Hosea 11: God's Amazing Kindness

Have you ever felt the heartbreak of watching someone you love walk away? In this deeply moving exploration of Hosea 11, we discover God's raw emotional response to Israel's rejection—a divine heartbreak that mysteriously coexists with unconditional love.

The chapter unfolds like a parent's memoir, with God reminiscing about Israel's early years: "When Israel was a child, I loved him and called my son out of Egypt." We feel the tenderness as God recalls teaching Israel to walk, leading them by hand. Then comes the painful turn—despite this nurturing relationship, Israel repeatedly rejects God, pursuing false idols and empty worship. The divine response is stunning: "My heart is torn within me and my compassion overflows." These aren't the words of a distant, emotionless deity, but of a loving parent devastated by a child's rejection.

What makes this passage so remarkable is what happens next. Just when divine justice should strike, mercy interrupts. "How can I give up on you, Israel?" God asks, revealing that divine love operates beyond human limitations. Where human relationships often end after repeated betrayal, God's commitment persists. The message becomes crystal clear for us today—no matter how far we've strayed, the door home remains unlocked. As we explore in this episode, "You can't out-sin the grace of God."

If you've experienced the pain of rejection or the joy of reconciliation, this episode will resonate deeply. It challenges us to consider both sides of love—the vulnerability that leads to heartbreak and the courage that keeps reaching out despite rejection. Subscribe to Bible Breakdown for more insights that bridge ancient wisdom with our daily struggles and triumphs.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Bible Breakdown
• 1:44 God's Love for Young Israel
• 4:39 Israel's Unfaithfulness and God's Response
• 6:59 The Door Is Always Unlocked
• 9:40 Prayer and Final Thoughts

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today. Hosea, chapter 11,. Today's title is God's Amazing Kindness. God's Amazing Kindness, and I don't know if you've ever done this before, but they used to have these Pixar movies and right before the Pixar movies there'd be those little like mini videos. And there was this mini video that was like three to five minutes long and by the end of it I have to admit, listen, you can, you can whatever. I was like a puddle, like I was like it's like crying. I was like this is ridiculous, I'm crying over a three minute video, but it was just so powerful and today's one of those chapters. So I don't care how manly you are or how whatever you are, get your tissues ready, because it is beautiful and brutal at the same time as the soap opera continues to turn. So if you know what I'm talking about, you know what I'm talking about. Get your Bibles open, get them ready. Hosea, chapter 11. While you're doing that, make sure you take just a moment to like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast, make sure to leave us a five-star review on the podcast and, as always, make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown Discussion on Facebook. They're doing an amazing job there of just creating this community of people that we are rallying around God's Word. I can't think of a better reason to rally. I mean, there's people rallying for so many different reasons. What better to rally around than to know God by knowing His word, because that truly is the eternal blessing that we get to have? And so, once again, if you have your Bibles and you open up with me to Hosea, chapter 11, it is part of what's considered the minor prophets and, if you remember, they're minor, not because they're less than, but because they didn't write as much. I mean, you got people like Ezekiel, isaiah, jeremiah they love their pen. They had so much to say. Hosea he gets it done in 14 chapters. He's like I'm good, all right, and the overall goal of Hosea is God's reckless love. It's the reckless love that God has for us, and we're going to see this in today's chapter.

Speaker 1: 2:22

And what I was telling you about a second ago is I remember I was watching this Pixar little mini deal and what it was is it was this random thing, but the point was is, when this little baby was being raised by its mom, it loved its mom. It was close to its mom. It was just like this you could tell there was this close relationship. That's the way it was intended, right. And then, as they got older, mom is there, he's got older, mom is there. And then, when the baby gets to be a teenager, it does what some teenagers do and decided that it was independent and it didn't want to be close to mom and it just kind of turned away from mom. It kind of broke mom's heart. But then, as you see mom, she's just depressed and dejected, dad can't console her, and all this. And then a little bit later, you know the, the now grown child, comes home and gives mom this big hug and I'm sitting there just like, like, like, half squacking, just like that's, that's just beautiful. I mean just just being ridiculous.

Speaker 1: 3:24

I was getting so emotional about it. But why I was so emotional is because if you have children, you know how. That is right. They're going to get independent. And that was kind of the point was is they're going? The point of raising children is raising future adults, right, like you're raising people who can take care of themselves, but it's still hard, right? Well, that is not quite this, but that is close to this, because what is going to be amazing about Hosea 11 is it's going to talk about how God was with the nation of Israel when they were a new nation, that at some point they didn't think they needed God anymore. And as I was thinking about this, I was thinking about how beautiful the reckless love of God is. Because, I'm going to be honest with you, how many times have we been friends with people and said, hey, man, listen, you ain't got time for me, I ain't got time for you, but God continues to reach out to us. So, anyway, let's read this together. Just hear the love of God as we read this together. You ready?

Speaker 1: 4:19

Hosea, chapter 11, verse 1, says this when Israel was a child, in other words, a young nation, I called my son out of Egypt. Pause, by the way, in the book of Matthew, when Jesus goes down to Egypt to escape Herod, killing all the firstborn children, and then he comes back from Egypt, they use this scripture as the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Messiah coming back out of Egypt. Just throwing that out there. So let's read that again. Hosea 11, verse 1, says this when Israel was a child, I loved him and I called my son out of Egypt. But the more I called to him, the farther he moved from me, offering sacrifices to the images of Baal and burning incense to idols. I myself taught Israel how to walk, leading him along by the hand, he says, to feed him.

Speaker 1: 5:23

But since my people refuse to return to me, they will return to Egypt and will be forced to serve Assyria. War will swirl through their cities, their enemies will crash through their gates and they will destroy them, trapping them in their own evil plans. For my people are determined to desert me. They call me the most high, but they don't truly honor me. Oh, how can I give up on you, israel? How can I let you go? How can I destroy you, like Adma, or demolish you like Zeboim? My heart is torn within me and my compassion overflows. No, I will not unleash my fierce anger. I will not completely destroy Israel, for I am God and not a mere mortal. I am the Holy One living among you and I will not destroy you. For someday the people will follow me. I, the Lord, will roar like a lion, and when I roar, my people return trembling from the west Like a flock of birds. They will come from Egypt trembling like doves as they return from Assyria and I will bring them home again, says the Lord. Israel surrounds me with lies and deceit, but Judah still obeys God and is faithful to the Holy One.

Speaker 1: 6:45

Wow, do you see how God is saying that? When they were young, I took care of them, but as I got older they didn't think they needed me anymore. And man, it hurt. I did all these things for them, I helped them, I did all these things and they turned away from me. But then he's saying but I can't give up, I can't, I can't give up, I can't give up on them. And do you know why that blesses my heart? Is number one is because I don't know about you, but I need that kind of grace because I'm going to mess up that many times. You know I, I need, I need God to not give up on me.

Speaker 1: 7:18

But you know why else that blesses me? Is because if you've been a Christian for very long and you've discovered the goodness of God at some point, you look around at your friends and your neighbors and you want them to experience the goodness of God, and there's almost nothing more heartbreaking than when you see someone who has experienced the love of God but yet they've turned away and they've walked away or they've gotten cold in their relationship with Him. And when you see that, it breaks your heart. But do you know what I love? It's just like this God's not going to give up on them, no matter what happens, no matter where they go, no matter how far they walk away, god says I'm not going to give up, I am not going to let them go, I'm going to continue to call after them. And all they got to do is turn around. And they can always come on home again.

Speaker 1: 8:05

It's the idea of the door is always unlocked. All you got to do is walk through it. Maybe that's you today. Maybe you would find yourself, maybe you'd be honest and you would say that you have walked away from God. Can I tell you, the door is always open. God is always close. You can never do too much. You can never go too far. You can't out sin the grace of God. You can't out sin his goodness. That's how much he loves you.

Speaker 1: 8:26

God's word says, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that, whoever believes in him, they would not perish but have eternal life. And God did not go through all that trouble sending his Son into the world to point an accusing finger and tell the world how bad it was. He came to help and to put the world right again. You know what that means. That means he's still looking for you. Come on home to Jesus. Let's pray together right now.

Speaker 1: 8:52

God, thank you so much for your unfailing, reckless love. I'm thankful for your amazing kindness. I pray we'll never take it for granted, but if we have salvation we'll realize that the greatest miracle we could ever hope for we've already received, and maybe somebody today will hear your voice as you call and they'll repent of their sins and turn their life over to you. In Jesus' name, we pray Amen. You know what God's Word says in Hosea 6, verse 6, he's saying to us. He says I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings. God wants a rich, real relationship with us. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Hosea, chapter 12.