Cross Country and Hosea

Hosea is basically a track record of how Israel doesn't stay loyal to God and how God demonstrates his enduring love and patience. Throughout this time period, Israel would turn to the Lord and then turn away over and over again, but God still watched over His people.

It was during this time also that God punished Israel for turning from Him. He allowed their enemies to wipe hundreds of their number out. He ditched them in battle. It wasn't long before many Israelites thought that God had forsaken them.

But in Hosea 6:1-3, something hit me.

"Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear;"

Reading these verses got me thinking. See, cross country season started recently and we've been running a lot, close to 6 or 7 miles a day. And as anyone who has done a sport seriously will tell you, when you exercise hard, you get sore, and your body is weak and you're incapable for some time.

When you exercise, you tear muscle fibers in your body, which causes the soreness. But after they heal, they come back bigger and stronger than they were before. God has "torn us to shreds but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds." and we will come back stronger than we were before.

In verse 2 it says, "After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us." This got me thinking. For all the times I have been sore, the soreness begins to wear off on the third day, but I wasn't sure if it was just me or anything, so I looked it up.

Yahoo answers says that it usually takes 72 hours to recover from 1 hour of proper hard-work exercise.

Hmm.

About.com says soreness is generally worst within the first two days following the activity and subsides over the next few days.

Interesting.

The Bible says that Jesus died and remained in the grave for two days but on the third day came back to life.

Huh. It might just be me looking too hard for meaning in this verse, but the whole deal about them being REVIVED after TWO DAYS and on the THIRD DAY being RESTORED that they may LIVE in his presence seems a bit familiar.

But not only does this passage tell us about how God will heal us, it also tells us that God will appear and meet us.

"As surely as the sun rises, he will appear;"

This passage doesn't just tell us that God will help us, but that when we return to him, he will meet us. He will heal us.

When God puts you through trials, like he did the Israelites, it is to strengthen you and sharpen you, so that you will come out of it bigger and better than you were before.

But sometimes God puts you through trials, like he did the Israelites, to bring you back to him.

See, Israel had pretty much come to the conclusion that God had abandoned them. God didn't care about his chosen people anymore, or whatever. What didn't cross their minds was maybe God was putting them through these trials to help them realize that they CAN'T DO IT ON THEIR OWN. So the only way to resolve this problem would be to DRAW NEAR TO HIM.

It's kind of crazy, but when I'm sore, I'm quite happy with myself. It means that my body has taken the kind of beating that will make it stronger. That's an accomplishment to me. I know that when the tissues are sewn back together, I'll be able to do greater things because I'm bigger and better than I was before.

And I guess I need to start applying this concept to my real life. When I'm having trouble in my life, I need to thank God and praise him for the hardships, because I know it is through this that I draw closer to him, and it is through this that my faith will grow stronger.

And because my faith is stronger, I'll be able to do greater things.