#DailyDevotion The LORD Lives Up To His Name
Hos. 14 4“I will heal their unfaithfulness and freely love them. Since I am no longer angry with them, 5I will be like dew to Israel. He will blossom like a flower and with his roots take hold like Lebanon. 6His shoots will spread out. He will be as beautiful as the olive tree and as fragrant as Lebanon. 7Those who live in his shade will again raise grain and blossom like a vine. Their fame will be like the wine of Lebanon. 8Ephraim, what more do I have to do with idols? I have answered and I care for him. I am like an evergreen cypress – you get your fruit from Me.”
While the LORD would do this if Israel repented, the LORD is looking further into the future, to Jesus’ day to the time of today. Again, remember, it is the LORD’s secondary will to be angry at us for sin and desiring to pour down His wrath upon us. His primary will is always mercy, kindness, steadfast love and forgiveness. So He takes the initiative and sends His Son, Jesus Christ into the world to save us from our sins. He does this so He can freely love the descendants of Israel and indeed the whole world.
The LORD is no longer angry with us. Jesus’ death is the reconciliation between the Father and the world. (2 Cor. 5:11-21) So Paul also writes in Romans 3, “24They are declared righteous freely by His grace through the ransom Christ Jesus paid to free them. 25God publicly set Him up to be the Atonement Cover through faith in His blood, to show His righteousness even though He had patiently passed by the sins done in the past. 26Now He wanted to show His righteousness, to be righteous Himself and to declare righteous anyone who believes in Jesus.”
So the LORD is like dew to Israel. He is speaking of the pouring forth of the Holy Spirit upon all flesh here and the individual indwelling of the Spirit when He converts us through the Gospel. As we can see, Christ’s Israel, the Church, has spread from Israel, through Lebanon, and into the whole world. The shoots of His love and forgiveness are bringing in whole nations of people into the fold of Israel. The Church in all its glory is a wonderful and beautiful thing as we represent Christ Jesus to the world.
We are those who live in His shade again, now, raise grain and blossom like a vine. That is, we spread the good news to all who would hear it. He causes His body to multiply throughout the earth. The Church, the body of Christ, has fame throughout the world. While some seem today to forget about all the good the Church does for the world because some of its visible members aren’t acting like the Church, overall, the Church is still like the wine of Lebanon.
The LORD expels the idols from our hearts and fill them with His Holy Spirit. The Spirit bears forth fruit in us as Paul says in Gal. 5, “22But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace. He makes us patient, kindly, good, faithful, 23gentle, and gives us self-control.” The LORD cares for us, prunes us, and feeds us with His Word and Sacraments so we may bear more fruit. Don’t see the fruit of the Spirit in your life? Confess your sins and receive the Gospel. Believe and trust in the Gospel promise all the more. Let it permeate your heart, soul, mind and spirit. God will produce these fruits in you on account of Christ Jesus.
Heavenly Father, grant that we believe and trust in the reconciliation Jesus has provided for us so we may bear forth the fruits of the Spirit and be a blessing to others. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.