Everyday Prophets – Hosea
January 10, 2021
Hosea lived in the northern kingdom of Israel after it had split with the tribes of the South. This book represents 25 years of his teaching and prophecies. Hosea means “Salvation”
Israel was being led by one of Israel’s worst kings, Jeroboam II.
Israel had turned from God and many were worshipping the Canaanite idol of Baal.
God had every right to walk away from Israel.
Hosea 1:2-3NIV
“When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.” 3 So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.”
God’s always faithful to us.
Hosea 3:1-2 NIV
The LORD said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.”2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethel of barley.
Our sins have consequences.
Years later, the Assyrians swooped in and decimated Israel, taking them captive.
Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
This is good news! Even when we’re facing our consequences, God doesn’t abandon us.
This is our choice. We can repent and invite Jesus to stand alongside us or march forward into the darkness alone.
Our sins have been forgiven and we can always come home.
Hosea 11:9-11 NIV
I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I devastate Ephraim again. For I am God, and not a man— the Holy One among you. I will not come against their cities.10 They will follow the Lord; he will roar like a lion. When he roars, his children will come trembling from the west. 11 They will come from Egypt, trembling like sparrows, from Assyria, fluttering like doves. I will settle them in their homes, “declares the Lord.”
God has always wanted to bring us back to our place of belonging.
2020 was a year of unprecedented chaos for many of us.
2021 will be a year of being resettled in our homes.
Hosea 14:4 NIV
“I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them.
