Only The Lord Can Heal Us

Reading:  Hosea 1 - 6
My Verse:  5:13 "When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah saw his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to King Jared [for help].  Yet he cannot heal you nor will he cure you of your wound [received in divine judgement]."

What a picture of unfaithfulness, of going astray!  Hosea has got to be the object lesson to beat all!  This book so vividly portrays what turning away from, You, Lord, means.

I think I finally 'get' this story.  In prior readings I had trouble getting past Gomer's harlotry to see the real lesson.

Turning from You, Lord is sin - no matter what form it takes.  In today's world 'sin' had been renamed so as not to offend the 'sinner'.  We overeat, overdrink, steal, lie because we have 'issues' that need to be dealt with.  When in all cases - sin, turning away from You, Lord is the primary issue. 

Then we go to all the wrong places for help like Ephraim going to Assyria.  But there is no cure or healing "Yet he cannot heal you nor will he cure you of your wound [received in divine judgement]." (5:13)
Healing will not occur until "they acknowledge their offense and feel their guilt and seek My face." (5:15) 

It always comes back to Your love for us, Lord.  "Come and let us return to the Lord, for He has torn so that He may heal us; He has stricken so that he may bind us up." (6:1)  In Sunday School class we have been going through a study with Wilkerson on this very topic.  You, Lord, are in control.  You allow us difficulties to 'heal' us, but we do need to acknowledge our sin and seek You.  And then, and only then will You, the Healer, cure and heal us of our dreadful self-absorbed and self-destructive behaviors.

Thank you for this lesson in Hosea. 

Ditat Deus - God Enriches!