Focus
As you quiet yourself for this brief time, be willing to be open to God, however that may take place.
Read
14 Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
2 Take words with you
and return to the Lord;
say to him,
“Take away all guilt;
accept that which is good,
and we will offer
the fruit of our lips.
3 Assyria shall not save us;
we will not ride upon horses;
we will say no more, ‘Our God,’
to the work of our hands.
In you the orphan finds mercy.”
4 I will heal their disloyalty;
I will love them freely,
for my anger has turned from them.
5 I will be like the dew to Israel;
he shall blossom like the lily,
he shall strike root like the forests of Lebanon.
6 His shoots shall spread out;
his beauty shall be like the olive tree,
and his fragrance like that of Lebanon.
7 They shall again live beneath my shadow,
they shall flourish as a garden;
they shall blossom like the vine,
their fragrance shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
Reflect
When I was a kid I had a habit of pulling my own teeth once they got loose enough, and as a result, I have a couple of teeth that came in crooked because of the way that I pulled the previous teeth that were there before. Also, I have a finger on my left hand that is slightly crooked and always stiff because it got broken many years ago in a dodgeball accident in high school.
Sometimes our relationships with other people are like broken bones or teeth. They can heal, but sometimes they never quite all the way. Even with all the time in the world, it can be hard to regain trust and work through betrayal and disloyalty, but in today’s passage, God says in verse 4, “I will heal their disloyalty.”
When we look to the Lord in repentance, He heals the brokenness in our hearts that we created through our own disloyalty to Him. When our relationship with God is restored, it is restored completely. We don’t have to worry about God bringing up our past to condemn us. By His grace, we are His and He is ours and because of that, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ! (Romans 8:1)
Pray
Father in Heaven, Thank You for the forgiveness that I have in Your Son, Jesus Christ. Thank You for shining Your light in the darkest places of my heart and placing Your love upon me. I pray that You would empower me with Your Holy Spirit to show Your love to others as I go about my day and show them they can also have a relationship with You. I ask this in Your Son’s precious and lovely name. Amen.
Go with God!
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