Focus

As you quiet yourself for this brief time, be willing to be open to God in whatever way that may take place.

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Read

Hosea 5:15–6:6 (NRSV)

I will return again to my place
until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face.
In their distress they will beg my favor:

“Come, let us return to the LORD;
for it is he who has torn, and he will heal us;
he has struck down, and he will bind us up.
After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will raise us up,
that we may live before him.
Let us know, let us press on to know the LORD;
his appearing is as sure as the dawn;
he will come to us like the showers,
like the spring rains that water the earth.”

What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?
What shall I do with you, O Judah?
Your love is like a morning cloud,
like the dew that goes away early.
Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets,
I have killed them by the words of my mouth,
and my judgment goes forth as the light.
For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

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Reflect

God waits. The temptation in our lives is to get an immediate answer to everything, especially in our modern world where information is just a Google search away. We get impatient when we can’t get an answer in seconds.

God waits. We continue on and many times we don’t understand why God doesn’t answer. We beg and plead. We offer up sacrifices. Please God, just give me an answer.

What God desires is not sacrifice and burnt offerings. God wants us to love and know God. When we seek answers from God, remember that answers can be found in love and knowledge of God.

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Pray

Dear Lord, give me the patience to wait for you. Give me patience despite all that is going on in the world and let me know that in this patience I will find you. Let me give love to those in need and share the knowledge of you. Amen.

Go with God.