God Loves to Welcome Us Home
Hosea 14:1-9
Why is God showing you this lesson now?
Have you ever made a mess of things? Have you ever made a situation worse because you handled it poorly? Have you ever just wandered away from God long enough to please yourself? Let me answer for you: Yes, you have; we all have!
Have you ever heard a church choir sing these beautiful words: “I’ve wandered far away from God, now I’m coming home; The paths of sin too long I’ve trod, Lord, I’m coming home.” This lesson is about returning to God when we’ve made a mess of our lives. And the good news is that He welcomes us back when we turn homeward and repent!
Hosea summarized the message of his book in verses 8-9. God challenges His people to make His ways their ways, to follow Him and find righteousness, and to avoid paths that lead to heartache and destruction.
Perhaps this is the very lesson that either you or a person you care about needs to hear right now. No matter how badly we have stumbled in sin, God lovingly invites us to come back to Him. He is merciful and full of compassion.
How does this lesson connect to what God is doing in and around you?
What must you understand if you desire to return to God? First, understand from verse 1 that your injury (“you have stumbled”) is the result of your sin (“your iniquity”). Second, understand that no matter how badly you have stumbled in sin, God lovingly invites you to come back to Him.
This involves surrender, a change of heart. Words alone are not enough. When we are insincere, God recognizes it because He knows our thoughts and our hearts. A change of heart manifests before God through our actions that are the fruit of repentance.
Honestly, what we have been calling “revival” in our churches over the years has not produced revival in the truest sense of the word. Our meetings have encouraged people and have often provided an atmosphere in which people may even be saved. But you cannot take a calendar in hand and “schedule” when people will repent. We need more than religious ritual; we need a change of heart in response to the convicting work of the Holy Spirit!
I have observed over time that it is not as difficult for most believers to “confess” sin as it is for them to “repent.” When I confess, I declare that I did it. When I repent, however, I declare that I hate it and do not desire to return to it. That’s when true revival comes. That is God’s message through Hosea.
Rick Astle– Lessons by Rick Astle, director of missions for Waccamaw Baptist Association. Astle is a graduate of the University of Kentucky and Southern Seminary. He is the author of two books and lives in Conway.