Hosea 6:3 “So let us know; let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; and He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth.”
Hebrews 3:6, 14 “Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end. . . . For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end.”
Observation: Twice in this chapter of Hebrews we are presented with the same phrase, “Hold fast . . . until the end.” In verse 6, we are to hold fast our confidence in Christ and the boast of our hope. In verse 14 we are to hold fast the beginning of our assurance. In Hosea, an apostate Israel cried out for restoration to the God they had abandoned. They did not “hold fast” and had lost fellowship with God. God was here described as one whose presence is as certain as the dawn, as refreshing as spring rain on a receptive earth, yet Israel was far from experiencing Him like that.
Application: The book of Hosea is a powerful prophetic picture of the devastation and utter purposelessness of a life that has rejected Christ. To be separated from Him by our overt rejection of His precepts brings only the awful harvest of a life lived aimlessly. That is followed by God’s eternal punishment. But not all rejection is overt. Paul, in Hebrews, reminds us that our spiritual condition is the direct result of choices we make. The choice to hold firm until the end surely suggests the antithesis. It’s possible to go wobbly, choosing to turn from wholehearted pursuit of Him, leaving us with what is called in verse 12 an “evil, unbelieving” heart.
Apparently there is no middle ground we might occupy. We are either holding fast, or we have an evil heart. That’s worth thinking about today as I make moment-by-moment choices as to how I spend time and money. I suspect that the process of going wobbly is a gradual thing; since my heart is where my treasure is (see Matt. 6:19), exerting intentional focus on things of eternal value becomes supremely important.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, I cry out for Your help today, that what I think about, what I speak, what I spend time and money on, would draw me closer to You. I choose, Lord, to hold fast those things You value. Give me Your discernment, Lord, to know what those things are, and what they are not. As Israel cried, water my heart today. Cause my heart to be receptive soil for Your refreshing.