Friday, March 6, 2020
Hosea 10:11-15: Time to Seek the Lord
![morning-dew-fresh-christ-manna-1024x768[1]](https://thenoontimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/morning-dew-fresh-christ-manna-1024x7681.jpg?w=270&h=203)
Ephraim . . . Judah . . . sons of Jacob . . . tribes of Israel . . . northern and southern kingdoms. Paganism . . . a Covenant relationship with the one true God . . . Infidelity . . . Constancy . . . Pleasure . . . Joy. Exile . . . Return . . . Repentance . . . Restoration . . . Turmoil . . . Order . . . Chaos . . . Light.
We have seen these words . . . heard these themes . . . so many times . . . yet eye has not seen . . . ear has not heard . . . what God has in mind for us. (1 Corinthians 2:9)
Hosea follows the will of God and marries the harlot Gomer. His hope is that she will reform. She does not. He calls her to love . . . she turns away. He persists . . . she will return . . . one day . . .
The offenses of Israel are grave and great, almost too much to bear. And so we look to the end of the story to peek at the outcome. Looking at the last lines of Hosea’s prophecy: I will heal their defection; I will love them freely; for my wrath is turned away from them. I will be like the dew of Israel: he shall blossom like the lily; He shall strike root like the Lebanon cedar, and put forth his shoots. His splendor shall be like the olive tree, and his fragrance like the Lebanon cedar. Again they shall dwell in the shade and raise grain; they shall blossom like the vine, and his fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon. Ephraim! What more has he to do with idols? I have humbled him, but I will prosper him. “I am like a verdant cypress tree” – Because of me you bear fruit! Let him who is wise understand these things; let him who is prudent know them. Straight are the paths of the Lord, in them the just walk, but sinners stumble in them. (14:5-10)
![Lily Five[1]](https://thenoontimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/lily-five1.jpg?w=300&h=199)
Dear Jesus,
We stumble so frequently yet we turn and return.
We seek your path,
We call on your wisdom, we ask for prudence, courage, fortitude, patience.
We know your ways and your statutes. We know that you await us.
We see these things, we hear these words, we rely on your constancy and your promise.
We look for the harvest, we look for the shade in the noonday sun.
We seek conversion and transformation.
We seek the Lord.
Amen.
1 Corinthians 2:9: Eye has not seen, ear has not heard by Marty Haugen video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRyOS0nZr7s
For more thoughts on seeking, go to the God Time page on this blog at: https://thenoontimes.com/god-time/
Images from: http://www.agodman.com/blog/enjoying-the-dew-and-the-manna-from-the-lord-to-be-revived-every-morning/ and http://theverticall.blogspot.com/2010/06/dew-to-israel.html
Written on January 31, 2008 and posted today as a Favorite.
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