitute. That is a pretty hefty response from God, but a just one.
What we know about God is that He is Israel’s loving Father, the one who created them and a jealous God. He is jealous because He does not want to share His family with anyone else because that is not what is best for them, nor does He want them to be separated from Him. When Israel rejected God, it hurt Him, but God doesn’t take offence, He said, “You rejected me, you are unfaithful.”
Hosea 11:8b My heart is torn within me, and my compassion overflows.
When you read this, you can hear that God feels pain, He has feelings and emotions just we do, we are made in His image. He feels love, rejection, and anger. God can deal with these feelings of hurt and rejection, His love is much bigger than our sin. He loves us but He hates our sin because He is holy and sin separates us from Him. He gave us a will because He wanted us to choose to love Him and make Him our Lord.
Hosea 2:2 NLT “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.”
Throughout the book of Hosea, we see that God has a plan for the Israelites despite their disloyalty, but first He hands them over to their own choices and their consequences. This is what I believe Hosea 6:1 is meaning. Israel turned their back on God and because they were unfaithful, God allowed the consequences of their own foolish choices to impact them. There is a consequence for all sin. There are charges for unfaithfulness and idolatry.
Hosea 2:13 NLT “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.
Making a choice to reject our Heavenly Father and be unfaithful to Him has a consequence and a punishment that is visited on all the generations that follow the initial act of sin. Just like when Adam and Eve sinned, and it was passed on to us. The result of sin is eternal damnation with the loss of our eternal destiny and heavenly inheritance. Because of the agreement made with the enemy we are no longer protected and provided for, the way we are when we are faithful to God.
Hosea 8:4 NLT …By making idols for themselves from silver and gold, they have brought destruction on themselves.
Hosea 8: 13 NLT “…I will hold my people accountable for their sins, and I will punish them…”
Hosea 7:9 NLT Worshiping foreign gods has sapped their strength and they don’t even know it…
The prophet Isaiah was sent to give a similar word to the Israelites at a similar time, though Hosea started his ministry about 10 years earlier. He said that Israel had rebelled against God and did not recognise His care for them. Isaiah 1 says they were loaded down with guilt and corruption and because they had turned their backs on the Lord, they were inviting punishment.
Isaiah 1:5-6 NLT …Your head is injured, and your heart is sick. You are battered from head to foot—covered with bruises, welts, and infected wounds—without any soothing ointments or bandage.
In the same way, when we have a lifestyle of sin, we are naked, alone, wounded, sick, thirsty, full of shame, guilty, lost, and powerless. Our conscience is weak, and our behaviours are normalised to us. The enemy has deceived us into thinking there is nothing wrong, but we have become slaves to sin.
Whatever we focus our time on most becomes the image we worship, whether it be our job, a loved one, an activity or a material possession. The Israelites built idols out of wood and stone and then believed that these images would help them. Our idols are no different, we are just ignorant of the fact that we built an idol to worship and turned our back on God.
What are giving your heart and devotion to? Are you ready to let go of the self-made images that you worship? These earthly things do absolutely nothing for you except a little temporary fake happiness.
Hosea 6:1 - 2 “Come, let us return to the Lord… in just a short time He will restore us, so that we may live in His presence.”
I encourage you to turn your back on them and turn your focus on the one who loves you, he will restore and heal you.
Hosea 8: 6 NLT This calf you worship, O Israel, was crafted by your own hands! It is not God! Therefore, it must be smashed to bits.
Make sure you deal with any affections of your heart that threaten your relationship with the Lord. Deal with them effectively, the verse above talks about smashing them to bits, so they are no longer a temptation to you.
· Block time out for God first thing in the morning. Read His word, talk to Him and listen to what He is saying.
· Remove things from your life that are a big temptation.
· Hang out with people that support you in your decision to put God first.
PRAYER: Lord thank you for revealing to me the things I give more reverence to than you. Please forgive me for being unfaithful to you and bring healing to my soul and spirit. I choose to make you Lord of my life, to love you and serve you all my days. Amen
Romans 6:23 NLT For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.