June 19, 2023
Passage Read: Hosea 8-11
Meditation Verse: 11:9
Thought
The Lord is longsuffering indeed. He is frustrated to the point of destroying Israel, but He then is reminded of His compassion and can't follow through with it. Yet He does. But He also determines to bring them back in faithfulness. He will not completely destroy them, but He will scatter them among the nations, and then one day call them back to Himself. Men are quick to anger; God is slow to anger, but even He can be provoked to wrath, to turn the people He loves over to their enemies. But not forever, and not all of them.
Application
How much longer can God's people provoke Him before He turns us over to our enemies. It is coming. It is promised to come at the time of the end. We have abandoned His gospel of repentance, we do not expect or require submission to His ways, but only emphasize His love and compassion. We are raising up a generation of "Believers" who think God cares only about their happiness and prosperity, that His every thought is to dote on us. There is no call to holy living, no call to purity, no call to abandon everything to live as servants of Christ. We are drawing near to judgment. God sent His Son to save us from our sins and lead us into righteousness, but we are turning His grace into a license for immorality. We will not last long.