Title: God's Request/Hos 11:1~11
Contents God's request/Hos 11:1~11
Key Verse: “I have led men with cords of love; I have become to them as those who take off the yoke from their necks, and I have put food before them” (verse 4).
Word: Today's text describes God's love for us well. Hosea hears the voice of God who loves the nation and mankind through the process of suffering, suffering, conflict, and love due to his prodigal wife. Gomer was a prodigal woman. Whenever there was a festival of Baal idol worship, he liked to go out into the streets and have fun. Sometimes he had an affair with another man and had three children, but it was difficult to tell whether the children were Hosea's children, so the Bible does not say whose children they are, but only the children of lewdness. However, because Hosea's love for his wife was greater than her mistakes and corruption, she was able to forgive all of her sins and to welcome her again and establish a new family.
God loves us all. But there are people who love them in particular. Who are they?
First, a person who confesses that he is a sinner. Jesus said to his disciples, "I am a friend of tax collectors and sinners; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Jesus was closer to sinners than to the righteous. He came to this earth to call sinners to repentance and took up the cross to bear the sins of sinners. Our Lord is closer to sinners and has compassion on them, waiting for them to repent and turn around. Not only that, he did not pay for the sins of the repentant on the sinner but took responsibility for it.
Second, they are extremely weak. God loves those who consider themselves small more than those who consider themselves great. The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians, “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” The Lord was closer to the sick than to the healthy, to the hungry rather than the full, to those who were despised rather than respected and treated, and loved the weak more than the strong.
Finally, God loves those who have failed even more. A one-time failure is never a lifetime failure. Peter fished all night, but failed. Through that failure, he met Jesus Christ and became a fisher of men. Peter failed as a disciple of Jesus enough to deny Jesus three times, but he met the resurrected Jesus, confessed his faith and became a great immortal apostle.
The word love has become a common slang these days, but since love is the noblest gift of life that God has given to humans, Christians should heal this sick land with living laughter and joy with this love.
Prayer: God, help this land where we live to be healed with love. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.
Lord's Prayer