"O Israel, come back! Return to your God! You’re down but you’re not out. Prepare your confession and come back to God. Pray to Him, 'Take away our sin, accept our confession. Receive as restitution our repentant prayers. Assyria won’t save us; horses won’t get us where we want to go. We’ll never again say ‘our god’ to something we’ve made or made up. You’re our last HOPE. Is it not true that in You the orphan finds mercy?' " (Hosea 14:1-3 MSG)
There are times when I snap out of avoidance and realize that I have been trying everything else but going to God to solve an issue or face a problem. In these verses, it sounds like Israel had been doing the very same thing. Yet God – the very One who made everything, knows all, loves each of us so deeply and provides our needs – was the last one they were turning to.
The prophet Hosea’s very life had been an example of how God was trying to get His people’s attention again to remind them that He is NOT their last hope. He is THE HOPE. For each and every affliction, circumstance and situation humanity has, can and ever will face.
And friend, I needed this reminder this morning that I am to turn to Him first for help, for guidance, for peace, before anything and everything else.
The ending of the last verse brings tears to my eyes as I reread it again right now. That even though I may have momentarily forgotten Whose I am and behave like an orphan again, in You, Abba, I will always find mercy.
#66versesofHope #hopefortheharddays
KARLA LEES 