Hosea 6:1, 2


“Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces
but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence ~ Hosea 6:1, 2

Israel at this time had abandoned God and so found God had abandoned them, so they sought to return to where He alone could be found, His temple. They had finally come to the realization they were weak, fickle, weary and unfaithful. Instead of worshipping the God of Creation, they had found idols and allies to claim as god. Do they in their ancient time, not resemble us in our present time? How far has this world fallen away from God, taken up idols and allies and so find we are spiritually weak and fickle, weary and unfaithful. I do not write to proclaim God has caused the virus we now deal with in the way the ancient Israelite’s state, “he has injured us”. I do not believe in a God that will pour down a virus of death upon His creation. God is however a just God, and it is to this just God the Israelite’s depend upon for his well-known mercy. He is, after all, a compassionate God and His aim is always to restore life and health to us, His people. This is a season in the church calendar called Lent, and it is a time when we are to repent of our sins. As a world we do have much to repent of, for we have shoved our God out of our schools, out of our Government, out of our homes and workplaces. Our god is the mighty dollar, the bigger house, the outlandish mortgage. We have deserted God. But see here, there is reference to Christ Jesus. He who died for us was raised to life on the third day, and if we believe in our heart and profess with our mouth, we too were crucified with Christ, and we too are raised again to seek those things which are of heaven. We are participants in Christ when we believe. This foretelling never came true for the Israelite people. The tribes were never restored as a whole. As followers of Jesus Christ however, our “old man” is dead, and we are made new in Him, we are healed and restored; we are whole in Him.

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