…In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’
Hosea 1:10b (NIV)
One day Enid and I were playing in the front yard at grandma’s house. That lost our interest quickly so we decided to go inside for a while. The problem was we left all of our toys outside (not a smart move). When we came back out to play with our toys again they were all gone. Some sticky-fingered kids had swiped our toys. I went to one of the neighborhood kid’s house to ask for some information. His name was Mario. If anyone knew about anything happening around the neighborhood it was Mario. He knew all the dirt on everyone. He knew the dark alley, underbelly happenings of Holland and Ashcroft. He ratted out some of the kids down the street who we didn’t know too well. It was up to us to reclaim what was ours. The problem was they were older and bigger than us. So we decided the toys had served their purpose in our lives. They were fun while they lasted. Now they were the property of older, bigger, sticky-fingered kids. They didn’t even play with them inside. They were boldly playing in their front yard with our toys in full view of everyone, rubbing it in. But did we reclaim what was ours? Nope. We came inside mourning the loss of such great toys. Grandma noticed the sadness. She asked us what the problem was. We shared with her our loss. She said she’d be back. What was she going to do? Where was she going? Was she going to confront the sticky-fingered siblings and reclaim what was ours? Was she really that courageous? We didn’t dare go outside to see. We were too ashamed. But she did come back with all our toys. Grandma was a lot tougher than I gave her credit for.
From “You are not my people” to “sons of the living God.” Although God’s own people had been drawn away by the enemy, they had not been forgotten or completely disowned by God. God was sending prophets to reclaim His property.
To those of you that are mourning the loss of people that have walked away from God, you need to know that God hasn’t given up. He is after His own. He doesn’t quickly forget his own as we did with our toys. He sends His messengers to reclaim what is His. Pray for the messengers. Pray that hearts will be softened to be reclaimed.
What I love about this verse is that the “not my peoples” were becoming “sons of the LIVING God.” Why is that an important distinction? The enemy had drawn God’s people to worship dead idols, idols that couldn’t do anything for them. So pray that your lost loved ones realize that idols are dead and useless. Pray that the blinders will be removed from their eyes to realize that God is the living true God—the God who can, the God that is.
YOU GO GRAMS!!
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