Hosea 14.3c In you the orphan finds mercy. (ESV)
For some reason my heart has been softened this weekend.
My usual sarcastic, cynicism has ebbed and I find myself wiping away little
tears. It started out Friday night when our son went off bike riding with some
friends, and my wife informed me that one of the friends had epilepsy and had
been saved by another mutual friend of our son’s from drowning in a pool where
he’d had a seizure in the pool. I teared up at the thought of that.
And then this past Sunday was our 20th annual
God and Country Rally in our city park. Several of the churches get together
for a time of worship and (okay) rah-rah for the old red, white, and blue. Usually
it’s a fun event with lots of singing (National Anthem, America the Beautiful,
and such) but this time I felt a profound sense of the presence of God, and
again, wiped away the tears.
It might be because I’ve been reading in Hosea for the
past few days. Hosea is a poignant prophecy from the get-go and it just doesn’t
let up. For instance, today was a reading in chapters 13 and 14 where God has
simply washed His hands of their idolatry and spiritual adultery. It’s sad
watching God watch His people go. It’s like watching your own kids go off into
their dreams and disappear under the surface; it can get weepy.
And so today, it was no surprise that I ran across this
little phrase in Hosea: In [You] the
orphan finds mercy. Across the world orphans are a dime a dozen. Across the
world orphans are the refuse of adult society. Orphans are the dregs of apathy:
I may have brought you into this world
but you’re gonna have to find your own way out…
A friend of mine was an orphan and was raised in the
usual manner of orphans: multiple foster care situations and frequent physical beatings.
I sometimes think orphans are the punching bags for frustrated adults: It rolls downhill little buddy and it stop
with you! So, when I ran across
these six little words in the midst of the vastness of the Bible and at the sad
ending of Hosea’s prophecy, I teared up. Orphans for the most part don’t mean
crap to others – they’re just another mouth to feed.
But today I saw a ray of hope: In [You] the orphan finds mercy. Orphans need mercy and they need
it from Someone who’ll really deliver. It doesn’t pay to burden others with
whining about the things only God can fix. God has mercy on orphans. And maybe
the ones who receive His mercy are the ones who’ll, like my friend, grow up
into merciful adults. This world cries out for mercy.
Jesus said, Blessed
are the merciful for they will receive mercy. (Matthew 5.7) Tears or not,
this world is a merciless place unless someone is merciful – and Hosea said, “In
You (in God) the orphan, the refuse, the forgotten, the ignored, the beaten,
the fearful, the sick, the lame, the infirm, the abused find mercy.
Lord, You are merciful, may I be merciful as You are merciful
and I ask to be used by You to impart mercy to ones who don’t (or can’t because
of their circumstances) believe it exists… Amen.
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