Reese and I have been reading through Hosea every night lately and have really been digging deep into the content of each chapter to truly understand what is being said. So I decided to see if She Reads Truth had a study over Hosea so that I could just get more knowledge and insight about the book, and boy did the Lord show me some things!
{Link to She Reads Truth Hosea Study click here}
To start off, She Reads Truth gave me the perspective that "the book of Hosea is not about Hosea, it's about Gods relentless pursuit of an undeserving people." How amazing is that realization! It is always to refreshing to understand what exactly each book in the bible is for and how it is supposed to resonate with us as Christians. Hosea should not be an easy, comfortable book for us to read because it is a reminder that we had previously chosen idols and things of this Earth that make our flesh happy, but cannot satisfy us as Christians for eternal life, like the Lord can. As humans, "the heart must have something to cling to..." (Thomas Chalmers), which in return tends to be things of this Earth and can only be possessed while here on Earth and do not help us to love Jesus more.
Hosea truly calls us to repentance. It causes us to acknowledge our shame, to say things to the Lord that we do not want to say, and to either face our sin or to ignore it. But then, if we choose the Lord he then says "I love you, I love you, I love you." He wants to always be able to say that to us, and he always will but to actually hear Him say it we must acknowledge these signs and where we have idols that are not our Lord Jesus Christ.
Hosea is called to marry a woman who would be unfaithful to him, and to then have children with her. God calls Hosea to name is children "No Mercy" and "Not My People" (Hosea 1:2-9). When I had read this chapter with Reese I did not truly think about why God would want those children to have those names, but this study from She Reads Truth has definitely opened my eyes up to Gods reasoning for that, and it is beautiful. "Hoseas children, with his unfaithful wife, were human flesh-filled examples of the rebellious people God was calling to Himself", the Lord was and still is pursuing us to come to Him, and to be His children! Hosea is a reminder that once we were NOT HIS PEOPLE, but we have been found and redeemed! The Lord craves for us to come to Him for redemption from all the things that caused us to be lost and to stray from Him. Once we acknowledge those things and those idols, we are able to be found through Gods unfailing love. "The Lord sees it fit to make us His people!" He will always want to make us His people and wants us to bring His people who have yet to find him to Him!
Through this study today I have realized that even though I did not go through crazy hardships that had me stray from the Lord, I have had things that caused me not to trust in Him and did keep me from Gods love. I have dealt with a negative heart and mind, anxiety, being discontent with where I am at, being unhappy because I've compared myself to this world that I live in, and even being lonely. The Lord can save me from each of these things if I just give them to Him. He can be my place of refuge when I'm lonely and lost. He can make me whole and give me an amazing outlook on life because he has and will continue to redeem me from all of my sins. How amazing is this my friends? The Lord can do this for you as well, you just need to give it to Him!
This morning has been wonderful and I cannot wait to see what else the Lord shows me through this study and all of my future bible studies I take part in. I can see the Lord working in my heart and mind, friends, and it is an amazing thing!
I would love to be able to pray for you through anything that you may be going through, especially if it can bring you closer to the Lord. Feel free to message me any prayer requests, I want you to have this realization that I have had this morning... because it is such a great feeling! But for now, I am going to leave you with this song that one of the girls in my bible study had us listen to. It is a great song to listen to that makes you want to clear your life of all of the idols that you have that keep you from the Lords great, unfailing love!
Have a wonderful Monday, my friends!
"Clear the Stage" by Jimmy Needham
"See what kind of love the Father has given to us,
that we should be called children of God; and so we are."
1 John 3:1 (ESV)
