A Heart of Mercy (Hosea 10-12)
What is fascinating in this section is Hosea 11:8-11. In this section God reveals that He really doesn’t want to pour out wrath and judgment on His people. He states that His “heart is changed”, and all his “compassion is aroused.”
In these extended sections of law, which is most of the last half of Hosea, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that this is not what God’s heart above all wants for His people. As I pointed out in my comments on Hosea 5-7, there is love behind it all. What God most wants is to shower mercy upon His people. But their failure to repent is like a mighty wall built against the Lord’s grace, rejecting His compassion and mercy. His only recourse is to knock down the wall.
In Hosea 11:9, God says “For I am God, and not a man.” What does that mean? God’s essence is not judgment and punishment but mercy and grace. He distinguishes himself from fallen humanity with our endless cycles of vengeance and violence, hurts and payback. He is God, not man, and He has a heart of compassion.
I am man, not God. But I am a man who has been called to follow Jesus, who is full of grace and truth. And that calling means that it is God’s will that I be shaped more and more into His image. And so that is my prayer today, that God’s heart of mercy would be fashioned more and more in me, that the inclinations of my heart would more and more resemble those of the God of mercy.
What is the Word leading you to pray about today?
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