Cords of human kindness
Day 451, Wednesday, Nov. 5
Hosea Chapter 9 – 11:11
Chapter 11 begins with a recounting of God’s love for Israel (as a whole nation, not just the northern kingdom). The language used is striking for its tenderness, portraying God as the loving parent of a small child.
In verses 3 and 4 we read, “It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them.”
It’s tempting to read this as sentimentality, but verse 2 makes it clear that this is a description of God’s action after the people have turned away from him to worship idols.
In other words, this is a description of how God approaches his people, not when they have a clean slate, but when they have proven their disobedience and faithlessness.
This can be a model to us for how we should approach people who have wronged us or failed to love us back after we have loved them.
If this seems like too much, notice that today’s meditation is from the psalm that Jesus quotes from when he is dying on the cross.
It begins with words that sound like defeat: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” But it quickly turns into a psalm of faith and victory: “In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.”

-Rev. Mark Fleming

Wednesday meditation

Psalms 22:1-8
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.
Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises. In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. “He trusts in the Lord,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.”

Prayer focus
Lord, let us truly love those who have disappointed us.