Hosea 5 Devotional

When God Withdraws to Be Sought

“Then I will return to My place until they admit their guilt and seek My face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.””Hosea 5:15 (BSB)

God summons the priests, the people, and the royal house together, because all of them have become a trap for the nation (5:1). Nothing is hidden from him (5:3). Their own deeds keep them from returning, because a spirit of unfaithfulness has hold of them and they do not know the LORD (5:4). They still bring flocks and herds to seek him, but they do not find him, because he has withdrawn from them (5:6). When Ephraim sees how sick he is, he sends to the great king of Assyria, who cannot heal the wound (5:13).

Then God describes himself as a lion that tears and carries off (5:14), and the chapter ends with him returning to his place until they admit their guilt and seek his face (5:15). Even his withdrawal has a purpose. It is meant to bring them to honest confession and a real search for him. When God feels distant, it is worth asking whether he is waiting for us to stop running to other healers.

To think about: When you are hurting, where do you go for healing first, and what would it look like to seek God himself?