Christianity Oasis Forum

[cimi]

October 21
Tuesday


GOD'S LOVE
STORY

READ:
Hosea 11
__________________________________________

How can I give you
up, Ephraim? How
can I hand you over,
Israel?... My heart
churns within Me; My
sympathy is stirred.
__Hosea
____________________________________________

Is there any human feeling more powerful than that of betrayal? Ask a high school girl whose boyfriend has dumped her for a pretty cheerleader. Or tune your radio to a country-western station and listen to the lyrics of infidelity. Or check out the murders reported in the daily newspaper, and amazing number of which trace back to a quarrel with an estranged love.

In the Old Testament, God through Hosea's marriage demonstrates in living color exactly what it's like to love someone desperately and get nothing in return. Not even God, with all His power, will force a human being to love Him.

Many people think of God as an impersonal force, something akin to the law of gravity. The book of Hosea portrays almost the opposite: a God of passion and fury and tears and love. A God in mourning over Israel's rejection of Him (11:8).

God the lover does not desire to share His bride with anyone else. yet, amazingly, when Israel turned her back on God, He stuck with her. He was willing to suffer, in hope that someday she would return to Him.

Hosea, and later Jesus, prove that God longs not to punish but to love. In fact, He loved us so much that He sent His Son to die for us!
__Philip Yancey
_____________________________________________________________

````````````````Love sent the Savior to die in my stead.````````````
````````````````````Why should He love me so?``````````````````
```````````````Meekly to Calvary's cross He was led.```````````````
``````````````Why shoul He love me so? __Harkness``````````````
_____________________________________________________________

God loved us so much, He sent His only Son.

***************Today's Bible Reading __ Hosea 11****************

1 When Israel was a child,
I loved him, and out of
Egypt I called My son. 2 As
they called them, so they
went from them; they
sacrificed to the Baals....

3 I taught Ephraim to walk,
taking them by their arms
.... 4 I drew them with
gentle cords, with bands of
love.... I stooped and fed
them.

5 He shall not return to the
land of Egypt; but the
Assyrian shall be his king,
because they refused to
repent. 6 And the sword
shall slash in his cities,
devour his districts, and
consume them.... 7 My
people are bent on
backsliding from Me....

8 How can I give you up,
Epharaim? How can I hand
you over, Israel?... My
heart churns within Me; My
sympathy is stirred. 9 I will
not execute the fierceness
of My anger; I will not
again destroy Ephraim. For
I am God, and not man, the
Holy One in your midst;
and I will not come with
terror. 10 They shall walk
after the Lord. He will roar
like a ion. When He roars,
then His sons shall come
trembling from the west;

11 they shall come trembling
like a bird from Egypt, like
a dove from the land of
Assyria. And I will let them
dwell in their houses....

12 Ephraim has encircled
Me with lies, and the house
of Israel with deceit; but
Judah still walks with God,
even with the Holy One
who is faithful.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Hosea, the first of the 12 Minor Prophets, ministered to the northern
kingdom of Israel during her final years before the Assyrian conquest
(Hosea 1:1), a period covered in 2 Kings 14-20 and 2 Chronicles
26-32 (ca. 755-710BC). He carried on where Amos had left off and
was a contemporary of Isaiah and Micah. __Sim Kay Tee