Today's Scripture
God, The Mother Hosea 11: 1 – 4
When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
2 The more I called them,
the more they went from me;
they kept sacrificing to the Baals,
and offering incense to idols.
3 Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
I took them up in my arms;
but they did not know that I healed them.
4 I led them with cords of human kindness,
with bands of love.
I was to them like those
who lift infants to their cheeks.
I bent down to them and fed them.
RJ's Devotion
What the passage says
V. 1. God loved the Israelites and called them out of Egypt.
V. 2 The more God called them to stay with God, the people went away.
V. 3-4 They still do not know how God’s tender care has always been around them.
What does the passage mean to me/us?
We cannot confine God into a human form.
We do see how Jesus called God, ‘my father.’
Jesus did so, due to the influence of the patriarchal culture. It is certain that God has a characteristic of a strong father. It is also the reason why, in my prayers, I am used to calling God ‘하나님 아버지’, which means ‘Father God.’
However, what I am comfortable in calling God cannot determine God’s gender nor characteristic.
Because God is not a human. God is the Creator. God cannot be confined in our human understanding.
We also have to see that there is a characteristic of God who cares for us, close to a mother figure.
That is how we can come toward God, to be in God’s embrace.
The time we spend with God should be filled with the love and embrace we can never experience the world.
The most important question should be us, wanting to know and understand better.
Prayer
Lord, we want to know you more. Reveal to us your being, so we will be overwhelmed by your presence, every day.
In Christ Name, we pray, AMEN
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