Hosea 14:3 — In You the orphan finds mercy.
An orphan in biblical times was a fatherless child. The Hebrew word for “orphan” comes from a root word that means “to be lonely.” Without God as our Father, our souls are vulnerable to loneliness and emptiness.
A father’s role is to bring a sense of safety to his family. A father provides for his wife and children and protects their home. If a person has no relationship with God the Father, he or she lacks spiritual provisions and protection. The soul of a spiritual orphan is a gaping void that cannot be filled by anything other than Father God. When we come to Christ for salvation, we no longer are orphans, for we gain a heavenly Father!
Hosea wrote that in God the orphan finds mercy. The Hebrew word used for “mercy” in Hosea 14:3 speaks of the kind of tender feelings that a parent has for a child. This love is like the affection of a father who cradles a child in his arms or the nurture of a mother who carries a child in her womb. There is the physical closeness of the parent’s body to the child’s body that lets the child know, “I love you because you are mine.”
Today I pray that the arms of God will embrace you and draw you close to His heart of divine love. I pray that you will sense the warmth of His presence and that any loneliness you may have been feeling will melt away. You are God’s beloved child, and His mercy and compassion will hold you all throughout this day and night.
01/05/2025 Devotional
"If a person has no relationship with God the Father, he or she lacks spiritual provisions and protection."
Genesis 11:6-8 NLT
[6] “Look!” he said. “The people are united, and they all speak the same language. After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them! [7] Come, let’s go down and confuse the people with different languages. Then they won’t be able to understand each other.” [8] In that way, the Lord scattered them all over the world, and they stopped building the city.
God created the world, and when people disobeyed Him and did whatever they wanted, He regretted it and eventually swept them all away with a flood. And when He saw…