June 26th
Hosea 6:1 Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.
Sometimes God allows us to be struck down so that we will return to Him. We all backslide. We all stumble into sin and find ourselves straying away from our faith. In those moments we will either relish our rebellion and continue in sin or be repulsed by sin and long to return to God. It is on us to decide to stay in our sin or turn back to Him.
The people of Israel had fallen into sin, again! The cycle just seemed to never stop. One minute they are faithful, the next they are faithless. One minute they adore the Lord the next they abandon Him. But God loves His people and longs for them to return to a right relationship with Him. So at times He intervenes in their iniquity to initiate their return. For those who experience His hand of correction the say with the text, "he has torn us" and "he has struck us down." In doing this, God is not acting in a vindictive or malicious manner, but in a manner that will show them His goodness and spark in them a desire to say, "Come, let us return to the LORD".
When God's hand is heavy on us because of our sin we feel rejected. We feel that God doesn't care about us and has no compassion for us. We have this sense of abandonment and alienation from God. We can't comprehend why God would allow such pain and agony to persist. We only see that God has torn us and struck us. We can't see His affection for us in our affliction. But it's there. He brings the affliction to get us to see where we are at and then He offers the ointment to get us return to Him.
He will receive all who return. It matters not the severity of you sin or the truculency of your transgression. It makes no difference how far you have fallen or how long you have been been there, the response is the same for those who want to return, "Come". You don't have to get right before you come. You don't have to get cleaned you to come. You just "Come" There are no prerequisites or preconditions you simply "Come". All who want to return just come. The songwriter said it well: Come just as you are, Come and see, Come receive, Come and live forever . . . Don't you hear the spirit call?, Come just as you are." It is those who have first been crushed who will willingly cry in despair, "Come, let us return to the LORD".
Those who come are restored and revive. As the next verse tells us, "He will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him." There is a certainty of renewal for all who return. They are not rejected but received. The same God that torn them and struck them will heal them and bind them up. It is theses that are torn that will turn in hopes of healing. It is those who are struck that will long for their wounds to be bound. God will not fail to fully restore all who return to Him.
Thank the Lord today for the affliction of His affection. Thank Him that in love there are times that he has torn us and struck us down to get us to return to Him. Thank him for the healing and binding for those who return to Him. Thank Him that every time you have rebelled and returned He has received you, revived you and restored you.
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