Lessons for August 12
EXPLORE THE BIBLE:
God cares for his children with a persistent love
___ Hosea 11:1-11
___By Jeane Law
___First Baptist Church, Lubbock
___Do you have home movies of your children taking their first steps? It is a sweet time when you view the old home movies with adult children and watch the hands of adults reaching out to catch the child in case they fall, and holding them by the hand as they gleefully experience standing upright and being free. And when you see them take a few
unassisted steps and fall happily into the arms of the one to whom they were walking, you feel good all over. Precious memories, how they linger.
___Chapter 11 begins with the same loving words of a parent, when God says in verses 1, 3 and 4: "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them."
___In Exodus 4:22, when God sent Moses back to Egypt with wonders to perform before Pharaoh, he told him to say to Pharaoh, "This is what the Lord says; Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, 'Let my son go, so he may worship me.' But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son."
___God is referring to this time in Israel's history when he speaks in Hosea 11:1. He tells about helping them to walk in the right way by giving them the laws by which to live. He fed them manna and quail while they wandered for 40 years. He lifted the yoke of slavery from their lives when he brought them out of Egypt. He loved them like a father loves his child. How sad that he must say in 11:3: "But the more I called Israel, the further they went from me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to the images."
___These children grew up and turned away from God and his influence in their lives as some of our children do today. They forgot the prayer they prayed as children, "God is great, God is good, and we thank him for our food." They never thanked God for all he had done for them in guiding them and protecting them and freeing them from slavery and taking care of them in the wilderness. They chose to ignore him and to worship gods who could do nothing for them but gave Baal credit for the things God had done. This must have been terribly painful for God to endure.
___We can understand God's anger, promising war and exile in Assyria and Egypt, expressed in verses 5 and 6 because "they refused to repent." How can God exalt and empower people who reject the One who has done so much for them? His patience has run out, and his rebellious children must be judged. Even if they cry out to him for mercy, like a child about to receive a spanking, God's judgment is coming (v. 7). "You just wait till your daddy gets home!"
___But suddenly in verse 8 God laments, "How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel?" God is saying: "I don't want to do this. I love my people. I can't totally give up on them and annihilate them. I have a plan for them. I don't want them to just have been a speck in history. I want them to live again, be a people again and a nation again."
___His compassion had been stirred within him because of his love for Israel. He says in verse 9: "I will not carry out my fierce anger ... I am God and not man ... I will not come in wrath." They were unworthy of his mercy, but he gave it anyway.
___He did destroy the northern kingdom, but not all of Israel. They were sent into exile, but he promises that in the future, he will roar like a lion and his people will come to him from their captivity and he will restore them to their homes (11:11).
___Due to the influence of a few good kings, Judah, the southern kingdom, survived another 150 years before being displaced, and a remnant of faithful people did one day return to their land and restored the temple in Jerusalem.
___Although we may understand God's anger and punishment of the sinful people, it is much more difficult for us to comprehend the love and compassion he showed for them. In the New Testament, that love was pictured clearly as Jesus, his Son, died on the cross for our sins. God continues to make a way for sinful man to repent and come back to him. He loves us! None of us deserves his love, neither the best of us, nor the worst of us. It is a free gift from God.
___Therefore, we should be like Hosea and constantly tell those around us, "God loves you!"
___"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God" (1 John 3:1).
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