ホセア書 14:4-9 Jc

For Reading and Meditation:     Isaiah 55:6-13

We continue examining the psalmist's graphic description of the so-called successful "man of the world": "Their eyes stand out with fatness, they have more than heart could wish, and the imaginations of their minds overflow with follies. They scoff and wickedly utter oppression; they speak loftily - from on high,...

THE Lord loves His people naturally, as parents love their children; freely, without any cause whatever in them. He looks for nothing in them to move Him to love; nor will He allow any thing in them to prevent His love. He loves them as vessels of mercy, disciples of Jesus, as bearing His image, His name, and His nature. His love to them is infinite, fruitful, and unchangeable. He will love them, though they deserve hatred, merit wrath, and may be justly sentence to perdition. Beloved, let...

Our hearts by nature are like the dry, dead, and barren earth; there would be neither life, beauty, nor fruit, but for the grace of God. And even after regeneration, we are as much dependant upon God, as the earth in the east is dependant upon the dew.

If there be no dew, there will be no fruit, and if there be no grace, there will be no real religion. But our God has said, "I will be as the dew unto Israel." What the dew is to the earth, God will be unto His people. Does the dew cool...

This sentence is a body of divinity in miniature. He who understands its meaning is a theologian, and he who can dive into its fulness is a true master in Israel. It is a condensation of the glorious message of salvation which was delivered to us in Christ Jesus our Redeemer. The sense hinges upon the word "freely." This is the glorious, the suitable, the divine way by which love streams from heaven to earth, a spontaneous love flowing forth to those who neither deserved it, purchased it,...

Our fruit is found from our God as to union. The fruit of the branch is directly traceable to the root. Sever the connection, the branch dies, and no fruit is produced. By virtue of our union with Christ we bring forth fruit. Every bunch of grapes have been first in the root, it has passed through the stem, and flowed through the sap vessels, and fashioned itself externally into fruit, but it was first in the stem; so also every good work was first in Christ, and then is brought forth in...

God does this:

(l) By letting them taste some of the bitter fruits of their backsliding. Dreadful shadows gather round their path. Anguish invades their souls. They discover the frightful desolation of a path where God is not.

(2) He brings to their recollection the happy state from whence they fell; the blessedness of having the Good Shepherd to lead them, and to keep them.

(3) He directs them to the promises, and so to the open arms of Christ.

(4) He fills them...

To you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, … “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” § The way of the Lord is strength for the upright, but destruction will come to the workers of iniquity.He who has ears to hear, let him hear! § Whoever is wise will observe these things, and they will understand the lovingkindness of the Lord. § The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. § If anyone wills to...

I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall grow like the lily, and lengthen his roots like Lebanon. His branches shall spread; his beauty shall be like an olive tree, and his fragrance like Lebanon. §  Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from...

Your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you. § My beloved had turned away and was gone. I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. § I hid and was angry, and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways, and will heal him. § Have you not brought this on yourself, in that you have forsaken the Lord your God when He led you in the way?He arose and came to his father. But when...