Day 147: God Pursues Us. Why? Love, Compassion, and Faithfulness.

Today we read 2 Kings 5, Hosea 1-3, and Psalm 101. We read a story about God pursuing Assyrian Captain Naaman, an enemy of Israel, through leprosy, an Israeli slave girl, kings, a prophet - Elisha, and the Jordan River. It wasn't the prophet or the river that healed Naaman, it was Yahweh God and it was a conversion moment for Naaman. Even though he would return to his pagan country, Naaman declared there is no other God but Yahweh, took dirt to remind him of this story and to build his altar to God at home, he even asked forgiveness for the appearance of worshiping the gods of his country because his heart was God's now. We also begin the story of the prophet Hosea in the time of one of the worst kings of the Northern Kingdom. God called him to marry and stayed married to his unfaithful wife. This was a story in a story about God and Israel whom God pursues in love and compassion and Israel rejects, experiences defeat and exile, and yet there is hope and a future of restoration, atonement, redemption because of Him. 

Credits

Podcast music by Stockaudios from Pixabay. Speaker, Dr. Rachel Bodell. Podcast Sound Engineer, Alan Darling. Podcast Artwork, Will Gerard.