How can I give up, Ephraim?


Hosea 11:8. God is expressing His sorrow here as, how can l give you up, Ephraim? How can l hand you over, lsrael? My heart churns within Me. My sympathy is stirred.

Is it not a surprise? Today do we know that God is feeling sorrow like this in our life too?

Ifso, what was the reason for His sorrow? Because we went away from our father who loved us from our childhood, because we didn’t know that the Lord who taught us to walk can heal us, because we went away from our Lord who took the yoke from our neck and fed our soul, God is expressing His sorrow and told how can l give you up, Ephraim? His heart churns with in Him and His sympathy is stirred. Imagine, what all changes happen in the heart of God, because of His great love on us! Thatswhy He gave His only son for us to die.

So let us live holy, and pleasing in His sight, obeying the word of God. Let us make decision to live and make our Lord to rejoice by our obedience and submission. Amen. Hallelujah.

Dr. Padmini Selvyn.

Sowing the wind

The wind is associated with Gods Spirit and the whirlwind, the manifestation of His power and presence. However, Hosea 8:7 reveals the other side; “They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind”

When man does things without God’s approval, he sows the wind and reaps confusion. Solomon knew this (Ecc 1:14)

When people strive to serve God in man made ways, they reap nothing but disturbances or whirlwinds in the lives.

Ephraim, under Jeroboam, invented worship of the golden calf.

Over the years, Ephraim fed on different winds as Jeroboam’s calves didn’t satisfy them. (Hosea 12:1).

Some of us are doing the same today. We are running after winds in order to find satisfaction and happiness. Instead of sowing into the fertile soil of God and His Spirit, we sow the world’s winds.

Is a whirlwind shaking your life? It’s time to reflect. Remember, just as God was waiting to help Ephraim return (Hos 12:6), He is waiting to help His prodigal children return today.

Stay blessed.
Adeline Albert

270 Days Bible Study Insights Hosea 7-14
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God wanted the people in the northern kingdom to turn from their sin and return to worshipping him alone, but they perished in their wickedness. Throughout the book, isrAel is described as ignorant of God, with no desire to please him. Israel did not understand God at all, just as Gomer did not understand Hosea. Like a loving husband or a patient father, God wants people to know him and turn to him daily.

But, even in the midst of Israel’s immorality, God was merciful and offered hope, expressing his infinite love for his people (ch.11) and the fact that their repentance would bring about blessing (ch.14).

Just as Hosea went after his unfaithful wife to bring back, so the Lord pursues us with his love. His love is tender, loyal, unchanging and undying. No matter what? God still loves us.

Have you forgotten God has become disloyal to him? Don’t let prosperity diminish your love for him or let success blind you to your need for his love.

Although God will discipline his people for sin, he encourages and restores those who have repented. True repentance opens the way to a new beginning. God forgives and restores.

There is still hope for those who turn back to God. No loyalty, achievement or honour can be compared to loving him. Turn to the Lord while the offer is still good. No matter how far you have strayed. God is willing to bring you back.

The book of Hosea dramatically portrays out God’s constant and persistent love. Prophet submits willingly to Lord’s direction, grieve with him over the unfaithfulness of his wife and his people; and hear the clear warning of judgement. Then reaffirm your commit to being God’s person, faithful in your love and true to your vows.

The people could return to God by asking him to forgive their sins. The same is true for us. We can pray Hosea’s prayer and know our sins are forgiven because Christ died for them on the cross(John 3:16).

Forgiveness begins when we see the destructiveness of sin and the futility of life without God. Then we must admit we cannot save ourselves, our only hope is in God’s mercy. When we request for forgiveness, we must recognise that we do not deserve it and therefore cannot demand it. Our appeal must be for God’s love and mercy, not his justice. Although we cannot demand forgiveness, we can be confident that we have received it because God is gracious and loving and wants to restore us to himself, just as he wanted to restore Israel.

14:9. Hosea closes with an appeal to listen, learn and benefit from God’s Word. To those receiving the Lord’s message through Hosea, this meant the difference between life and death. For you, the reader of the Book of Hosea, the choice is similar: either listen to the message and follow God’s ways, or refuse to walk along the Lord’s path. But people who insist on following their own direction without God’s guidance are “like deep darkness, they do not know what makes them stumble”(Prov.4:19). If you are lost, you can find the way by turning from your sin and following God.

God’s concern for justice that requires faithfulness and love that offers forgiveness can be seen in his dealings with Hosea. We can err by forgetting God’s love and feeling that our sins are hopeless, but we can also err by forgetting his wrath against our sins and thinking he will continue to accept us no matter how we act. Forgiveness is a key word: when God forgives us, he judges the sin but shows mercy to the sinner. We should never be afraid to come to God for a clean slate and renewed life.
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Clara Radhakrishna

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Hosea: 7 – 12
Simple thoughts for💫
deeper meditation

Hosea:11: 8

How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over Israel? How can I
treat you like Admah? How
can I make you like
Zeboim
?

⚡Hosea, a contemporary
of prophets Isaiah and Micah, ministered primarily
to the Northern kingdom of
Israel or Ephraim (Hosea: 1:1) His prophetic ministry was unique because he not only communicated in words what God wanted to tell the Israelites, but he
symbolically acted out these
revelations, though it was
painful to him.

⚡These tragic examples show God’s unrequited love
for Israel. Despite Israel’s
unrepentant unfaithfulness,
and warnings of ominous
punishment (Ch: 4-10) God
promises restoration and
blessing, revealing how great and reletless His love is. In His mercy God spared
them (11: 8-9) and in His
grace, He will redeem and
restore them. (V:10-11)

⚡ In the book of Hosea,
God tells us that He won’t
give up on His chosen people Israel, His treasured
possession. As Israel’s loving husband, God provided her with everything she needed: land, food, drink, clothing and security.
Yet like an adulterous wife,
Israel rejected God and sought her happiness and
security elsewhere.

⚡ The more God pursued
her, the further she drifted away. (Hosea:11:2) However
though she had hurt Him
deeply, He would not give her up like Admah and
Zeboim.(11: 8) (These are
two places God destroyed
along with Sodom and
Gomorrah- See: Deut:29:23)
He would discipline Israel
so as to redeem her. His
desire was to re-establish
His relationship with her. (V: 11)

⚡ Today, all God’s children
can have the same assurance: His love for us is a love that never let us go. (Romans: 8: 37-39)
If we have wandered from
Him, He longs for us to return.
When God disciplines
us (Now Covid-19 and its spread throughout the world) wecan be comforted that it’s a sign of His love, not His rejection.
We are His
treasure; He won’t give up
on us.
A child of God is always
welcomed home.

Dr. Thomas David.🎯