Restoring God’s people . . .

 

READ Hosea 10–14

When other Christians are caught in sin, the NT says to restore them in a spirit of meekness. With this on my mind, reading the OT prophets is challenging. Were they meek? The words they speak are from a Holy God who has been patient with them for centuries. How did they do it? In these chapters, I notice several things. One is that they told the people what’s what — no sugar-coating their sinfulness:

Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you. You have plowed iniquity; you have reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your own way and in the multitude of your warriors, therefore the tumult of war shall arise among your people, and all your fortresses shall be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle; mothers were dashed in pieces with their children. Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel, because of your great evil. At dawn the king of Israel shall be utterly cut off. (Hosea 10:12–15)

Much earlier, they asked for a king, but they didn’t obey him, nor did they listen to God. He declared their fate:

They shall not return to the land of Egypt, but Assyria shall be their king, because they have refused to return to me. The sword shall rage against their cities, consume the bars of their gates, and devour them because of their own counsels. My people are bent on turning away from me, and though they call out to the Most High, he shall not raise them up at all. (11:5–7)

And yet there is mercy in His words and hope . . .

I will not execute my burning anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath. They shall go after the Lord; he will roar like a lion; when he roars, his children shall come trembling from the west; they shall come trembling like birds from Egypt, and like doves from the land of Assyria, and I will return them to their homes, declares the Lord. (11:9–11)

God knows they cannot do this without His enablement. If they could, they would not be in the state they were in. He says to them, “So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God.” (12:6) And again, He tells them like it is:

But I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt; you know no God but me, and besides me there is no savior. It was I who knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought; but when they had grazed, they became full, they were filled, and their heart was lifted up; therefore they forgot me. So I am to them like a lion; like a leopard I will lurk beside the way. I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs; I will tear open their breast, and there I will devour them like a lion, as a wild beast would rip them open. He destroys you, O Israel, for you are against me, against your helper. Where now is your king, to save you in all your cities? Where are all your rulers— those of whom you said, “Give me a king and princes”? I gave you a king in my anger, and I took him away in my wrath. (13:4–11)

Eventually they got it. At first their response may have been mere words, but after the exile and living in a land of idolatry until they were sick of it, the people of God realized this truth:

Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses; and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’ to the work of our hands. In you the orphan finds mercy.” (14:3)

The big picture for this nation is the same as the big picture for God’s people today. God says, “O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress; from me comes your fruit. Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.” (14:8–9)

God is the only one who cares for us. Our idols (anything we trust instead of Him) are helpless. They cannot hear our prayers or care for our needs, and even if they could and did, their ‘help’ would not satisfy or be the right choices for us. Idols, whether inanimate or alive are not able to produce in us or for us what only God can do. And this answers my question: always point those caught in sin to the only One who can do anything about it, making sure that I’m not trusting my words or actions to ‘fix’ the problems, again, only God can do that.