From Kim Williams
First Congregational Church
Hosea 11:1–7
“I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love.”
When you look at today’s reading, the title glares back at you, “God’s
Compassion Despite Israel’s Ingratitude”. Ouch.
In this passage in Hosea, we see a God who knows that humans are easily
distracted. I mean, this is the pattern, isn’t it? God provides and the people
are like, “FINALLY. It’s about time, Lord!” and then within minutes they’re
back to taping posters of Baal up in their gym lockers. We’re a juvenile
bunch, us humans. But here’s the best part, God keeps on.
A good chunk of the time we don’t even realize that its God working the miracles (or just
untangling the knots we’ve made) behind the scenes. But there are those
moments when everything is terrible and it’s impossible to find a solution
that won’t make things worse—we all know those moments. Then one
factor will change, and suddenly there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. A
rope ladder has been dropped into our pit of despair. We are able to fumble
our way out following some basic, intrinsic guidance that we feel in our gut.
Prayer: And if we don’t thank you enough, Lord (we probably
don’t), thank you for the small, silent ways you care for us.
Amen.