Day Eighteen – Hosea 2:2-13

Day 18 – Hosea 2:2-13

Chapter 2 of Hosea has two very distinct and separate parts. This first part is all about God’s anger and hurt as the betrayed husband. Not only did His “wife” Israel not thank Him for the lush land in which all the people lived, the people declared that some other guy/idol had given them the lush land and all the beautiful weather and such. Can you imagine?

Let’s say you’re a parent and you work hard to bless your children with nice things and great vacations. Instead of thanking you, they thank an evil bad guy who claims he gave them all the stuff and run off with him instead of staying home with you, the parent. Whether we think of it in terms of husband and wife or parent and child, the bottom line is this. God gives us good gifts. It hurts and angers Him when we not only take the gifts for granted without being grateful but actually say that others gave these gifts to us.

This is sadly what we do even today. We take for granted all the good gifts we receive daily from His hands. Our ability to breathe. Warm sunshine. Food in our bellies. We either ignore that they’re from Him or we declare that it’s our own wise health regime that keeps us well and that we chose a good climate to live in and that is why we have sunshine. We don’t give credit to the Creator of everything who made this gorgeous world to bless us. Yes, we can be the guilty ones, too.

God is pretty much angry in this part, isn’t He? He’s going to expose His unfaithful bride to what life would be like without His kindness. It’s not going to be pretty. But He will do whatever He needs to do for the ultimate good of His beloved Israelites. Even allowing hurts and woundings into their lives in order for them to return to Him, the Source of all that is good. What did you think of His anguish at His wayward people? What verse did you choose?

My verse: Hosea 2:8 “She doesn’t realize it was I who gave her everything she has – the grain, the new wine, the olive oil; I even gave her silver and gold. But she gave all my gifts to Baal.”

My response: How hurtful. Seeing this in terms of a marriage … how would my Ray feel if I took the beautiful things he worked hard to provide for me and gave it to some random guy?? Oh Lord, the pain and sorrow we cause you when we don’t acknowledge that this whole world was made and is sustained by You!