Out of Mercy

 God is very merciful. He hardly ever gives us the punishment we deserve for our sins. However, His mercy does run out at some point, when we repeatedly reject His messages to repent and turn to Him fully. That is what happened to Israel after more than 200 years of God's mercy. It finally ran out, so that He destroyed the country and sent the people into exile in Assyria and other countries. God told Hosea to make this message clear to the people of Israel and to the people of Judah. When Hosea's wife Gomer had their second child, God told Hosea to name her, No-Mercy. (Hosea 1:6) This was to show that He was fed up with Israel and her rebellion. He had run out of mercy, and there was no more forgiveness for them. This sounds scary, and it should motivate us to never allow this to happen to us.

God convicts all of us of our sins all of the time. The Holy Spirit convicts the "world" of sin, righteousness, and judgment. (John 16:8-11) That means everyone, both believers and unbelievers, are convicted of sins, so we know we have failed to live up to God's standards, and we deserve His punishment. Then, we have the choice of whether to repent and turn to Him for forgiveness or not. If we decide to reject Jesus as Lord and Savior, not turning from our sins and putting our trust in Him, God still works on us to be saved. However, there comes a point where God runs out of mercy, and there is no forgiveness left, if we do not watch out. If we do not reach that point before death, we reach it at our death, because there is not forgiveness after we die. Either way, we have to suffer God's full wrath against our sins. Please, do not push God. Listen and turn away from sins and turn to The One who loves you so much that He died for you to have eternal life.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Hosea 3-5.