Written By: God through Inspiration
Penned By: Hosea
Date Penned: BC 715 (Covering Events BC 753-715)
Overview: God's Wayward People (c 4-14)
Theme: God's Love for Israel (c 11-14)
Message: Repentance will Bring Restoration (v 1-9)
Hosea 14 Commentary
(14:1) The people could return to God by asking him to take away 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). 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 God's mercy. When we request forgiveness, we must recognize that we do not deserve it and therefore cannot demand it. Our appeal must be for God's love and mercy, not for his justice. Although we cannot demand forgiveness, we can be confident we have received it, because God is gracious and loving and wants to restore us to himself, just as he wanted to restore Israel.
(14:4-8) When our will is weak, when our reason is confused, when our conscience is burdened with a load of guilt, we must remember that God cares for us continually, and his mercies never fail. When friends and family desert us. When coworkers don't understand us, when we are tired of being good, God's mercies never fail. When we can't see the way or seem to hear God's voice. when we lack courage to go on, God's mercies never fail. When our shortcomings beset us and awareness of our sins overcomes us, God's mercies never fail.
(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 book's 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 "as darkness, they know not at what they stumble" (Proverbs 4) If you are lost, you can find the way by turning from your sin and following the Lord. God's concern for justice that requires faithfulness and mercy 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 also err by forgetting his wrath against our sins and continue to accept us no matter how we act. Forgiveness is a keyword. When the Lord forgives us he judges the sin but shows mercy to the sinner. We should never be afraid to come to the Lord for a clean slate and a renewed life.
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