Forty Days of Lent - Day #20

It is hard to believe we are already half way through Lent - So happy hump day everyone.  This weekend we were blessed to have Sue Thomas - former secret weapon of the FBI come to our church and share, Joel and I even had the priviledge of taking her and her assistant to Cruisers for lunch - she loved our fries and bison burgers!  Anyway - she shared how God spoke to her through Hosea 14 - so I thought today I would share that with you.

Hosea 14

Repentance to Bring Blessing

 ^1 [a]Return, Israel, to the LORD your God. 
   Your sins have been your downfall! 
² Take words with you 
   and return to the LORD. 
Say to him: 
   “Forgive all our sins 
and receive us graciously, 
   that we may offer the fruit of our lips.^[b] 
3 Assyria cannot save us; 
   we will not mount warhorses. 
We will never again say ‘Our gods’ 
   to what our own hands have made, 
   for in you the fatherless find compassion.”

 ⁴ “I will heal their waywardness
   and love them freely,
   for my anger has turned away from them.
⁵ I will be like the dew to Israel;
   he will blossom like a lily.
Like a cedar of Lebanon
   he will send down his roots;
 ⁶ his young shoots will grow.
His splendor will be like an olive tree,
   his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.
⁷ People will dwell again in his shade;
   they will flourish like the grain,
they will blossom like the vine—
   Israel’s fame will be like the wine of Lebanon.
⁸ Ephraim, what more have I^[c] to do with idols?
   I will answer him and care for him.
I am like a flourishing juniper;
   your fruitfulness comes from me.”

 ⁹ Who is wise? Let them realize these things.
   Who is discerning? Let them understand.
The ways of the LORD are right;
   the righteous walk in them,
   but the rebellious stumble in them.

The subtitle is Repentance to Bring blessing - how true is that - I love this passage because you see God's goodness and blessing for his people because they have turned away from their sin and turned to God.  How would our lives look different today if we took the time to take to God our unconfessed sin?  I want to live a blessed life, but in order to do that I know I must wade through my mess of mistakes and sin and take them to the cross!