Pressing On Toward

Refreshing Seasons

Hosea 6:1-3

“Come, let us return to the Lord.
He has torn us to pieces
    but he will heal us;
he has injured us
    but he will bind up our wounds.
² After two days he will revive us;
    on the third day he will restore us,
    that we may live in his presence.
³ Let us acknowledge the Lord;
    let us press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises,
    he will appear;
he will come to us like the winter rains,
    like the spring rains that water the earth.”

-NIV-

Twice in this section, God’s people are talking to each other: “Let us return to the Lord … let us press on to acknowledge Him…”

The objective of this conversation is to “return to the Lord.” That’s repentance; a turning from sin to the Lord that entails knowledge and action, anticipating healing granted by the One offended. The God who sent punishment to the guilty is ready to bind up the wounds and restore (see Hosea 5:15).

The people who embrace this penitent mind-set must follow through or “press on to acknowledge” the Lord in their repentance with the behavior or “fruit” of repentance.

For us today, this history reminds us of God’s eagerness to forgive, to heal those who press on in that route of repentance.  And for us today, the “showers” and “spring rains” represent the “seasons of refreshing” that repentance brings (Acts 3:19).