Thoughts on Hosea 7
It’s been 25 weeks since my last post. Although I tried to restart a few times, none of them got out of Draft. I hope this sticks.
And God’s Word is timely, as it often is. Politics has been crazy in the Philippines, consuming the everyday lives of Christian and Non-christian alike. I do believe the Church will survive this, because God’s love will prevail, but the dividing issues and differing opinions have caused hurt and will leave many scars.
There is evil. There has been and will be evil people doing evil things. For the life of me I could never understand why. But there it is.
One side cries out for Justice. Another side calls for Healing. Both are valid, why can’t we have both?
“When I would heal Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed, and the evil deeds of Samaria; for they deal falsely; the thief breaks in, and the bandits raid outside. But they do not consider that I remember all their evil. Now their deeds surround them; they are before my face.”
True Justice and Healing can only come from God.
What then, do I think we should do? We should trust in God’s Justice and we should love as Jesus loves. God sees all things and, as the rest of the chapter goes, will deal with evil people accordingly. We should remember this.
Should we then just ignore oppression? No. We should call it out. But keeping our eyes on Jesus as we do.
There’s still more to be done for God and for His Kingdom and we may be distracted by things that are way beyond our spheres of control and influence. I think we should focus on people, especially those who God has brought to us to lead and to love.
“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.””
Let’s start and persevere with this. Justice and Healing – from God – will follow.