Join us as we explore the richness of Hosea 12 and the profound call to press forward in the face of tribulations. Through personal anecdotes and biblical wisdom, Alan J. Huth guides us in understanding God’s enduring presence in our lives. He challenges us to think about our history with God and encourages a return to faithfulness, offering a message of hope and resilience inspired by the narrative of Exodus and the stories of Israel’s journey.
Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. We join Alan J. Huth as he shares Bible passages and comments from over 30 years of his personal Bible reading journals.
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Today brings us to Hosea chapter 12. We’re coming down the home stretch. Three chapters left. We’ll listen to Faith Comes by Hearing’s reading of the 14 verses of Hosea chapter 12.
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Hosea 12 Ephraim feeds on the wind and pursues the east wind all day long. They multiply falsehood and violence. They make a covenant with Assyria and oil is carried to Egypt. The Lord has an indictment against Judah and will punish Jacob according to his ways. He will repay him according to his deeds. In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God. He strove with the angel and prevailed. He wept and sought his favor. He met God at Bethel, and there God spoke with us. The Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord is his memorial name.
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So you, by the help of your God… Return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God.
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A merchant in whose hands are false balances he loves to oppress, Ephraim has said, Ah, but I am rich.
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I have found wealth for myself. In all my labors they cannot find in me iniquity or sin.
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I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt. I will again make you dwell in tents, as in the days of the appointed feast. I spoke to the prophets. It was I who multiplied visions, and through the prophets gave parables.
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If there is iniquity in Gilead, they shall surely come to nothing. In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls. Their altars also are like stone heaps on the furrows of the field. Jacob fled to the land of Aram. There Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he guarded sheep. By a prophet the Lord brought Israel up from Egypt, and by a prophet he was guarded. Ephraim has given bitter provocation. So his Lord will leave his blood guilt on him and will repay him for his disgraceful deeds.
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In 1991, I finished Hosea by reading these last three chapters together on the same day, 12 through 14. I didn’t write a comment on 12, so we’ll look at a journal from a later year. In 2007, when I read Hosea 12, I wrote in my journal, “…Hosea reminds Israel of Jacob, who wrestled with the angel and prevailed. He wept and sought his favor.” As Jacob actively sought out God, he begs Israel to return to your God and wait for your God continually. I have found wealth for myself, according to verse 8. Many today think they create wealth without God. And in 2012, you might remember, we are in Breckenridge because I was reading this over Thanksgiving. So we’re in Breckenridge, Colorado, and this is the day after Thanksgiving. When I read Hosea 12 and I wrote, it helps to remember God’s intervention in the past. Hosea does so and encourages Israel to return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God. Israel said they were rich. Maybe that’s what causes us not to think we need God anymore. God sends prophets to guide Israel. Most were rejected. Hosea chapter 12 is about remembering, looking back at our relationship with God, or shall we say his relationship with us. In verses 2 through 5, Hosea reminds Israel of one of the patriarchs, Jacob, how God even controlled the birth order of Jacob, who came out of his mother’s womb holding the heel of his older brother Esau. He reminds Israel that Jacob strove with the angel and prevailed, and Jacob wept and sought God’s favor. I think Hosea brings back the memory of Jacob to remind Israel Jacob fought for his relationship with God. He wept for it. He sought it. They need to do the same. In verse 6, he says, So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God. Hosea continues his history lesson in verse 10. God speaking, I spoke to the prophets. It was I who multiplied visions and through the prophets gave parables. And in verse 13, Hosea reminds Israel, by a prophet, the Lord brought up Israel from Egypt and by a prophet, he was guarded. So Israel is being reminded by Hosea and God himself of their past, God’s intervention and presence throughout their history. He was there when Jacob was born. He brought Israel up out of Egypt. And he gave multiple visions and gave parables through prophets continually guiding Israel. So what’s your history with the Lord? Or his history with you? Can you list various occasions when God reached for you? Can you list various times when he intervened in your life? Can you list those times when you reached out for him? Maybe this is one of those times, through the book of Hosea, when God is convicting your heart about your unfaithfulness. Maybe this is one of those moments when God is reaching for you through the words of this book. If so, praise the Lord. Let’s listen to verse 6 again. So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God. The theme throughout Hosea has been, come back to God, return to me, and He will return to you. This may be your day. This may be the moment that God is touching your heart to return to Him. So I pray that that’s what you do sometime today. Think about all the times that God has reached out to you, or you have reached out to Him, and maybe you have been unfaithful to stay the course. But through this chapter, God is reminding you where you once were with Him and He wants you back. So you, by the help of your God, return. Father, thank you for reminding us of our past. Thank you for reminding us how many times you have reached out to us. Thank you for your faithfulness to us even when we have been unfaithful to you. Today I pray that these words are touching someone listening to this podcast and that they will reach out to you and return to you this day. It will be a joyous day, a joyful reunion with you, God Almighty, and we’ll give you the praise and the thanks. In Jesus’ name, amen. Thanks for listening to AdBible today. You know, sometimes life does not go the way we plan. We all face trials and tribulations. The question is, how do we handle those trials and tribulations? In Philippians 3, 12-14, Paul instructs us to go forward, to press on. The verse says, Not that I have already attained or am already perfected, but I press on, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. What does it mean to press? Well, our dictionary definitions include to push with steady force, to push ahead with eagerness. So my own thoughts on pressing are to fight, to keep going. Press means it won’t come easy. So how do we press on? Let’s consider a powerful example from Scripture. You know, I love the Bible, and I love the stories that build my faith so I can press on in various aspects of my life. This story is found in the book of Exodus. After the Jews had witnessed the ten plagues in Egypt, experienced that first Passover, and been led by God himself as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, they find themselves camping in the desert. They hear the rumble of Egyptian chariots in the distance and they say, well, let’s pick up the story here instead of me talking about it. Exodus chapter 14 verse 10 says, And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. Then they said to Moses, Because there was no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness. So no, pressing on isn’t easy. It never is. It always appears easier to go back to Egypt, that’s the way it used to be, than to fight or to press on, to push with steady force and to push ahead with eagerness. Verses 13 and 14 say, And Moses said to the people, Do not be afraid. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace. Yes, friends, the Lord will fight for you too. As you press on, the Lord himself will fight for you. The story goes on in verses 19 through 20. And the angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them. And the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them. So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other, so that one did not come near the other all that night. The angel of God came between them. To one it was darkness. To the other it was light. So what do you see in the battle? Do you see God move between you and the enemy? Do you see darkness? Or do you see light as God fights for you as you press on? Exodus 14, 15 then says, And the Lord said to Moses, Why do you cry to me? Why do we cry out to God? Why do we sometimes keep praying when God has already shown himself glorious many times in our lives? Yet we freeze, we stand still, and we look back to Egypt. The story goes on in the scriptures. It says, tell the children of Israel to go forward. Well, where is forward? It’s Canaan, the promised land. God has a plan. We’re in that plan. So go forward. Reach for your Canaan. Where is your forward? Philippians 1.6 says, being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. What have you started? Are you trying to do something for the Lord but feel stalled? He has begun a good work in you. Go forward. Go forward in the Word. Press on. Push with steady force and push ahead with eagerness. He told you He will fight for you. Go forward. Where were the Jews when all the plagues were badgering Egypt? They were in Goshen. And in Goshen, the Word of God says in Exodus 8, 22 and 23, And in that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there, in order that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the land. I will make a difference between my people and your people. Exodus 9.26 says, Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail. Exodus 11.6-7 reminds us, But against none of the children of Israel shall a dog move its tongue against a man or a beast, that you may know that the Lord does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. We must forget what lies behind, Egypt, and reach forward to what lies ahead, Canaan. But we must live in Goshen. As God’s people, we can be set apart from the plagues of the world. We must trust God to make a difference between my people and your people. We must pray it so. We must walk by faith and not what we see around us. We must be light, bright lights, as the world darkens around us. Forget what lies behind, but never, never, never forget your Bible. Read every day those great stories of old to build your faith so you can press on. Reach forward to what lies ahead. Go forward. Press on. Knowing in the midst of plagues, turmoil, crisis, there is a Goshen where God protects his own people. Go forward. He fights for you.
