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Reflection

Hi there,

This week we copied out Hosea chapter 11 tracing the full movement of God’s love for His people from care and nurture, through grief and righteous judgment, to compassion and ultimate restoration.

The chapter holds together what we often try to separate: a God who teaches His children to walk, who is anguished by their turning away, who disciplines out of holiness, and who still refuses to abandon them.

I hope these questions help you reflect on where you find yourself within that story;

• Where do you see God’s nurturing care in your life that you may have overlooked or taken for granted, much like Israel did?

• Hosea 11 holds together God’s holiness, judgment, compassion, and restoration without softening any of them. Where do you resist that tension, preferring a God who comforts without correcting or corrects without restoring?

I've provided the ful text of this week's copy work below for context

God’s Love for Israel

“When Israel was a child, I loved him,​ and out of Egypt I called my son. 2 But the more they were called, the more they went away from me.​ They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images.

​ 3 It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them.​ 4 I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love.​ To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them.​

5 “Will they not return to Egypt and will not Assyria rule over them because they refuse to repent?

​ 6 A sword will flash in their cities; it will devour their false prophets and put an end to their plans.​ 7 My people are determined to turn from me. Even though they call me God Most High, I will by no means exalt them.​

8 “How can I give you up, Ephraim? ​How can I hand you over, Israel? ​How can I treat you like Admah? ​How can I make you like Zeboyim?

My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused. 9 I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I devastate Ephraim again.

For I am God, and not a man—​ the Holy One among you. I will not come against their cities.

10 They will follow the Lord;​ he will roar like a lion.

When he roars, his children will come trembling from the west.

​ 11 They will come from Egypt, trembling like sparrows, from Assyria, fluttering like doves. ​I will settle them in their homes,” declares the Lord.

Israel’s Sin

¹² Ephraim has surrounded me with lies, Israel with deceit. And Judah is unruly against God, even against the faithful Holy One

Tomorrow I'll send a reflection of my own and the series continues on Monday.

​Andy

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