This post by christinecoltman was originally published at GRACE PLACE
Tough love; holding up a harsh but true mirror to our hearts
Welcome to study 4. We are doing Hosea 6:4-7:16. This is a challenging passage we are looking at together. This is God speaking to His people of Israel and Judah and to us, so I hope you are up for tough love and honest reflections.
A few things I would like to say before we jump right in; remember the story does not end at 7:16. This is a deep valley passage but is not the whole journey. Here God is speaking truth to our easily hardened self-deceitful hearts. Let us remember James 1:23-24:
“Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like”.
God’s word is a mirror to our lives and as we all know, our lives are not always pretty, but God in his grace does not leave us there, but by His word and Spirit helps us to grow.
Let us begin. Please read Hosea 6:4-11.
This is a passage where God speaks in an amazingly relatable voice. To begin with He says depending on translations:
What can I do with you?
What shall I do with you?
What am I to do with you?
What do I make of you??
- Have you ever felt like this about a family member or friend?
- What has led to God feeling like this ?
Discuss and reflect on this with your buddy.
Although there is an individual/personal aspect to these verses God is also speaking to a people/nation/church/congregation.
Looking at Hosea 6:6-12, this is a harsh condemnation of God’s people, using difficult to read statements: He speaks of priests as murdering robbers. Also read Matthew 9:13 and Matthew 12:7 where Jesus quotes these verses to the Pharisees.
The accusation he puts to them, is of going through rituals and just performing the right actions, being judgemental and thinking they are better than others. God wants soft, merciful, steadfast loving hearts not people going through the motions. As we have seen God speaks with tough love, so it is worth reflecting on what Jesus might say to us and his church today.
3. What areas of church life might have become ritualistic rather than heartfelt?
4. What could we do differently as a church to show more mercy, more steadfast love and more acknowledgement of God?
We now move on to read Chapter 7. This is a chapter full of wild, vivid imagery and descriptions of people’s sins. Let’s take some time now to look at 7:1 and 7:13. See the Father’s heart and reflect on the pain in these verses.
5. Why can’t God restore/heal/redeem his people?
6. What are they not doing?
For ideas, please see these passages:
2 Chronicles 7:14
Acts 3:19
Joel 2:13
Isaiah 55:7
7. Look back at Hosea 6 v 6-7. What is God’s heart for his people (v6)? How can we now have hope of reconciliation despite our sinful hearts (v7)? (See Romans 5 v 18-19).
We will go through the rest of this in detail on Monday 25th February and look at how this still speaks to us today and how we can move forward.
Now spend some time in prayer. Be honest before God about the condition of your heart. Spend some time thanking God for the hope we have in Jesus.
Praying you can make it on Monday the 25th February where we will hold Scripture’s mirror up to our own individual lives and reflect on why Jesus is such Good News for us.