There are two readings for today.
SCRIPTURE: Hosea 13
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me. [Hosea 13:6]
Hosea outlines the problem with Israel (called Ephraim, then Samaria, referring to the ten northern tribes): they received God’s blessings but forgot about God.
God positioned them into a land of milk and honey, and they took that abundance and became proud, selfish, cruel and immoral.
They abandoned themselves to immoral practices associated with idolatry, including child sacrifice and prostitution.
And God speaks of both anger and mercy, and His determination to restore and rescue them, as well as hand them over to the fruit of their folly.
One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” [Luke 17:15-19]
It is interesting to remember that the Samaritans of Jesus’ day were the half-breed descendants of the people of Samaria that Hosea spoke against.
The Jews (descendants of Judah, the name given to the two southern tribes) saw themselves as the faithful remnant of God’s people, while the Samaritans were ‘foreigners’, outsiders to God’s grace.
But here we have an interesting development, for it is only the Samaritan who comes back to acknowledge God’s grace, while the Jewish lepers do not.
This is a general truth: so many are blessed by God, yet so few acknowledge Him.
But I have been the LORD your God ever since you came out of Egypt. You shall acknowledge no God but me, no Savior except me. [Hosea 13:4]
How easily we forget, how easily we receive the gifts but ignore the Giver.
How many are quick to blame Him when things go wrong, but will not think of Him when things are going fine.
Notice that Jesus says that it was the faith of the Samaritan leper that made him well; what about the others?
My guess is that the healing for the others did not stick; the benefit of being well did not remain with them, but they eventually found themselves somehow affected by the curse and suffering of sin (if not leprosy, then in other ways).
For without God, life will unravel, sin and suffering will take their toll, and people will once again find themselves enduring the fruit of their folly.
PRAYER:
Lord, may I not forget all that You have done (and do) for me. May I not only thank You, but may I devote myself to loving and serving You out of gratitude.