LET US RETURN TO THE LORD
"COME, AND LET US RETURN TO THE LORD; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, BUT HE WILL BIND US UP."
Hosea 6:1 (NKJV)
Comment: A call to repentance. If a believer had done anything wrong, let such find his or her way back to God. If God had torn or stricken or disciplined, He will heal and bind up again.
When a believer misses it, let him or her not move away from God, instead, such should seek a way of reconciling with Him.
There are a number of things that can bring separations between a believer and God:
a. Living in Sin is one of it
b. Walking not in love is also one.
God is waiting for any erred or strayed child of His, as the father of that prodigal son waiting and longing for him, ever before he returned home (Luke 15:20). God is equally waiting for you to return to Him.
God is thorough, a disciplinarian par excellence, however, He is still a loving Father.
Note:
a. If God torn or disciplined; It is because He loves and wants the person to come back or return to Him.
God is stern, thus, If He is severe with you, It is because He loves you (Hebrews 12:5,6).
b. If God's love for you is deep, affectionate, He would show it through how He disciplines you when you missed it. In fact, your own chastisement would always be severer than that of those whom His affection for is not all that strong. The stronger the love of God for you, the severer He would be when He is correcting or disciplining you (Hebrews 12:7,8).
Those who do believe that the love of God is known through His blessings in one's life do not have full understanding of Him.
Truly, His blessings your life could be one of the ways through which you know His love for you, but that is not all.
The way God blesses you when He is delighted in you, that same way, If not more, He disciplines you, when you rebeled or disobeyed Him.
A good number of people; so-called believers and ministers, who preach or teach about God, or tell others about God, do not really understand Him.
Someone may know about God, but may not actually know Him. Knowing about God is different from knowing God personally and intimately.
There are many who study the Bible, they even know It in Hebrew and Greek; but they do not practice the Word neither do they have pratical knowledge of walking with God in communion or fellowship.
Such people might truly know about God, but do not know Him. They can teach about God, but do not have a pratical knowledge of God. What they do have is the head knowledge, not experiential knowledge of God.
Someone who knows God is someone who practices the Bible to the letter, and at the same time had a working relationship known as communion or fellowship with God.
a. The person may not even know the Bible in Hebrew and Greek, and may not be as knowledgeable as the other person who is a Bible scholar; but such had an intimate fellowship or communion with God.
b. Such a believer may not even know anything about exegesis—explanation or critical interpretation of a text, the Bible—but he or she knows God.
c. Such may not be able to quote hundred verses of the Bible offhandedly or impulsively, but he or she has pratical knowledge of God—he or she had intimacy with God.
d. Such a believer sleeps and wakes with the thoughts of God in his or her heart.
Back to the point we started with, If you had missed it or done any wrong, repent, which is, change your thoughts or ways and be reconciled with God—He will heal you and bind you up (Hosea 6:1; Hebrews 4:15,16).
Peace.