Reading for today
Old Testament: Hosea 11, 12, 13, 14
Thoughts from today’s reading
Hosea 14:1-2. The Lord was very clear with the children of Israel on what they should do when they had fallen into iniquity. The temple was set up as the place for man to meet with God and part of the activity there involved the sacrifices that were carried out for the cleansing of sin. The people were to present an animal which would be sacrificed for their sin. In these verses, we see a kind of shift, where God expect us to bring words for our exoneration, and our words are likened to a sacrifice. Hebrews 13:10-16 makes it clear that the shift from animal sacrifices to the sacrifices of our lips was made possible by the coming of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for all of mankind. Our words are powerful, and we should always be intentional in using them to administer our worship to God.
Prayer
1. Lord, we come to you today bringing the fruit of our lips to give you our worship. We say you are great and mighty, you are the first and the last, you are the saviour and deliverer, you have all power in your hand. We magnify your name and sing praises to you. Lord we thank you that you accept the words from our mouth as sacrifices which bring man into a right relationship with God. We thank you that when we confess our iniquity and sins, you are merciful to forgive us, cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and restore us into a right relationship with you. Thank you for accepting our words and thank you for accepting us through Christ Jesus, amen.