Till they acknowledge their offence

I will return again to My place Till they acknowledge their offense. Then they will seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.” – Hosea 5v15

Sin is a terrible thing. One of the most terrible aspects of it is its appeal. It can give great gratification for the moment. It can give great temporary pleasure. Everybody else is doing it. Everybody else wants us to be like them. It seems like we can get away with it while we are sinning.

Despite all of God’s efforts to show His love and faithfulness to the people they continued on their way. They would not come back to Him. God’s love never stops. His compassion doesn’t fail. He shows His mercy every day.

But there comes a point where God allows people to go on in their sin in order to see the consequences. He did that with the man in sexual sin in the church in Corinth. We also see a picture of it in the story of the prodigal son.

When the prodigal son went off into his life of sin the father did not chase him down. He let him make his choices.

But one thing is clear; the father did not give up on his son. When the son returned and confessed his sin the father was waiting with open arms.

Here God is talking about pulling back and letting the people go their way. But they can be assured of one thing – God is there and waiting for them to return to Him.

Living in sin is never right – but praise God that He is a loving father who waits for our confession, repentance, and return.