YET!

⁹ Then the Lord said, “Call him Lo-Ammi, for you are not my people, and I am not your God. ¹⁰ “Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore…

Hosea 1:9-10a (NIV)

Mom’s correction, discipline, punishment never ended with the correction, discipline or punishment. After the spanking she’d leave me in my room to consider my behavior. I always felt rotten. It was the end of the world. I had let mom down. Would she love me anymore? Would she wash my clothes anymore? Would she make my favorite dinner for me: chicken and dumplings? Will she ever look at me with love again? I had fallen from grace hard. It was a horrible feeling. That wait seemed like forever. It’s almost as if she waited so I felt the sting a bit longer. But eventually she’d return. She’d come with love and calm words (different then our earlier encounter). She’d have the, “Do you know why I had to punish you?” talk with me. I’d say yes. She’d hug me and all is right as rain.

I love that single word: “YET…” in today’s verse. It’s the word of hope. “Discipline was coming…yet…” “I’ve disowned you as My people…yet…” “I’m no longer showing love…yet…” “I’m breaking your bow…yet…” Such is the nature of God: Light springs forth out of darkness; joy out of sorrow; mercy out of punishment; life out of death.

Punishment has a shelf life. It doesn’t last forever. Eventually God sees that we’ve learned our lesson, He sees our repentant heart and as Jonah said correctly: “I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.” Jonah 4:2

In God there’s the perfect mix of justice and mercy, holiness and love. Hope…always plenty of hope.

Questions to consider:

Why is God’s mercy so important to us?

Being that God’s mercy is so readily available to us, is this something we should take for granted? Why or why not?

How should our response be to the mercy of God?