Good morning all!

Father, I pray the church would recognize You for who You truly are Lord. I pray that you would give them eyes to see and ears to hear, to truly understand Your promises and love for them. Let them ALL experience Your reckless love, let them know You’re coming for them and nothing will stand in Your way, Amen.

Hosea 11

7 And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt [him].
For My people are determined to walk away from Me. They call me the Most High, but they don’t really believe that because they don’t come to Me.

8 How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? [how] shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? [how] shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.
How can I give up on you? How can I let you go? How can I destroy you like Admah or demolish you like Zeboiim? My heart is broken within me, and my compassion overflows.

9 I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I [am] God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city.
No, I will NOT unleash my fierce anger. I will NOT completely destroy Israel, for I am God and not a mere mortal. I am the Holy One living in you, and I will NOT come to destroy.

10 They shall walk after the LORD: he shall roar like a lion: when he shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west.
For My people will follow Me. I, the LORD, will roar like a lion. And when I roar, My people will return quickly in awe from the west.

Bottom line

How powerful is this passage? Isn’t God much greater than we first believed? Two things to take notice of here. First, He is a God of reconciliation. What does that mean exactly? He restores our relationship with Him and makes it stronger, better NO matter how many times we have walk away from Him. Second, and this is big…verse 8 speaks so loudly this morning…He will NOT give up on us. Have you ever felt like you have drifted too far from God? Or perhaps felt like you don’t know where to start or how to get back to Him? It’s okay, He knows and He will not give up. His pursuit for us is relentless, it’s reckless, in fact, it’s the only thing on His dance card today…He’s coming for you. You see He’s NOT a man, why does He say that? You and I can’t offend God to the point where He forgets us or lose His grace or worst of all lose His love for us…He’s not a man. What happens when we’re offended? Do we usually rush after the person to restore the relationship? Yeah right, if we’re honest we usually put them on the pay NO mind list. We don’t usually trust those that have offended us for fear of being hurt again, or we put them on probation for some period of time. Not God, He pursues us through all our mistakes and wrong turns, He will go through great lengths to restore the relationship.

[Hos 11:4 NIV] I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them. When you can’t walk anymore He picks you up and holds your face next to His and when we refuse to eat, He will come off His throne in heaven and BEND down and meet us where we are to feed us so we don’t starve…can you picture that this morning? God roars like a lion and we will follow Him, He’s NOT roaring at us He’s roaring FOR us…He’s clearing the path back to Him. You know what’s blocking the path back to Him? Fear, guilt, shame, worry, regret, confusion, hurt, pick whatever it is on your mind that prevents you from a closer relationship with God. [Isa 45:2 NIV] I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. God knows there is a mountain between you and Him, but don’t worry He will level it He knows you can’t and those bronze gates that hold us back from Him…judgmental thoughts…and the bars of iron…pride and stubbornness…He will cut them down. Remember God always goes BEFORE us, He knows we face obstacles but He’s NOT willing to let anything get in the way of restoration and reconciliation.

[Isa 58:12 KJV] 12 And [they that shall be] of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the broken, The restorer of paths to dwell in. Not only will God repair our broken relationship and restore the path back to Him but He will ELEVATE the foundations of MANY generations. He will lift us up and our children, what kind of God elevates us after we walked away from Him? One that is truly reckless for us!

Point to Ponder

What if there’s more? [Rom 5:10 KJV] For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. There is MUCH more with His life so don’t sell yourself short.

May we get lost in His love, In Him Phil

Faith – Family – Friends