Week 1 May 2025, Devotion Part 1

Let us press on to know the LORD; his going forth is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.  Hosea 6:3

“Let us press on to know the LORD.” At first glance it may look like a determined pitch for increased participation in Christian adult education. With Hosea it was a glorious case of spring fever – of freshly falling in love with God and His people. It is the miracle of a man frosted by duty and trapped in the winter of his desolate soul. Suddenly his bleak world explodes with freshness of hope. Tender green shoots of delight relieve the barrenness of his spirit. Tears turn into spring rains. The seed of divine promise will surely sprout and mature to yield the Covenant harvest of God’s blessings. Could Hosea’s spring fever –  going back millennia, yet still compelling – serve as a tonic to deliver us from our duty-dulled senses?

Many will agree that it is a solemn Christian obligation to get better acquainted with God. Are there any who actually know how to love Him with all their heart, soul, strength, and mind? Would a dynamic book or a demanding Bible study do the trick? Hosea might well talk us out of “tricks” in the icy tones of God’s judgment. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (4:6). Oddly, he became schooled in it by marrying a prostitute. Part 1 of 2

Comment:  If we really want to know what Hosea means here, we might have to read his book written ca. 710 BC.  A post-exilic prophet, he’s preceded by Ezekiel and Daniel, and therefore nothing to sneeze at, as the saying goes.  If I propose now to dive into the 15 chapters with their approximately 3,615 words, another well known saying might suggest a few paragraphs will suffice.  “Blah blah blah” serves to stem the tide of boring details and unwelcome repetitions.  However, if you say “yada yada” instead, a happy Hosea suspects you speak Hebrew.  In his language “yada” is the root word for “know” and “knowledge” and appears some 950 times in the Old Testament.  There are six references to the Book of Hosea in the New Testament, including four direct quotes.  Since the astute Apostle Paul had picked up on them, Hosea 13:65 is still the verse perennially perfect for Holy Week and Memorial-Service readings.  “O death, where is thy sting?  O grave, where is thy victory?”   When the voice of the Archbishop of Canterbury triumphantly rang out during Sir Winston Churchill’s funeral, he was quoting it from 1 Corinthians 15, famous for its comprehensive teaching on the Resurrection.  If the Church – as  the Bride of Christ – doesn’t want to revert back to being a Gomer, Hosea’s adulterous wife, we need to know some lessons from his book.  The word “know” is also prominent in 1 John and teaches us some distinctions.  In Matthew 7:23 Jesus sums up His judgment on those who say “Lord, Lord” in the self-congratulatory manner of smug church workers, “I never KNEW you; depart from me you evildoers.”  When Hosea “knew” his bride, his good reputation and family life unraveled tragically.