The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 387

Il, MAN 'MAY FIND IN HIMSELF MANY AND SUFFJOIENT BEABONB FOR nEPENTANOB, Hi~ interests demand, hie conscience enjoins, hie beat feelings urge, that he should tum unto God. Hie present happiness and hie future prospects are imperilled by his r<'maining estranged from hie God. Ill. IN Gon HIMSELF, AND IN HIS REVELATION, ARE MANY GROUNDS FOR REPENT• ANClE. 1. First of all there is the fact that he is our God. "Turn thou to thy God." How just and proper, then, that, instead of looking away from him, men should look towards him! 2. It must be considered that all our happiness is bound up with his f,wour 11.ud fellowship. To turn to him is to turn to the light of the sun, to the source of life. 3. The Divine directions and promises furnish the most persuasive motive and tl.Je most authoritative justification for turning unto God.-T. Yer. 6.-" Wait on thy God." It is very instructive that the prophet in this pa.ssage admonished, not only to repentance, reformation, and righteousness, but also to " waiting on God." Many of the effects of repentance, and especially the moral, sub- jective effects, might be felt immediately, but there were other consequences which might probably be delayed. Hence the admonition of the text. I. IT 16 HONOURING TO Gon THAT HIS PEOPLE SHOULD WAIT UPON HUI. It is not for man to dictate to his }faker, to seek to prescribe when, how, and where God should intervene upon behalf of a suppliant. His wisdom is not to be questioned; his good- ness is not to be impugned. II. IT IS PROFITABLE TO Gon's PEOPLE TO WAIT UPON DIM. Thus faith and patience me cultivated-virtues which are most serviceable to Christians, 11.Z'd which are a true ornament to the godly character. III. IT IS WELL TO WAIT UPON Gon OONTINUALLY. Remissness in so doing is to be condemned; weariness in waiting is dangerous. Just at the moment when the Helper draws nigh the needy soul may be in slumber or may be otherwise engaged. Waiting means watching. IV. GoD's PEOPLE CANNOT WAIT FOB HDl IN VAIN, They may wait long, but their waiting shall be rewarded. Then shall they sing aloud for joy, "This is our God; we have waited for him." Wait for the harvest, and you sh&ll reap. Wait for the mom- ing, and the sun sh&ll rise upon your expectant souL-T. Ver. 9.-Happiness in reserve. The mixture of promise with threat is one of the remarkable and instructive characteristics of these prophecies. In the midst of wrath God remembers mercy. The bright lining of the cloud cheers the beholder when he is downcast and troubled. Hosea. is commissioned to assure Israel that upon their repent- ance they shall rejoice before God in the glad Feast of Tabernacles, which they shall celebrate to his glory. I. TBUE BAPPO'EBS CONSIBTB DI THE BEIIEIIBBANCE AND OELEBBATION OF Gon'e M:EBCIF.S. The feaat of Tabernacles observed by the Jews was a festival in which the nation commemorated the goodness of Jehovah, both in supplying their wants by means of the harvei,1, a.nd in delivering them as a nation from the power of Egypt. Now we as Christians have even greater mercies to acknowledge; God has given us the Bread of life, and he has rescued us from the power of sin and Sa.tan. It behoves us, the.-efore, to cherish gratitude to God the Saviour for all the great works he has wrought for us, and for all the loving-kindness with which he has treated us. IL THE PBOSPECT OF SUCH HAPPINESS IB FITTED TO CHEER THE HE.ABT IN TIMES OF so&11ow A?."'D TBOUBLE. If this be the wilderness through which we pass, we are j,,urneying to the land of possession and repose. If this be the darksome night whose Ehadows gather round us, we hope soon to Bee the streaks of the coming day. Let the discouraged and haraeeed Christian learn to say with the psalmist, "Why a.rt thou f:ioi!t down, 0 my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for ! .shall yet praise him." lll. THE FAITHFUL PROMISES OF THE ETERNAL Al!BUBE A HAPPY FUTURE TO THOSE WHO TB.UST AND LOVE Hlll. The religion of Christ places the golden age in the future. 'fhe Christian has always something blessed and glorious to which to look for~~rd. His dwelling-place is above. And he has ever before him the happy and inspmng prospect of sharing in "the marriage supper of the J.amb."-T. on. X11. 1-14.) THE BOOK OF HOSEA. 389