Hosea 11 Devotional

A Father Who Bends Down

“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son.”Hosea 11:1 (BSB)

God remembers Israel's beginnings like a father remembering a child. He loved Israel and called his son out of Egypt (11:1). He taught Ephraim to walk, holding them by the arms, and healed them though they never realized it (11:3). He led them with cords of kindness and bent down to feed them (11:4). Yet the more he called, the farther they went (11:2). Because they refused to return, the sword will come (11:5-6).

Then God reveals his own heart. He asks how he could ever give Ephraim up, and says his compassion is stirred within him (11:8). He will not carry out his full anger, for he is God and not man, the Holy One among them (11:9). His holiness is the very reason his mercy is not like ours. Matthew connects the chapter's opening verse to the child Jesus, kept safe in Egypt until it was time to return (Matthew 2:15). Where Israel the son wandered, the true Son was faithful. You are held by a love that bends down to feed the weak.

To think about: How does picturing God as a father bending down to feed his child change the way you come to him today?