Who is wise? Let him understand these things.
Who is prudent? Let him know them.
For the ways of the Lord are right; The righteous walk in them,
But transgressors stumble in them. (Hosea 14:9)
Life Application
It's an awesome thing when we realize just how much God loves us, how much He has forgiven us for, and how much He has sacrificed for us. But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away. (Isaiah 64:6) Filthy rags in this verse is referring to the cloths women would use during their menstrual cycle and then discarded - disgusting! That's what we were before we became Christians - disgusting! We may not have looked it, or smelled like it, or even acted like it around others, but we were all unclean! For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. (James 2:10-11)
Just as Hosea's wife, Gomer the prostitute, we were adulterers and fornicators, not just in our relationships with people, but also in our relationships with the things of this world and towards God: Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21) Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:4)
Just as God will solve the problem Isreal has in their relationship with Him, He has solved the problem in our relationship with Him, for all of us who have believed His Word, accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior: [God says] My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred. I will not execute the fierceness of My anger; I will not again destroy... For I am God, and not man, The Holy One in your midst; And I will not come with terror. (Hosea 1:8-9) “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, For My anger has turned away from him. (Hosea 14:4)
God is The Holy One and perfect, and we must be holy and perfect also, but how? Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” [Leviticus 11, 6, 19, 20, 21] And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. (I Peter 1:13-21) The name "Hosea" means Salvation! Thank God for saving us!
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