Here we have a people who have been rescued by God out of the hand of Egypt, who have seen Him miraculously care for them over and over again, and yet they choose to live as if He did not exist.  They walk in the ways of gods made by human hands and trust in themselves rather than the One who has called them His own.   in a word: they have been unfaithful.  And yet God loves them still.

I underlined a few verses this morning to remind me of how God sees us and loves us still:

Hosea 10:12     Sow for yourselves righteousness;
                          Reap in mercy;
                          Break up your fallow ground,
                          For it is time to seek the LORD,
                          Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.

Hosea 11:7        My people are bent on backsliding from Me.
                          Though they call to the Most High,
                           None at all exalt Him.

Hosea 13: 4       Yet I am the LORD your God
                          Ever since the land of Egypt,
                          And you shall know no God but Me;
                          For there is no savior besides Me.

Hosea 13:14      I will ransom them from the power of the grave,
                          I will redeem them from death.
                          O Death, I will be your plagues.
                          O Grave, I will be your destruction.

Hosea 14:9       Who is wise?
                          Let him understand these things.
                         Who is prudent?
                          Let Him know them.
                          For the ways of the LORD are right;
                          The righteous walk in them,
                          But transgressors stumble in them.

That last verse puts me in mind of a song we have been singing in my BIble study group.  Honestly I think we do it much better than the video, lol. 
 

​Grace, peace, and mercy,
​Debra

I placed both sad and smiley faces next to some passages I underlined in my Bible this morning.

Hosea 5:4 received a sad face: "They do not direct their deeds toward turning to their God."  As I read that I took to heart that this is something I need to actively do-turn my deeds towards God, pursue Him with the things I choose to do each day.

Hosea 6:4 also got a sad face:  "O Ephraim, what shall I do to you?  O Judah, what shall I do to you?  For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud, and like the early dew it goes away."  Again, these words called to me to pray that this will not be true of me.  That I run the race well and do not waiver in faith.  The morning dew