December 26 Daily Discovery
December 26 Daily Discovery
Read Hosea Chapter 6
The Hurting, the Healing, the Holiness
Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.
2 After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.
3 Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.
Hosea 6:1-3
God has created all things for Himself and his own pleasure.
When we read about God's creation in Genesis, we find after His creative acts, God observes what He created and says "it is good." God was satisfied and pleased with His creation.
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
~ Rev. 4:11
The Lord hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
~ Prov. 16:4
Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?
~ Ezek. 18:23
We are not fulfilling our purpose if we are not walking in communion with God. If we are erring from the truth in the way that we live, and we are God's children, God will chasten us to bring us back to Him. Being in fellowship with God is a state of blessing and it brings glory to God and good to man at the same time.
God chastises us for His glory and our good.
The Hurting
In this first verse of Hosea 6, we read "Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up."
26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.
27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
~ 1 Cor. 11:26-32
When we observe the Lord's table (communion service) and share in the bread and wine, it should be done with an appropriate level of solemnity.
To not do so could result in chastisement from God in the form of sickness or even death.
When we are so judged, God does so to bring us back to Him so we are not condemned with the world.
5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
Heb. 12:5-8
The Healing
God actually does not "punish" his children as a criminal would be punished. He chastises and corrects us. He does this to bring us close to Himself.
This is the essence of healing.
The ultimate healing that we will all have as followers of God and Jesus Christ the King and our Savior and Lord is to be transformed (1 Cor. 15:52) or resurrected. (1 Cor. 15:42)
The Prayer of Faith
When we are sick, we can ask for special prayer for healing.
Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
~ James 5:14-16
The Holiness
The goal is that we partake in God's holiness.
Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: (Heb. 12:14)
We can be holy. God never commands us to be or do anything that we cannot be or do.
As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:
15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
~ 1 Pet. 1:14-16
God wants us to be like Him.
9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
~ Heb. 12:9-10
Confess your sins, receive God's cleansing, and you are holy.
4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.
5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
~ 1 John 1:4-10
The Christian's Bar of Soap
We are in need of continual cleansing to maintain holiness before the Lord. Keep confessing. Keep being cleansed.
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