Only God Can Heal Us

Note from today’s Bible reading: Hosea 1-8

Hosea was told to warn the people of God about the calamity that was coming: “Blow the horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah. Sound an alarm at Beth-aven” (Hosea 5:8). Because of their sin, “Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke,” and God said that on Judah “I will pour out my wrath like water” (Hosea 5:9-10).

However, it is interesting that both Ephraim (the northern kingdom) and Judah (the southern kingdom) saw that trouble was coming. Unfortunately, they did not go to the right place for help: “When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to King Jareb. But he is unable to heal you, or to cure you of your wound” (Hosea 5:13).

Too often, when sinful behavior leads to trouble, people treat the symptoms rather than the root cause. They seek help from others to deal with their troubles, yet they forget God who can forgive us of our sins and guide us in the path that would help us to avoid the negative consequences of sin in the first place.

So remember that only God can heal us. When we sin, we need to go to Him for forgiveness. When we face trouble in life, we must go to His word to see what to do and how to handle the challenge before us.