I have been reading the book of Hosea this past week and have started a blog post on it but this cannot wait. In Hosea, chapter 11, God spoke through Hosea,
For I am God, and not man,
The Holy One in your midst.
The commentary by David Guzik (Enduring Word) had something so wonderfully concise on this statement. We often view God as someone on our human level with the same emotions and heart of man, but that is far from the truth. God is so much better than we are and so much more loving and forgiving…
Here is what Guzik says on this passage of Scripture:
The longsuffering, forgiveness, and compassion of the Lord toward His people seems unbelievable until we recognize that He is not man, but God. His love and forgiveness are of a different order. There are many differences between God and man in the matter of forgiveness.
- Man cannot hold back his anger very long
- Man cannot bear with others when he is tired, stressed, or annoyed
- Man will not reconcile if the person who offended him is a person of bad character
- Man is often only willing to be reconciled if the offending party craves forgiveness and makes the first move
- Man is often only willing to be reconciled if the offending party will never again do the wrong
- Man, when he does reconcile, does not lift the former offender to place of high status and partnership
- Man, when he is wronged, does not bear all the penalty for the wrong done
- Man, when he attempts reconciliation, will not continue if he is rejected
- Man will not restore an offender without a period of probation
- Man will not love, adopt, honor, and associate with one who has wronged him
- Man will not trust someone who has formerly wronged them
I love how concise Guzik is in his commentary. He teaches so much but makes it very applicable to our lives. If you have time, check him out. He has written commentary and audio commentary on his site.