Hosea 6:1-3 (1) Come, and let us return unto the Lord; for he hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and he will bind us up. (2) After two days will He revive us: in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight. (3) Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: His going forth is prepared as the morning; and He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.
A couple of weeks ago, the LORD woke me up at 4:30 am with Hosea 6 burning in my head. I could not get way from it. I opened my bible and read the first three verses in Hosea 6. When I asked the LORD what He was telling me, I heard Him say 5:15.
Hosea 5:15 I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.
What was the offence they needed to acknowledge? Verse 3 in chapter 5 tell us, I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me: for now, O Ephraim, thou committest whoredom, and Israel is defiled.
Now I fully understand Hosea was talking to Israel in the Old Testament. But I also know how the LORD speaks. I know He can use the Old Testament to speak to us today.
The LORD is telling to get right! He has watched as we have figuratively been a whore by chasing after other gods. His heart has broke while He watched us push Him out of our families, our government, our society. He watched as we have turned His love into a thing of compromise. He watched as we turned his grace as a excuse to follow our own wants and desires. He has watched as we have turned…..
He is asking me to tell you we, as a nation, need to acknowledge our offense. We, as a nation, need to repent for our actions.
A lot of ministers I listen to right now are talking about the latter and the former rain. Yes, the LORD does want to pour out His rain. He wants to flood the earth with His presence in such a way as we have never seen.
God does not change. He clearly tells us what we must do to have the former and latter rain. We must repent. We must repent. We must repent. That is the only way, that is what the LORD requires.
Remember 5:15 says he will return to His place….. Do we really want that? You and I both know, we are a stubborn and stiff-necked people. Much like the Israelites wondering in the wilderness, we only turn to the LORD when things get bad. Things are pretty bad right now. But they can get worse.
I had someone tell me to be careful about rebuking the people. Believe me, I am not trying to deliver this in a spirit of rebuke. When the LORD spoke this to me at 4:30 in the morning, it was not in a spirit of rebuke. It was in a spirit of pleading. I felt like His heart was breaking at the thought of having to go and return to His place. I felt that He is wanting the nations to “come and let us return to the LORD”
That will I speak 