Daily Blast - Minor Prophets: Day 4
Scripture
“The Lord says,
“Then I will heal you of your faithlessness;
my love will know no bounds,
for my anger will be gone forever.
5 I will be to Israel
like a refreshing dew from heaven.
Israel will blossom like the lily;
it will send roots deep into the soil
like the cedars in Lebanon.
6 Its branches will spread out like beautiful olive trees,
as fragrant as the cedars of Lebanon.
7 My people will again live under my shade.
They will flourish like grain and blossom like grapevines.
They will be as fragrant as the wines of Lebanon.
8 “O Israel, stay away from idols!
I am the one who answers your prayers and cares for you.
I am like a tree that is always green;
all your fruit comes from me.””
Reflection
As Noah mentioned yesterday, Hosea points out that Israel is being unfaithful to God. In chapters 12 and 13 he gives the Israelites a bit of a history lesson. He states that they were always going to be unfaithful because of their ancestors.
To name a few -
Isaac’s son Jacob, in Genesis 27 and 28, who, through lying, tricked his father, took his brother's birthright and was unfaithful to God’s wishes.
1 Samuel describes that even after all God had done for them in bringing them to the promised land, they start to make demands and want a king. God allows them a King and Saul was appointed: he starts well but after time he also becomes unfaithful to God.
In today’s passage in Chapter 14, Hosea’s message to Israel takes a positive turn. He relays to them a promise from God, that one day He is going to make a fresh start with Israel. He gives them a picture of a tree; this tree is the new Israel. It will have strong deep roots and will offer shade and fruit to all of the nations. For this new Israel to happen it was going to need an act of God’s grace and healing power to heal the hearts of His people so that they can have, as Noah put it yesterday, a relationship with Him rather than just a knowledge of Him.
Looking back at this promise that God makes, we can see that Hosea is implying that the relationship between God and Man that was broken with the sin of Adam and Eve would be finally healed and restored. We know that this does happen as a result of Jesus dying on the cross. This was God making a fresh start with Israel and also all nations. That act restored, once and for all, a way to God providing the deep roots of a personal relationship with Him, that gives shade, rest and protection to all who come under the fruit-bearing branches of God’s love that can be shared out to all the nations so that they too may have a relationship with Him.
Challenge
I encourage you when praying to continue to thank God for sacrificing His son so that we could be saved. It is important to do this all year round not just at Easter time.