November 5, 2021
What does it say?
Hosea admonished Israel to return to the Lord, ask for His forgiveness, and forsake other gods. The righteous person walks in the Lord’s ways, which are right.
What does it mean?
Hosea closed his book by laying out a roadmap for returning to the Lord. Genuine repentance required recognizing their sin, admitting it by asking for God’s forgiveness, and changing their ways. Just as Hosea exercised grace with Gomer, instead of his legal right to divorce her for unfaithfulness, the Lord would be gracious when the righteous remnant of Israel returned to Him. Restoring the relationship would allow God’s people to again praise their God and grow in His love. The wise and discerning in Israel would learn from Hosea’s example with Gomer and choose to live by God’s righteous standards.
How should I respond?
You make the choice each day whether or not you’ll be among the wise and discerning who choose to live by the principles in God’s Word. Such a life calls for the discernment to recognize when you’ve stepped out of bounds and the humility to freely admit it to God as sin and ask for His forgiveness. True repentance, however, doesn’t stop with, I’m sorry. You can be sorry without changing how you think or live. The purpose of repentance is to restore a right relationship with your heavenly Father. What path is taking you away from Him? Hosea’s roadmap still works today. Will you follow it?