Inscribe the Word . . . 31 Promises of God for March.
Happy March, Friends!
This year, we are journeying through the Bible, discovering God's Promises. You can read our introductory post about why I chose this topic HERE. We have already inscribed thirty-one promises this January, 28 promises this February, and now we are on to discover thirty-one more promises of God in Scripture.
One of the verses we are inscribing this month comes from Hosea 14.
Let’s take a look at this promise together.
“Assyria cannot save us, nor can our warhorses. Never again will we say to the idols we have made, ‘You are our gods.’ No, in you alone do the orphans find mercy.” The LORD says, “Then I will heal you of your faithlessness; my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be gone forever.” - Hosea 14:3-4 NLT
If you haven’t read through the book of Hosea, I would encourage you to take some time this week and read it through. It is a powerful look at the faithful love the Father has for His people.
Hosea's Background.
The book of Hosea is the most autobiographical of the Old Testament Prophetic Books, but still, not much is known about Hosea. We know that:
His marriage and family form the message of the book.
God's grace and repentance are portrayed by Hosea's scorned and constant love for his promiscuous wife, Gomer.
Hosea's life was a representation of the living word of God.
By the time Hosea prophesied, Israel had split into two kingdoms. Hosea primarily spoke to the northern kingdom, Israel, under the reigns of Jeroboam and Jehoash. In Judah, Hosea was God's mouthpiece during the reigns of Uriah, Jotham, Ahaz, and finishing during the reign of Hezekiah. (Hosea 1:1) Most Bible scholars believe that he prophesied during the last 30 years of Israel's time as a nation before the Babylonian captivity.
Hosea's Message.
In Hosea 1-3, God uses Hosea's life to illustrate Israel and Yahweh's relationship. Hosea represents the Lord, and Gomer represents Israel. Starting in chapter 4, you begin reading the indictments against Israel, and Hosea's message unfolds four parts.
First, there is an accusation of sin. In chapters 1-5, Hosea tells Israel that they sinned by violating basic covenant requirements and rejecting God's law. They engaged in idolatry and cult prostitution. They trusted in their humanity, in their kings, princes, warriors, chariots, and foreign alliances instead of God. They were guilty of injustice, violence, murder, theft, lying, and oppressing the defenseless.
The second part of the message was a message of instruction. Through Hosea, the Lord warned them to stop their evil, stop their promiscuity, idolatry, iniquity, and return to Him. (Hosea 6-8)
They wouldn't listen to the Lord's instruction and warning through Hosea, so the third part of the message was a message of judgment. Their sin was the reason for the judgment. Hosea 9:1-2 says, "O people of Israel, do not rejoice as other nations do. For you have been unfaithful to your God, hiring yourselves out like prostitutes, worshiping other gods on every threshing floor. So now your harvests will be too small to feed you. There will be no grapes for making new wine." Read through Hosea 9-13, and you can read about the judgment of Israel.
There is, however, a final message, and that is a message of hope. In the last chapter, the Lord, through Hosea, reminds Israel of His grace and love. He tells them that He is their only hope.
Let's walk through this chapter together as we look to The Promises of God for hope during our season and in our time.
IDOLS and THEIR HOLD.
As we read through the Scriptures, we find a theme often popping up . . . idolatry. In Hosea 14, for Israel, we see that idolatry has once again taken hold of the nation.
An idol is any thing or person you pay attention to, think about, cling to, run to, celebrate, pay into, over God. Idolatry is the worship of that thing (those things). How do you know if something in your life is an idol? Ask yourself, who or what you cling to in times of trouble? What or who do you escape to when the "going gets tough"? Where or who or what do you turn to when you need help, comfort, or assurance?
Are we clinging to our Assyria (Hosea 14:3)? Our governments and leaders to help us? Are we clinging to our own passions, desires, and flesh to bring us comfort? Are we falling into the idolatry of our society and culture?
Israel was surrounded by cult prostitution and harlotry. This was part of the culture of the foreign nations that they adopted. For us, it may not be cult prostitution, but have you made the customary practices of ungodly society part of your world? Your idol, perhaps?
I can't name your idol.
But be sure, we all have them.
Friends, we fall away from the Lord constantly.
We give into those idols constantly.
We wander away from Him daily.
How do we know that we have wandered away?
There are some markers we can look for. This is not an all-inclusive list, of course, just some things to observe.
Is our prayer life strained? Are we having trouble coming to the Lord in prayer?
Has life become so stressful that instead of turning to the Lord, you turn to the comforts of your idols?
Is your heart restless jumping from thing to thing?
Have you neglected your time in the Word with the Lord?
Is there uncontested sin?
Are you resisting something God has clearly called you to say or do?
Have you become numb to His will and His way?
Do you take Him and His Word for granted?
These are just some markers that may indicate that we may have left our first love and are clinging to our human-made idols. These were markers for Israel, and so Hosea, in chapter fourteen gives Israel a series of steps, if you will, to return - to repent - to come back to the Lord.
We can gain much insight from them.
1. FACE the IDOL.
Hosea 14:1 tells us that the first step in returning to God is to accept our responsibility for departing from Him. When you read verse 1, the Lord doesn't tell Israel to blame the nations for entrapping them in sin. He says, "YOUR sins have brought you down."
As hard as it is, we have to face our sin and see the path of destruction our sin carves out for us. We have to face our idols and tear them down as we take responsibility for our choices. Paul tells us that "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) I am so glad that we don't just stay there. Friends, because of Jesus, we have hope!
2. CONFESS THE SIN.
The second step to return to the Lord is to confess our sins. In Hosea 14:2, Hosea says, "Bring your confessions and return to the LORD. Say to him, "Forgive all our sins and graciously receive us so that we may offer you our praises."
Hosea doesn't say to bring a sacrifice. He doesn't tell them to get a bull, a ram, a lamb, or a goat. He tells them to bring their confessions. Sometimes, it is easier to "serve" our way out instead of confessing our sins. We feel that if we put in a few more hours volunteering, put in a few more dollars in the offering plate, or do more for the Kingdom, all that will hopefully take the place of actually confessing our sin.
The reality is, "obedience is better than sacrifice" and our "God will not despise a broken and contrite spirit." (1 Samuel 15:22 and Psalm 51:17) While serving in the Kingdom, tithing and volunteering are wonderful; they cannot take away sin. But, if we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
We have a Father who has an open throne of grace who stands ready to forgive. When we come to Him and say, "Dad, Abba, Father God, I have sinned. I have put my idol of self before You. I have fallen so far short of Your glory. Would you please forgive me? Would you graciously receive me so that I, with a clean conscience, can offer You praises?" You can be sure, Friend, to find forgiveness at His throne of grace.
3. TURN AWAY.
Now that we have faced and confessed our sin/our idols before the Lord, we must go further and turn away from them.
Hosea 14:3 says, "Assyria cannot save us, nor can our warhorses. Never again will we say to the idols we have made, 'You are our gods.' No, in you alone do the orphans find mercy."
Instead of trusting in the Lord, Israel put their trust in foreign nations and alliances (Assyria), in their own soldiers for protection (warhorses), and in the idols, they had made. Hosea tells them to turn away from these things that offer no protection, confidence, or strength and to turn to the Lord. For in the Lord, the orphans find mercy.
What lures you away from God? From having an intimate, trusting relationship with Him? Who or what has the potential of becoming our false god? What do we use to draw security and assurance that only God should provide? We must forsake those things and run back to the Father.
“O Israel, stay away from idols! I am the one who answers your prayers and cares for you.
I am like a tree that is always green; all your fruit comes from me.” - Hosea 14:8
4. Embrace the Promise.
The Fourth step is to look at who He is and to claim His promises.
In Hosea 14:4-8, "The LORD says, "Then I will heal you of your faithlessness; my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be gone forever. I will be to Israel like a refreshing dew from heaven. Israel will blossom like the lily; it will send roots deep into the soil like the cedars in Lebanon. Its branches will spread out like beautiful olive trees, as fragrant as the cedars of Lebanon. My people will again live under my shade. They will flourish like grain and blossom like grapevines. They will be as fragrant as the wines of Lebanon. "O Israel, stay away from idols! I am the one who answers your prayers and cares for you. I am like a tree that is always green; all your fruit comes from me."
Friends, God calls for repentance and responds with a promise of restoration.
He heals your backsliding. It's a promise.
He loves you freely. It's a promise.
His anger is turned away from you. It's a promise.
He refreshes and revives you. It’s a promise.
He restores you. It’s a promise.
You will live in His presence. It’s a promise.
You will flourish and your life will be a great fragrance. It’s a promise.
When we've accepted responsibility for our turning away from the Lord when we confess our sin - leaving the idols that bring us false comfort - we can rest in the promise that we are forgiven, we are loved, and God is not angry.
Isn't that beautiful?
Someone needs me to repeat that . . . God is not angry at you.
You can rest in the beautiful, redeeming love that Christ poured out with His life, death, burial, and resurrection. Through Jesus, we have the ultimate fulfillment of the promises here in Hosea 14. We see Calvary all over these verses. In Jesus, you are forgiven. You are free. You are loved. You are a new creation. (2 Cor. 5:17)
5. Walk in His ways.
As we close out this teaching and get ready for a new month Inscribing God's Promises, I want to leave you with the final charge Hosea gives to the people of Israel.
"Let those who are wise understand these things.
Let those with discernment listen carefully.
The paths of the LORD are true and right, and righteous people live by walking in them.
But in those paths sinners stumble and fall." - Hosea 14:9
There are only two ways to live friends:
To walk in the ways of the Lord.
Or to stumble over them.
The final step to returning and remaining in fellowship with God is to walk in His ways.
To surrender our will to Him and to trust Him with every aspect of our lives.
Like, Israel and Judah, have you fallen away?
Have you let the idols, the nations, the warhorses, the cultural norms, all those things I wrote about earlier … Have you allowed them to separate you from a thriving and flourishing relationship with The Father?
It is not too late to return to Him.
For some, this is a daily process. A minute-by-minute turning away and returning. My prayer is that this teaching is an encouragement to surrender and to return to the Lord. I pray that we stop walking away from Him in order to cling to human-made idols. My prayer is that we trust Him with our lives and with the great Symphony of Praise He is writing through them.
Accept Responsibility
Confess our Sin.
Get rid of those things that continually lead us away from Him.
Cling to His promises which found their ultimate fulfillment in Jesus.
Live by walking in the true and right paths of the Lord.
