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four confessions

Hosea 14:1-3 (JDV)

Hosea 14:1 Return, O Israel, to Yahveh your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
Hosea 14:2 Take with you words and return to Yahveh; say to him, “Take away all iniquity; accept what is good, and we will pay with bulls the vows of our lips.
Hosea 14:3 Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses; and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’ to the work of our hands. In you the orphan finds mercy.”

four confessions

Hosea urged his people to confess four things.

He urged them to confess their inability to save themselves. They had fashioned idols made of wood, stone and metal. Then they bowed down to those idols and called them their gods. So, in verse 3, Hosea instructs his people to say “We will never again say, ‘Our gods’ to what our own hands have made. For only you will show compassion to Orphan Israel!”

He urged them to confess that they had trusted the wrong things. In Hosea’s time, the political superpower was Assyria. Hosea tells his people to come to God and confess “Assyria cannot save us; will not ride war horses.” God wanted his people to admit that if they were going to be delivered, it was not going to happen by aligning themselves with a more powerful nation. They had to align themselves with the most powerful God.

Hosea urged them to confess faith in God’s ability to forgive them completely. He told them to ask God to forgive them. They were to ask for a return to the position they held before they rebelled.

Hosea urged them to confess the desire to return to proper worship. They promised to offer God the praise he deserved.

True repentance begins with these four confessions. When you are ready to repent, you are ready to acknowledge that you cannot save yourself. You have tried other ways, and they just got you more lost. But you believe that God can save you completely. One cross fits all. Not only do you dare to ask God for help, you are committed to acknowledging his salvation for the rest of your life by regular worship.