Wayne Roberson
Stumbling but not falling!
O Israel, return to the Lord your God,
For you have stumbled because of your iniquity;
[2] Take words with you,
And return to the Lord.
Say to Him,
"Take away all iniquity;
Receive us graciously,
For we will offer the sacrifices of our lips.
[3] Assyria shall not save us,
We will not ride on horses,
Nor will we say anymore to the work of our hands,
'You are our gods.'
For in You the fatherless finds mercy."
[4] "I will heal their backsliding,
I will love them freely,
For My anger has turned away from him.
[5] I will be like the dew to Israel
He shall grow like the lily,
And lengthen his roots like Lebanon
[6] His branches shall spread;
His beauty shall be like an olive tree,
And his fragrance like Lebanon
[7] Those who dwell under his shadow shall return;
They shall be revived like grain,
And grow like a vine.
Their scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon
[8] "Ephraim shall say,
'What have I to do anymore with idols?'
I have heard and observed him.
I am like a green cypress tree;
Your fruit is found in Me."
[9] Who is wise?
Let him understand these things.
Who is prudent?
Let him know them.
For the ways of the Lord are right;
The righteous walk in them,
But transgressors stumble in them.
When you Stumble
Who among us has not stumbled? When I think of stumbling I think of someone who is impaired trying to walk. They are unstable. Conversely, I think of someone who is too busy to pay attention to their path. Perhaps they are carrying something that blocks their view. They are impaired in a different way.
However, we can know the symbolic use of the word stumble in scripture surely refers to a compromised moral, value that results in sin.
Who among us can not relate to Israel
O Israel, return to the Lord your God,
For you have stumbled because of your iniquity;
Offer a Sacrifice of Praise
The author is quick to render a solution in verse two.
Take words with you,
And return to the Lord.
Say to Him,
"Take away all iniquity;
Receive us graciously,
For we will offer the sacrifices of our lips.
Recall with me this same principle in Hebrews 13:15
Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
Turn away from other gods
In verse three of Hosea Chapter 14 we begin to see the father of Israel
That is “other gods”.
We will not ride on horses,
Nor will we say anymore to the work of our hands,
'You are our gods.'
For in You the fatherless finds mercy."
In our world today, how often are we tempted to make little gods out of entertainment, our careers, our children, our hobbies, our monies or our possessions?
Surely, anything that is given a higher priority than our reasonable service of worship can become a god.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
He will heal your backsliding
BACKSLIDE to draw back or apostatize in matters of religion (Acts ; 2 Thes. 2:3; 1 Tim. 4:1 ). This may be either partial (Proverbs ) or complete (Hebrews 6:4-6; Hebrews -39 ). The apostasy may be both doctrinal and moral.
We understand one who is apostate to be one who forsakes his faith or religion to one degree or another.
How often we have casually referred to ourselves or one another as “backsliden”?
Verse 4 indicates it is a condition from which one needs to be healed. In fact, we are apparently in need of a healer. We must not be able to heal ourselves.
We read: Hosea 14:4
"I will heal their backsliding,
I will love them freely,
For My anger has turned away from him.
In addition to healing, the healer nourishes the one healed:
I will be like the dew to Israel
He shall grow like the lily,
And lengthen his roots like Lebanon
The healer makes the one healed beautiful:
His branches shall spread;
His beauty shall be like an olive tree,
And his fragrance like Lebanon
When the healed one abides with the healer he is revived:
Those who dwell under his shadow shall return;
They shall be revived like grain,
And grow like a vine.
Their scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon
Not only is the one healed nourished, beautiful and revived, he will grow, flourish, smell good and be pleasant.
Additionally, he will be wise and prudent.
What does it mean to be wise?
Holeman's Bible Dictionary
Real Wisdom Is the Fear of God
Three basic definitions of wisdom summarize the status of the field of study very well. Note that the first two of these definitions are quite secular in nature while the third is religious.
First, wisdom is considered by many to be simply the art of learning how to succeed in life. Apparently, ancient persons learned very early that there was an orderliness to the world in which they lived. They also learned that success and happiness came from living in accordance with that orderliness (Proverbs ). Second, wisdom is considered by some to be a philosophical study of the essence of life. Certainly, much of the Books of Job and Ecclesiastes seem to deal with just such existential issues of life (see particularly Job 30:29-31 ). Third, though the other definitions might include this, it seems that the real essence of wisdom is spiritual, for life is more than just living by a set of rules and being rewarded in some physical manner. Undoubtedly, in this sense wisdom comes from God (Proverbs 2:6). Thus, though it will involve observation and instruction, it really begins with God and one’s faith in Him as Lord and Savior (Proverbs 1:7; Job 28:28 ).
How does prudence compare to wisdom?
Dictionary definition:
The simplest definition I have found is: “discerning”. This makes me think of discerning spirits or being “street wise” in our world today.
Righteous walk in His way
Who is wise?
Let him understand these things.
Who is prudent?
Let him know them.
For the ways of the Lord are right;
The righteous walk in them,
But transgressors stumble in them.
Notice the phrase “The righteous walk in them”.
Are you righteous?
Holeman
Old Testament
The starting point is the Hebrew notion of God’s “righteousness.” The Hebrew mind did not understand righteousness to be an attribute of the divine, that is a characteristic of God’s nature. Rather, God’s righteousness is what God does in fulfillment of the terms of the covenant that God established with the chosen people, Israel Psalm 7:9 ; Jeremiah ; Daniel ). God’s righteousness was not a metaphysical property but that dimension of the divine experienced by those within the covenantal community.
New Testament
Greek philosophy understood righteousness to be one of the cardinal virtues, but New Testament authors show that they understood the word in terms of Old Testament thinking about covenantal relations. Human righteousness in the New Testament is absolute faith in and commitment to God (Matthew ; Romans 4:5; 1 Peter ). The one who in faith gives oneself to the doing of God’s will is righteous, doing righteousness, and reckoned righteous by God (James ). The focus of faith in God is the saving activity of God in Jesus Christ (Romans -26). The human-to-human dimension of righteousness observed in the Old Testament is present in New Testament thought (Phil. 1:3-11), but it seems less prominent, perhaps because of the importance of the New Testament concept of love.
The word righteous appears 248 times in the NKJV of the Bible. It leads us to believe it is important, does it not?
Dictionary:
If you look at your past you may quickly answer the question, Are you righteous? No!
Certainly if we compare ourselves to God's standard we do not feel righteous.
This is why God sent His son, Jesus Christ. And that is to make us righteous.
How? By faith in what His son accomplished for us on the cross of Calvary .
For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,
As a reminder or perhaps you have never heard of our condition without Christ.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach):
that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
Hearing this gospel truth, we realize our need to be made righteous.
Receiving the truth, by faith we put our trust in God to save us.
We are made “right” because when God sees us he sees us covered by the blood or Christ.
We know we are His because of our love for the brethren, that is other believers, the bride of Christ, the Church.
We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.
We are then compelled to live for Him motivated by His love which we naturally reciprocate.
Conclusion
Stumbling is about our Fellowship and not about our Relationship.
Now, I leave you with these words from Jude:
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
[25] To God our Savior,
Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power,
Both now and forever.
Amen.
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