HEALED AND RECONCILED

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for My anger has turned away from them. I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of Lebanon, he will send down his roots; his young shoots will grow. His splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon. People will dwell again in his shade; they will flourish like the grain, they will blossom like the vine—Israel’s fame will be like the wine of Lebanon. Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols? I will answer him and care for him. I am like a flourishing juniper; your fruitfulness comes from Me.”

Hosea 14:4-8

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In yesterday’s devotion, we saw what the Lord requires when anyone has turned away from Him and entered into a life of sin. We learned from the word of God in Hosea that He expects any sinner to first return to Him and then repent, vowing to not commit the transgressions again while rededicating themselves to Him and His righteousness.

Today, we continue to look at the progression one’s relationship goes through after a sinner returns and repents. Look at these verses from the final chapter of this book:

“I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for My anger has turned away from them. I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of Lebanon, he will send down his roots; his young shoots will grow. His splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon. People will dwell again in his shade; they will flourish like the grain, they will blossom like the vine—Israel’s fame will be like the wine of Lebanon. Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols? I will answer him and care for him. I am like a flourishing juniper; your fruitfulness comes from Me.”  Hosea 14:4-8

So what will a sinner gain when they repent of their transgressions and return to the Lord?

God promises the following:

1. He will heal their waywardness.

“I will heal their waywardness.”

Sin damages anyone who engages in it. It leads us along the path of wickedness and injures us during the journey. God receives the sinner back to Himself and works to heal them from their life of transgressions.

2. He will love them freely.

“I will…love them freely.”

The last thing you might think God would give a sinner is love. But that’s exactly what the sinner needs when they choose to confess their sins and commit to allowing the Lord to guide them in the right ways. God could condemn but He doesn’t. He chooses to give His affection to the one returning to Him.

3. He removes His anger from the sinner.

“My anger has turned away from them.”

This only makes sense, right?

If the Lord is going to receive the repentant sinner back to Himself and love him or her freely, then it would only be logical that God’s anger would have been turned away. In other words, God’s wrath in judgment gives way to love when a transgressor turns from their transgressions and goes back to Him.

4. He helps them flourish.

“I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of Lebanon, he will send down his roots; his young shoots will grow. His splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon. People will dwell again in his shade; they will flourish like the grain, they will blossom like the vine—Israel’s fame will be like the wine of Lebanon.”

“I am like a flourishing juniper; your fruitfulness comes from Me.” 

God has always been the great Provider for His people. Any successes the Israelites experienced were derived from the fact that God ordained those successes to happen to them in the first place.

How does this connect to the repenting sinner?

Note that God will not just receive that sinner back, remove His anger from them, and love Him freely. He will also ensure that they receive the bounty of His blessings.

In regard to the Israelites, God promised they would “blossom” and “flourish” and be “fruitful”. They would be rooted in God like the cedars of Lebanon and thus grow into splendor and fame as a people and a nation.

5. He answers and cares for them.

“I will answer him and care for him.”

When the Israelites lived in sin and chose to ignore God’s warnings of judgment sent through His prophets, He in turn sent punishment upon them, punishment which left their homes and homeland destroyed before they were taken away into seventy years of captivity in a foreign land. In the midst of such hardship, the Israelites cried out for God but those cries fell on deaf ears. The people of God had chosen to abandon Him for false gods and idols and so they would get a sense of what it felt like to be forsaken.

That happened but note that it didn’t last forever. For as soon as the Israelites repented and returned to God, He restored them to a loving relationship with Himself, now answering their prayers and caring for them.

Once again, He was their God and they (the Israelites) were His people.

Friends, God yearns for anyone who has gone astray and fallen into sin to repent and return to Him. When they do, they will find themselves healed and reconciled to Him, basking in the blessings of His healing, His love, His peace, His provision, and His compassion.

Given this, why wouldn’t everyone who has gone astray come back to Him?

Maybe the fact they don’t is as much a mystery to you as it is to me.

Amen

In Christ,

Mark
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