Listen

In their distress, they will beg for my favor:

“Come, let’s return to the Lord; for it is he who has injured us and will heal us; he has struck us down, but he will bind us up.

“After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, so that we may live before him.

“Let’s know, let’s press on to know the Lord; whose appearing is as certain as the dawn; who will come to us like the showers, like the spring rains that give drink to the earth.”

Hosea 5:15b-6:3

Think

The beginning of today’s Scripture might bring up more questions than answers. Does “he has struck us down” mean God causes our physical or emotional injuries? And what about this promise to heal us when sometimes healing doesn’t come in the way we hoped, or at all? I wholeheartedly do not believe God causes the painful things that happen to us, but that doesn’t make them easier to live through.

In the midst of all those questions, the last verse grounds us in God’s presence. It doesn’t promise easy answers, but it does remind us that, like the ongoing rhythms of creation around us, God will always be with us. Whether it feels like the sun is shining brightly on you today or you can barely tell it’s there through the clouds. Whether you feel refreshed and lively right now or dried up like it hasn’t rained in weeks. “As certain as the dawn,” God is big enough to hold our questions, and you are not alone.

Allison Wehrung

Pray

Lord, be with me in my questions.

Help me to recognize your creative work in the earth’s seasons, and to see them as a reminder that you are also with me in the seasons of my own life.

Amen.

Go

We come to you, O loving Lord,
in our distress and pain,
in trust that through our nights and days,
your grace will heal, sustain.

Herman G. Stuempfle Jr. in “We Come to You for Healing, Lord” (2013)