Encourage One Another
Scripture Reading: Hosea 6:1-3
I few days ago, I mentioned that one of the interpretative challenges of Hosea 6:1 is knowing who is speaking. Is this Hosea or the Jewish people generally who are saying, “Come, let us return to the LORD…?” It might be the prophet standing before the people and waving them forward to follow him in repentance and return so that they would experience revival. It might also be that this is meant to be read as the Jewish people speaking to each other this way, another, prodding each other along toward a return to God.
It might be a Hebrews 10:25 thing (“encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near”), or it might be a Philippians 4:2 thing (“I entreat Euodia, and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord”). It might be a group effort or the work of an individual spiritual leader. In the end, we can’t say for sure which way we are to read it. And that’s okay because either is fine and both ways of applying it are needed.
The most hopeful and tenuous moments of spiritual life are the days and nights spent in the valley. It is there that people choose for or against God. It is there, standing before the door of hope, that people choose either to enter into hope by faith and enter into the Light of Christ, or remain in the darkness of unbelief and sin.
This is where we can help each other. We can follow the example of Hosea 6:1 and exhort one another in the faith. We can give hope to others that the God who has torn can heal, and the One who struck us down will bind us up.
It is not enough to pray and hope that others will return to the Lord. Yes, pray and believe, but take that next step and loving exhort and encourage one another to return to the Lord.
