Have you ever known people who seem to only be able to find problems, but never have any ideas as to how to solve them? These people complain about what other people do, or about how terrible things are, but they never seem to find any practical steps for themselves – or even us – to take, in order to make things better.
In a more positive counter-example, a colleague of mine was describing some bad decisions from our country’s past in negative terms. While I agreed with his assessment, I asked him, “So, what are you going to do about it?” This wasn’t something that we could go back into the past and change, and there didn’t seem to be much that he or I could do to fix things from that time. His answer was probably more profound than I had given him credit for at the time: he said that he was acknowledging the problem (i.e., rather than denying that it had taken place).
Often, acknowledging a sin is the first step towards doing something about it. However, I appreciate that Hosea’s prophecy doesn’t just stop with describing Israel’s sins. In addition to explaining the problem, it explains exactly what the Israelites need to do in order to change things for the better.
Let’s read the first three verses of chapter 14.
Return, Israel, to the LORD your God.
Your sins have been your downfall!
Take words with you
and return to the LORD.
Say to him:
“Forgive all our sins
and receive us graciously,
that we may offer the fruit of our lips.
Assyria cannot save us;
we will not mount warhorses.
We will never again say ‘Our gods’
to what our own hands have made,
for in you the fatherless find compassion.”Hosea 14:1-3 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/hos.14.1-3.NIV
Herein lies the solution for the Israelites. In fact, it’s pretty similar to the solution that God has given us in the age of the church, now that He has revealed more of His plan to save sinful people – like us – through Jesus Christ. If I could summarize in my own words what the Israelites are called to do:
- Israel must return to God.
- Israel must ask God to forgive them.
- Israel must present their words to God (as sacrifices, it seems).
- Israel must acknowledge that other countries (and, per a commentator, their own military might) won’t or can’t save them.
- Israel must stop worshiping idols.
By comparison, let’s consider how one receives salvation through Jesus today (This isn’t meant to be an exact definition of exactly “when” or “how” we are saved, but rather an outline of the process that allows us to become a functioning part of God’s family.)
- We confess our sins – publicly acknowledging them – and ask for God’s forgiveness of them.
- We repent from our sins, turning away from them and turning towards God.
- We accept Jesus as our Savior, trusting in God’s grace and acknowledging that we can’t save ourselves…and that other people can’t save us.
- We accept Jesus as our Lord, to the exclusion of other gods.
This sounds a lot like the instructions to Israel from Hosea 14. In fact, when we also find the importance of the Israelites obeying and making righteous decisions (by following God’s instructions) in verse 9, I would include parts of the Christian life like baptism, obedience, sanctification, and holiness as additional similarities to what this chapter describes for the Israelites.
As a result, while the means of salvation (i.e., Jesus Christ’s voluntary sacrifice for our sins) didn’t arrive until later in history, the process of returning to God and trusting Him seems to have been similar throughout the ages. I personally believe that Christ’s sacrifice applied retroactively to those who had lived before Him and trusted in God, so it makes even more sense that the process of returning to God (from a former life of sin) would be similar, even in Hosea’s day. And, for the Israelites (as is still the case today), “salvation” in a larger sense could mean different things, whether a physical delivery from their enemies, or being rescued from the dead-end path of following false gods.
And, to get there, one of the the first steps is to acknowledge that our sins are real, that they have separated us from God, and that they are our fault. Without admitting the problem, after all, it seems illogical that we could make much progress towards getting it fixed.
What does God promise to do when the Israelites obey and exchange their pluralism (or “syncretism”, per a commentator) for renewed faithfulness to God? Read ahead to Hosea 14:4-8, and consider how these promises look like the love that God showed to His people when He delivered them from slavery in Egypt to the promised land, as was described in Hosea chapter 11.
Admitting our problems – especially our sins that separate us from God – isn’t all that it takes to return to the ideal life for which He made us, but it’s a good first step!
From Sunday School lesson prepared for March 5, 2023
References:
- The Lookout, March 5, 2023, © 2022 Christian Standard Media.
- Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
- The College Press NIV Commentary – Minor Prophets Volume 1 – Hosea-Micah, by Harold Shank. © 2001 College Press Publishing Co.
Those Who Sin Differently 