Come, let us return to the LORD;
for he has torn us, that he may heal us;
he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.
2 After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will raise us up,
that we may live before him.
3 Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD;
his going out is sure as the dawn;
he will come to us as the showers,
as the spring rains that water the earth.”
When someone tells me everything will be alright, I suspect most of the time that they have no idea what will happen. It may get worse. That is not the case when Hosea wrote this to Israel. He wrote that God was in his heaven and they had work to do. This is a good old-fashioned call. Repent. Sure, God gave us trials but he has promised to restore us. Hosea called on Israel to “press on to know the LORD” because “on the third day he will raise us up.” Now where have we heard those words?
Jesus calls us to repent and return to him so he can restore us. We can be assured of his ability to do this because he himself was raised on the third day. We can be assured of his willingness to do this because he died for us. We can be assured of his promise to do this because of his track record with promises. Praise the Lord that we have the Bible to “let us press on to know the Lord.” Like the dawn, the showers and the spring rains, when we call out to him…
He will come to us.