MONTHLY NEWSLETTER With Rev. Dr. C. A. ONITIRI (March 2023 Edition)

Greetings to you dearly beloved of God and welcome to this beautiful month of March, the third month in the year 2023. May the Lord bless us all and keep us safe under the Shadow of His Wings in Jesus name.

Our Scripture for this month is taken from the Book of Hosea, HOSEA 1v7.
“BUT I WILL HAVE MERCY UPON THE HOUSE OF JUDAH, AND SAVE THEM BY THE LORD THEIR GOD, AND WILL NOT SAVE THEM BY BOW, NOR BY SWORD, NOR BY BATTLE, BY HORSES NOR BY HORSEMEN” KJV

Our THEME for the month:
“PROMISE OF MERCY AND DELIVERANCE “

INTRODUCTION

Hosea, whose name means“SALVATION” is identified in v1 as the son of Beeri. In v2 God commanded him to take “a wife of whoredoms” to illustrate Israel’s spiritual infidelity to God.
The name of his wife was Gomar, the daughter of Diblaim v3.Gomar was a woman with a reputation. After their marriage, she became unfaithful leaving her home and giving herself over to prostitution.Despite this, Hosea was still devoted to her and took her back as his wife according to the command of God.(Chpt.3)

WHO WAS HOSEA?

Hosea was a prophet to the Northern kingdom of Israel from 753-715BC. During the reign of Jeroboam 11, the Northern Kingdom had prospered materially but had decayed spiritually.The people were greedy and had indeed adopted the moral behaviour and idolatrous religion of the surrounding Canaanites.

The role of Hosea was to show how the people of the Northern Kingdom had been unfaithful to God, their “husband” and provider and had married themselves to Baal and the gods of Canaan.He warned that unless they repented of their sin and turned back to God, they were headed for destruction.

OUR SCRIPTURE

In the Scripture for the month, HOSEA 1v7 quoted above, God said He would personally rescue the people of Judah from their enemies with no help from their weapons or armies.
Remember Hezekiah’s prayer in Isaiah 37v16-20?
Remember also Senacherib’s defeat in Isaiah 37v36?
“THEN THE ANGEL OF THE LORD WENT FORTH, AND SMOTE IN THE CAMP OF THE ASSYRIANS A HUNDRED AND FOURSCORE AND FIVE THOUSAND: AND WHEN THEY AROSE IN THE MORNING,BEHOLD ,THEY WERE ALL DEAD CORPSES.”KJV

In Psalm 44 which is an appeal for deliverance,we read in vv4-7 thus:
v4THOU ART MY KING,O GOD
COMMAND DELIVERANCE FOR JACOB.

v5THROUGH THEE WILL WE PUSH DOWN OUR ENEMIES:THROUGH THY NAME WILL WE TREAD THEM UNDER THAT RISE UP AGAINST US.

v6FOR I WILL NOT TRUST IN MY BOW,NEITHER SHALL MY SWORD SAVE ME.

v7BUT THOU HAST SAVED US FROM OUR ENEMIES, AND HAST PUT THEM TO SHAME THAT HATED US.”KJV

In our nation now, we are going through what transpired in the Northern kingdom during the reign of Jeroboam11. There is greed , there is spiritual decay, injustice, running after other gods and being grossly unfaithful to God, just as Gomar was unfaithful to Hosea.

You see, God’s relationship with Israel is frequently compared to a marriage contract eg Isaiah 54v5
“BUT THY MAKER IS THINE HUSBAND;THE LORD OF HOST IS HIS NAME AND THY REDEEMER,THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL;THE GOD OF THE WHOLE EARTH SHALL HE BE CALLED.” KJV

And in Jeremiah 3v14 we read:
“TURN, O BACKSLIDING CHILDREN SAITH THE LORD; FOR I AM MARRIED UNTO YOU; AND I WILL TAKE YOU ONE OF A CITY, AND TWO OF A FAMILY, AND I WILL BRING YOU TO ZION.” KJV.

In v2(b) Israel’s “departing from the Lord” in order to worship idols was treated as spiritual infidelity and prostitution.Hosea’s marriage was to be an object lesson for the unfaithful Northern kingdom.Gomer was likely not a prostitute at the time of her marriage, but she would later turn to physical adultery and immorality,perhaps as a prostitute in the temple of Baal.Her departure from the Lord, led not only to false worship,but also to lower moral standard.

The same pattern of immoral living can be seen today whenever we, as Christians turn away from true commitment to God.

Proverbs5v3
“FOR THE LIPS OF A STRANGE WOMAN DROP AS AN HONEYCOMB,AND HER MOUTH IS SMOOTHER THAN OIL. “KJV.

In the Book of Proverbs we see repeated warnings about the destructiveness of sexual immorality. In vv7-14 of this Proverbs 5 Solomon emphasizes that though immorality’s deceptive pleasures are attractive,giving in to them will lead to ruin.

The alternative to sexual immorality is:
1–Commitment to God. v1
“MY SON ATTEND TO MY WISDOM AND BOW THINE EAR TO MY UNDERSTANDING.”
2-Disciplined restraint before marriage and
3–The fulfilment of natural sexual desire through a holy love life in marriage.vv15-23.

Whatever we may be going through as a nation or as individuals, God has promised that He will show mercy and He will deliver and save us.

In all of these, although God ask us to do our part, we should remember that He is not limited to human effort. Often He chooses to work through people, but only because it is good for them. He can accomplish all His purposes without any help from us, if He so chooses.

Our nation is very important to God and you as an individual are very important to God.
But on our own, as a nation or on your own as an individual, you have neither the ability to fulfill nor the power to disrupt God’s plans.

God has a plan for us in Nigeria-‐plan to show mercy—plan to deliver and save–plan to give us an expected end.
PRAISE GOD.
SHALOM.