Join us for a heartfelt conclusion to the study of Hosea, as Allen J. Huth shares his personal reflections and journal entries. Discover how Hosea’s plea for Israel to return to the Lord echoes through the ages, encouraging modern listeners to embrace God’s unfathomable love and forgiveness. This episode illuminates the transformative power of faith, repentance, and the immense value found in the redemptive love of Christ.
Welcome to ADDBIBLE, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. We join Allen J. Huth as he shares Bible passages and comments from over 30 years of his personal Bible reading journals.
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Today we come to the end of the book of Hosea, chapter 14 and its nine verses. Listen to the recording from Faith Comes by Hearing.
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Hosea 14
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Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take with you words and return to the Lord.
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Say to him, Take away all iniquity, except what is good, and we will pay with bulls the vows of our lips. Assyria shall not save us, we will not ride on horses, and we will say no more, Our God, to the work of our hands. In you the orphan finds mercy.”
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I will heal their apostasy. I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them. I will be like the dew to Israel. He shall blossom like the lily. He shall take root like the trees of Lebanon. His shoot shall spread out. His beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon. They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow. They shall flourish like the grain. They shall blossom like the vine. Their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
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O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress. From me comes your fruit. Whoever is wise, let him understand these things. Whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.
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What a powerful conclusion to the book of Hosea. Let’s read some of these very verses once again. Starting with verse 1, that cry all through the book of Hosea to return to the Lord. Verse 1 says, Say to him, Take away all iniquity, except what is good, and we will pay with bowls the vows of our lips. Assyria shall not save us, we will not ride on horses, and we will say no more our God to the work of our hands. Hosea makes his appeal one last time to return to the Lord and give up idol worship. And look what will happen if they’ll just do this. The words of the Lord from verses 4 through 8. I will heal their apostasy. I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them. I will be like the dew to Israel. He shall blossom like the lily. He shall take root like the trees of Lebanon. His shoots shall spread out. His beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon. They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow. They shall flourish like the grain. They shall blossom like the vine. Their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon. O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress. From me comes your fruit. Oh, the blessings of the Lord, if we would just return to him. Look at some of these wonderful words. I will heal. I will love them. My anger has turned from them. He shall blossom. He shall take root. His shoots shall spread out. His fragrance like Lebanon. They shall flourish, they shall blossom. From me comes your fruit. Returning to the Lord is fraught with blessing after blessing after blessing. And the conclusion of the matter is verse 9. Whoever is wise, let him understand these things. Whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them. But transgressors stumble in them. Hosea has made his appeal to the nation of Israel, and he has said, Now please understand these things, discern them, for the ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them. I’ll finish off the book of Hosea with just a couple more journal entries. 2012, on chapter 14, I wrote, Return to the Lord. If we do, what will He do? He said, I will heal. I will love them. And we get protection, prosperity. God asks us to understand these things and walk in them. And in 2007, I concluded the book of Hosea with these words. God is always asking us to come back to him. We need to confess our sinfulness so he can forgive us. Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God and say to him, take away all iniquity. Nor will we say again, Our God, to the work of our hands. It is I who answer and look after you. From me comes your fruit. And I concluded this journal entry and the book of Hosea with these words. Thank you for the book of Hosea that deeply convicted me of my sin nature, my tendency to sin, and reminded me why I need to be saved. I wrote my prayer in that same journal. Thanks for constantly calling me back to you through your word. I love you, and I’m sorry you had to die for my sinfulness. I accept your free gift of salvation at the cross. Forgiveness, the greatest gift in the world. So we conclude the book of Hosea back where we started. When we introduced the book of Hosea, we were reminded the book of Hosea was written by Hosea, an Old Testament prophet in about 715 B.C., when Israel was a divided kingdom. The book of Hosea is about Israel’s unfaithfulness, yet their unfaithfulness is not enough to exhaust God’s love. Hosea’s plea, over and over, is that Israel would return to God. The book of Hosea began with that touching story about how Hosea had to marry Gomer, a woman he knew would be unfaithful, to demonstrate the same relationship God has with unfaithful Israel. In chapter 3, Hosea bought back Gomer even after she had been unfaithful. God has done the same thing for us, for the nation of Israel and every one of us. He redeemed us by paying the price at the cross for our sins, for our unfaithfulness. Thank you for saying in the 14th chapter, verse 4, I will love them freely. And whoever is wise, let him understand these things. Lord, thank you for the book of Hosea. Sometimes it’s hard to read books like this that remind us of our unfaithfulness, but also reminds us of your love for us. Thank you that your love covers our unfaithfulness. Thank you for redemption. through the blood of Jesus at the cross at Calvary. And thank you that if we accept your redemptive love, you will help us bear fruit for you. And that’s what we want to do in this life, bear fruit for you because of what you’ve done for us. We give you praise and thanks for the book of Hosea, for your love for us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Thanks for listening to AdBible today. We started on radio on October 1st, 2024. I hope you noticed some differences in AdBible from other programs. For example, we are fully committed to the Word of God. That’s why we play full chapters on the air, not sound bites. It takes a lot of our program time, but it’s my belief it’s more important for you to hear the Word of God than me. You may also have figured out by now I’m not a pastor, just a layman like most of you. So these recordings are not based on sermons. They’re based on my personal walk through the Bible over several decades of my life. Therefore, Add Bible is a unique perspective of how the Bible impacts life, not a teaching series you get at your church. I share personal Bible reading journal entries from my life, from my journals, I’ve never thought would ever be shared with anybody. What I share are raw, authentic notes from Bible intersections of my own life. My life is no different from yours, so I hope the stories and applications I share are relevant to your life as well. I hope you are enjoying this unique radio program and therefore will help us stay on the air. We have so much more to share. Visit EzraProject.net and donate today. Or send a check to the Ezra Project 1399 South Havana Street, Suite 201E, Aurora, Colorado, 80012. That’s Ezra Project 1399 South Havana Street, Suite 201E, Aurora, Colorado, 80012. When you do, I will send you your first copy of a day-by-day through the Bible book. There are 11 books in the series, so I will surprise you with one of my choosing. Or, after you donate at EzraProject.net, look at our resource page, pick a book you want, and let me know your choice at the contact section on our website. We are happy to send you the book of your choice. I know you’re going to enjoy it and want to share it with others. You might wonder why we call this the Ezra Project Ad Bible, connecting God’s people to God’s Word. It came out of Nehemiah chapter 8, when Ezra, the priest and scribe, brought the Word of God back to the people. And so he got up and read the Bible to people in Nehemiah chapter 8 that had been without the Word of God for 130 years. And as he did, the people began to weep and worship. So we also in the Ezra Project realize that people are not reading the Bible as much as they like or as much as they could or should. So thus the Ezra Project, connecting God’s people to God’s Word. We hope to create 21st century Ezras, just like Ezra was as he described himself in Ezra 7.10. For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel. And so what we want to create today is 21st century Ezra’s. People who will simply read God’s word, do it, and share it with others. That’s why we call this the Ezra Project.
