And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field. (Hosea 2:18)

The lions ravage us, the sparrows flee us, and the scorpions bite us. All these things are against us. Fear and hostility pervade the whole creation. How different from Genesis 1:28: “And God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” What a contrast to Genesis 1:31: “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.” Lions, sparrows, scorpions, man, and woman—the whole creation and every creature—lived in perfect “matrimonial” harmony.

What happened? One sin. One sin divorced us from the creation, from one another, and from God. Hatred, fear, suspicion, and hostility fill the air and every heart. We run after one another and from one another. Every barking dog, every roaring lion, every hissing serpent on this earthly realm reminds us of the discord, division, and divorce that exist in the spiritual realm. Does this grieve you? Do you hate the sin that has caused it all, and groan with the whole creation for deliverance (Rom. 8:19–23)?

Exiled Israel longed to return home. But the people were deterred by the frightening wild animals and warring nomads that had filled the land in their absence. So, here God reassures them, “And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and I will make them to lie down safely.” God covenants to create conditions of peace and safety.

All this is but a pale shadow of what God will ultimately and climactically do in the final “new heavens and the new earth, in which dwells righteousness” (2 Pet. 3:13). God has made an unbreakable covenant to reverse the estranging and acrimonious effects of sin. And when God covenants to do something, it will be done. He cannot lie or break His promise. Fellow creature of God, will you be among those who He “will make to lie down safely?” Or will you know enmity-filled eternal separation and division?

I’m devoting the next few weeks to working on a project that’s going to demand most of my mental energy. So apart from the usual Mon-Fri Checkout which will continue, I won’t be writing an additional daily article. Instead, I’m going to post a series of daily devotionals on Hosea that I wrote a few years ago.

I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth. (Hosea 2:17)

God’s Old Testament people were taught so many of God’s names: Jehovah-jireh (the Lord who provides), Jehovah-nissi (the Lord our banner), Jehovah Rophi (the Lord who heals), Jehovah Ra-ah (the Lord who sees), etc. They had been entrusted with so many profound and precious divine names.

And yet, what names did they take up in their lips but the names of Baalim (“lords”), the names of the heathen gods and deities. They forsook the name of the one Lord and spoke the name of many lords. As God listened to Israel day by day, it was not His own name He heard but rather those of false gods.

Despite this, here God promises that He will one day come and take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth. He will do it, and it will happen. The names of heathen gods which dominated their conversation and even their worship would be heard no more. God will put a new song in their mouth to magnify Him. It may seem impossible. How can Israel break the habit? How can they simply stop what they had gotten so used to doing? The great secret is in the divine “I will.”

Was there not a time, Christian, when your mouth was full of the names of Baalim? Despite your godly upbringing, your conversation was full of the Baalim of this world. You spoke of football and baseball, of supermodels and singers, of celebrities and millionaires. These were your lords, your Baalim. When God came down to listen for His name in your life and home, all He heard were the names of Baalim. Where was the name of Jesus Christ, the Name above every name?

But God, who is rich in mercy, came down to your mouth and took away the names of Baalim. You have no interest in them anymore. You don’t want to talk about them anymore (Ps. 16:4). Instead, the precious names of the Lord are your meat and drink.

And what if your mouth is still full of Baalim? Bring your mouth to God and say, “I can’t stop this. I can’t save myself. Come and take away the names of Baalim out of my mouth. Take away the lords and make me confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

I’m devoting the next few weeks to working on a project that’s going to demand most of my mental energy. So apart from the usual Mon-Fri Checkout which will continue, I won’t be writing an additional daily article. Instead, I’m going to post a series of daily devotionals on Hosea that I wrote a few years ago.

I will give her her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope. (Hosea 2:15)

Vineyards in the wilderness? A door of hope in the desert of despair? Achor means “trouble” and was so named because Achan’s idolatrous greed there resulted in the “trouble” of defeat for Israel, and the trouble of “execution” for Achan and his family (Joshua 7:24-26).

Achan’s sin was a challenge to Israel. How would they react? Would they trace their defeat to sin? And how would they deal with it when they found it?

By searching out the sin in their midst, and by dealing with it so decisively and comprehensively, they found a door of hope to lead them out of Trouble Valley. But they only found the door because God gave them the door; their repentance was God’s gift. This is what God promises the greedy and idolatrous Israel of Hosea’s day also. In the desert darkness of foreign exile, God would give them the refreshing wine of repentance and the enlightening hope of forgiveness. What mercy and grace!

Perhaps idolatry and greed have got the better of you, and you lie defeated and despairing in Trouble Valley. The Lord is troubling your health, your family, your work, or your church. Thus the divine gauntlet is laid down, and the divine challenge is posed. What will you do? Will you trace your trouble to your sin?

And, if you have found the cause of your trouble, are you dealing with it decisively and comprehensively? Are you “stoning” it and its ungodly associates to death? If so, then God is opening a door of hope in your Trouble Valley.

Perhaps the door has only opened a little, but it is enough to encourage you to persevere in your sin-stoning work. And, as each stone of repentance strikes the evil hidden in your heart, the door of hope creaks open more and more, until the light of God’s love and favor floods in, and you begin to hope once again in His mercy. Hallelujah! God has given you the valley of Achor for a door of hope.

Praise God for Christ, the Giver of door-opening hope in the valley of Achor. “Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31).

I’m devoting the next few weeks to working on a project that’s going to demand most of my mental energy. So apart from the usual Mon-Fri Checkout which will continue, I won’t be writing an additional daily article. Instead, I’m going to post a series of daily devotionals on Hosea that I wrote a few years ago.

“I will….bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably unto her” (Hosea 2:14).

Most of us would prefer being taken to a palace with all its comforts rather than a wilderness with all its dangers. But here God promises His people a wilderness which is full of comforts — comforts that cannot be enjoyed in any palace.

God was promising Israel that they would be conquered and taken captive by foreign powers as a punishment for sin. This was to be a wilderness experience with many dangers and sufferings. The people would be hungry, harmed, far away from home, and especially far away from God and His Temple. Surely nothing good could come out of this! But wait; God says He “will bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably to her.” He will combine the uncomfortable wilderness with comfortable words.

This was Israel’s experience in the wilderness of foreign exile. There, in the midst of their sin-caused sorrow, God spoke words of promise and hope to the repentant. How often this is the Christian’s experience. When we are in comfortable situations, we become increasingly deaf to God’s voice. We do not need to hear it, we think. So God brings us into the most uncomfortable situations in order to speak to us in a way we will hear.

You are told you have cancer. As you leave the clinic, you feel like you are in a waste-howling wilderness. You sense great danger. Fear of pain and death overwhelm you. A lonely path of surgery and chemotherapy stretches ahead of you. The world feels so bitterly cold and hostile. You get home and fall on your knees as you sob and cry out, “Lord! Lord! Help, help, help!”

And there, in the midst of that wilderness moment, God begins to draw near. Comforting verses of Scripture begin to circulate in your mind and filter down to your troubled heart. As He soothes and reassures, you sense the intimate love of your heavenly Father. And, for moments, you think that this feels more like a palace than a wilderness.

If only it wasn’t always so necessary for us to be brought into the uncomfortable wilderness to desire and delight in God’s comfortable words!

I’m devoting the next few weeks to working on a project that’s going to demand most of my mental energy. So apart from the usual Mon-Fri Checkout which will continue, I won’t be writing an additional daily article. Instead, I’m going to post a series of daily devotionals on Hosea that I wrote a few years ago.

“I will allure her” (Hosea 2:14).

Our “therefores” are so different from God’s “therefores.” In the previous verse, Israel’s sins are listed and then climaxed with “she went after her lovers, and forgot me, says the Lord.” After such a litany of iniquity, we expect the Lord to say, “Therefore I will forget you.” That’s what we would say in a similar situation. However, God’s “therefores” are different from our “therefores.” Instead of using the greatness of Israel’s sins to demonstrate the greatness of His justice, He uses them to display the greatness of His mercy. “Where sin abounded, there did grace much more abound” (Rom. 5:20). So, in response to “she forgat me,” the Lord says, “Therefore, behold, I will allure her.”

The Hebrew word behind “allure” is used in Exodus 22:16 to describe a man’s overt and obvious romantic wooing of a young lady. In Judges 14:15, the same word describes a woman’s subtle and secret attempts to entice a man to divulge confidential information. So the process of “alluring” may be either overt or covert.

The Lord allures in both senses of the word. Sometimes He will woo His people obviously and openly. He will set His charms before the believer and challenge the world to outbid Him. The believer clearly sees what God is doing, how God is powerfully and irresistibly attracting the soul, and he consciously responds to His offers of grace. Or, the Lord may work more secretly in the heart, slowly but surely turning the soul back to Him so that the believer hardly notices the work of God until it is done, when she responds with surprise and wonder that the Lord has healed her backsliding and loved her freely.

O straying sheep, forget human “therefores,” take this divine “therefore” to God, and plead this sublime heavenly logic as you seek to return to His warm embrace. Take the greatness of your sins to God and plead the greatness of your sins as a powerful argument for His mercy. “For your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great” (Ps. 25:11).

And, if you are conscious of the Lord’s alluring, then believe His romantic overtures are sincere and be happily seduced by His love. Or, perhaps you should examine your heart to see if God is wooing you more subtly. Let us trace all to this great and all-conquering “I will allure her.”

I’m devoting the next few weeks to working on a project that’s going to demand most of my mental energy. So apart from the usual Mon-Fri Checkout which will continue, I won’t be writing an additional daily article. Instead, I’m going to post a series of daily devotionals on Hosea that I wrote a few years ago.

“I will hedge up your way with thorns” (Hosea 2:6).

When God cursed the ground on account of the first sin, He promised that it would bring forth thorns. Thorns, then, are an emblem of difficulty resulting from sin. But, there is often mercy even in God’s harshest judgments. Without the “thorns” of difficulty that scratch us, pierce us, and pain us, would we ever hate the sin which caused them? Would we ever want to be free from the sin of this world? Would we ever cry out for our wounds to be healed and our pains relieved?

Israel had strayed from God’s path and sought her own path. She had broken down God’s fences and was wandering in her own way. But, instead of just leaving His people to wander farther and farther away until they were out of sight and out of mind, God promised, “I will hedge up your way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.” In mercy, God would send difficulties into Israel’s life that would scratch, pierce, and pain her so that she would be stopped in her tracks, and prevented from going any farther.

Many Christians have come up against the thorn-filled hedges of God in their lives. They have strayed from God’s path, jumped God’s fences, and traveled far from Him, often without serious immediate consequences. They have said, “I will follow my lovers.” But, after watching from afar for a time, God eventually responds, “I will hedge up your way with thorns.”

Our great and good Shepherd sends pain-filled difficulties into our lives to frustrate our sinful desires and directions. Perhaps your ambition made an idol of your job. But now you have lost your job. God has hedged up your way with thorns. Perhaps you were proud of your family. But now a son has rebelled against you. God has hedged up your way with thorns. Perhaps vanity was puffing you up. But now God has sent disease into your body. God has hedged up your way with thorns.

These are painful experiences which pierce deep into our hearts and minds. But they are sent in love to stop us from going farther away, to make us examine our wounds, to cry for help and healing, and to turn us back to God’s pathway. Whatever we do, let’s stop trying to get through the hedge!