Daily Devotion

Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst

Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.


Unrequited Love
When Israel was a child, I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son. As they called them, So they went from them; They sacrificed to the Baals, And burned incense to carved images. I taught Ephraim to walk, Taking them by their arms; But they did not know that I healed them. I drew them with gentle cords, With bands of love, And I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck. I stooped and fed them. He shall not return to the land of Egypt; But the Assyrian shall be his king, Because they refused to repent. And the sword shall slash in his cities, Devour his districts, And consume them, Because of their own counsels. My people are bent on back sliding from Me. Though they call to the Most High, None at all exalt Him. - Hosea 11:1-7 NKJV

God loved Israel as a father loves his son. Through Hosea, God compared his love for his people first to a betrayed husband, and then to a disappointed father. In context, Hosea's prophecy spoke to the fact that God had rescued his people from Egyptian bondage because of his great love, and that God would, for the same reason, send them to Assyria as punishment.

Matthew's gospel quoted the beginning of this passage in Hosea where God discussed what it was like raising his people from their childhood. Matthew applied the passage to the time Jesus' parents hid him in Egypt until Herod the Great was dead. Egypt and the bondage in slavery stood as a symbol of wickedness. How could Matthew apply this passage to Jesus? The New Testament authors used the exodus from Egypt as a picture of salvation. Even in the Old Testament, the prophets recognized that just as God had saved them from physical bondage, so also he had the power to rescue them from spiritual bondage. The exodus was Israel's salvation experience.

Israel's trip from Egypt, passing through the Red Sea, and receiving the commandments from God was paralleled in the life of Jesus' return from Egypt, being baptized in the Jordan by John, and then preaching about the kingdom. Raising children or saving humanity is not easy, but few worthwhile things are.