Today, let God help you remember the countless ways Jesus has tenderly guided, lifted, sustained, and cared for you throughout the years. Ask him to open the eyes of your heart, refresh your vision, and awaken your spirit to the many ways he ministers to you every day.
I’m Joni Eareckson Tada with a very good word from the book of Hosea.
You know, sometimes we get the idea that the Old Testament, like in the book of Hosea; we think that throughout the Hebrews scriptures, God appears as if his finger is constantly on the nuclear trigger, ready to blow people away for their sins. But when you read the Old Testament thoroughly, you’ll see the tender, the patient, the forbearing and kind God who makes one appeal after another to his wayward people. Like in Hosea 11. You can almost hear a lament in God’s voice, as though he were a patient parent who is grieving over a prodigal child, because he says of his people, [get this] he says, “The more [my people] were called, the more they went away from me. They sacrificed to the Baals, and they burned incense to images. Yet it was I who taught [them] to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them. 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.”
Wow, you know, these first few verses in Hosea 11 are worth underlining and reviewing often. Because we are always, always taking for granted the kindness of God. If these verses reveal that God himself is the one who gave you your spiritual birth and helped you take your first steps in faith. During times of confusion and chaos, he took you by the hand and led you. When you were about to walk into sin, it was the Spirit of God who whispered, “Don’t go there,” and then kindly turned you around in the opposite direction. In your illness, he healed you. Yes, that’s right every time you have ever been sick; every time you either broke a bone, caught a cold, healed from surgery, got the flu, or broke a fever, it was God who raised you up. When it says in Psalm 103 that he heals all our diseases, it’s exactly what it means. If ever you have experienced healing from whatever ailment, God has done it all. He has restored you.
Or when you felt trapped by your circumstances, he is been the one who has lifted you. When you were anxious and full of fear, he gave you his peace. It is God who has awakened your heart time and again to the wonders and beauties around you. Hosea has said that he has led you with cords of human kindness – in other words, he has chosen for you, your Christian friends through whom he has expressed human kindness to you, time and again. Best of all, he forgives your sin again and again. God is the One who hears your confession and gently guides you back on the best path for your life. What a good shepherd he is! And Hosea 11 is our reminder.
So today, may God stir your memory to the countless ways the Lord Jesus has tenderly guided, lifted, sustained, and cared for you through the years. And ask him to open the eyes of your heart, refresh your vision, and awaken your spirit to the many thousands of ways he ministers to you every day. So, forget not all his benefits, like it says in Psalm 103. And remember all his wonderful deeds, as we’re told in Isaiah 25. And if you need more reminders, there are always those first couple of verses in Hosea 11. So, thank you for taking time to traipse through the Old Testament with me – where in books like Hosea, we’re always going to find wonderful jewels to mine. Like this one in Hosea 11; first couple of verses. Thanks for taking the time to hear these good words of hope. The God of all hope is more than tender, patient, forbearing and kind to us all. And there’s more than enough in the Old Testament that confirms it.
© Joni and Friends