Hosea 6

It is so hard to comprehend the love of God for His children. We want to understand Him through our feelings and emotions and it does not and will not work. If you have been touched by Him you know how fully He exists in the lives of those who put their trust In Him. Someone is unfaithful to us and we want nothing to do with them. We are unfaithful to God and He wants us to return to Him. He only wants mercy and goodness
for us. He chastises those He loves because He wants us to live with Him for eternity and He is holy so we must seek to be holy. He heals our wounds and when everyone else has abandoned us He stays with us and holds us in His arms. He is beyond our wildest hopes or dreams for finding that special someone who will love us totally and want us for eternity. We need to return to our Father, seek His ways and do all that we can to bring back those who are lost or driven away by sin. Do you love Me? Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Then feed My sheep. May we never say that we belong to Him and turn our backs on those that He loves. For He so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whomsoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. He wants that no one perish, no one! Who are we to disagree with the maker of the universe?

Come, and let us return to the Lord;

For He has torn, but He will heal us;

He has stricken, but He will bind us up.

3 Let us know,

Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord.

His going forth is established as the morning;

He will come to us like the rain,

Like the latter and former rain to the earth.

Impenitence of Israel and Judah

4 "O Ephraim, what shall I do to you?

O Judah, what shall I do to you?

For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud,

And like the early dew it goes away.

6 For I desire mercy and not sacrifice,

And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

7 "But like men they transgressed the covenant;

There they dealt treacherously with Me.

10 I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel:

There is the harlotry of Ephraim;

Israel is defiled.

11 Also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed for you,

When I return the captives of My people.

The NKJV explains it this way: After being torn by the divine lion the people would come to their senses and seek to renew their allegiance to the Lord. When God's people truly repent, God is eager to restore His relationship with them. God's restored presence and blessings would be like the rain that waters and renews the earth. The latter rains of Israel came in the spring and caused the plants to grow. The former rains came in the autumn and softened the ground for plowing and sowing. Knowledge of God does not refer to mere head knowledge, but to a genuine recognition of God's authority that produces obedience to His commandments.