Slices
Prepare
Look back at the readings for this week and thank God for any insights that have been revealed to you.
Bible passage
Repentance to bring blessing
14 Return, Israel, to the Lord your God.
Your sins have been your downfall!
2 Take words with you
and return to the Lord.
Say to him:
‘Forgive all our sins
and receive us graciously,
that we may offer the fruit of our lips.
3 Assyria cannot save us;
we will not mount war-horses.
We will never again say “Our gods”
to what our own hands have made,
for in you the fatherless find compassion.’
4 ‘I will heal their waywardness
and love them freely,
for my anger has turned away from them.
5 I will be like the dew to Israel;
he will blossom like a lily.
Like a cedar of Lebanon
he will send down his roots;
6 his young shoots will grow.
His splendour will be like an olive tree,
his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.
7 People will dwell again in his shade;
they will flourish like the corn,
they will blossom like the vine –
Israel’s fame will be like the wine of Lebanon.
8 Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols?
I will answer him and care for him.
I am like a flourishing juniper;
your fruitfulness comes from me.’
9 Who is wise? Let them realise these things.
Who is discerning? Let them understand.
The ways of the Lord are right;
the righteous walk in them,
but the rebellious stumble in them.
Explore
The book of Hosea ends with a poem that beckons Israel to repent and describes what the healed Israel will be like – a tree providing shade for people to dwell beneath its branches. There is then a short note (v 9), probably written by the editor after Hosea’s prophecies had been collated. The editor’s message is not directed at Israel but at us, the reader.
We, reading these prophecies now, know that Israel did in fact fall to the Assyrian Empire after Hosea’s prophecies. Was this because they did not repent? Did they repent? We don’t know – the editor doesn’t say. Neither are we told what comes of Hosea and Gomer’s marriage. Perhaps it is no coincidence that Gomer’s name means ‘sudden end’.
As we often experience in life, we are left with an unresolved situation and have to live with the tension of not knowing why something happened. It seems that the editor is intentional about leaving us with this incomplete ending. Instead, he invites us to continue the narrative – to discern the truth about God’s character from the text and respond to God’s invitation. There is a lot in life that we don’t know, but what we can know is that God is with us in the uncertainty.
Respond
Are there situations in your life that feel unresolved? Pray that you would be aware of God with you in the present circumstances.
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Isaiah 8,9; Psalm 102
Pray for Scripture Union
This autumn will mark the end of Claire Baines’ first summer season as Holidays and Missions Coordinator. Pray that as the team reset and begin to prepare for the 2026 season, God will guide and that she will be an encouragement and a blessing to the volunteer teams.
