MONDAY, MARCH 27

“Brutiful”

READ Hosea 1:2–2:1

In that day you will call your brothers Ammi—“My people.” And you will call your sisters Ruhamah—“The ones I love” (2:1).

During my sister-in-law’s lengthy hospital stay, battling an advanced form of cancer, our family spent many hours in a “family room” just down the hall from her room. We befriended a family whose mother had been diagnosed with the same disease. When both women entered hospice within days of each other, the two families shared tears and hugs. As I talked with a daughter of the mother, she said their experience had been “brutiful”—both brutal and beautiful. Similar to my family’s experience, God’s love and light had consistently peeked through the darkness of their family’s grief and pain.

The people of Israel experienced a chilling darkness in their relationship with God due to the deadly spiritual disease of idolatry (Hosea 1:2). The prophet Hosea’s relationship with his wayward wife provided a real-life portrait of his nation’s rebellion against their Lord. When Gomer, the prophet’s wife, had three children, God told Hosea to name them Jezreel (“for I am about to punish King Jehu’s dynasty to avenge the murders he committed at Jezreel”), Lo-ruhamah (“not loved”), and Lo-ammi (“not my people”) (vv.4,6,9). Not exactly a happy trio of names!

But happiness was on the horizon, for God said, “What a day that will be—the day of Jezreel—when God will again plant his people in his land” (v.11). Not only was Jezreel’s name redeemed, but God transformed the other two children’s names too: Ammi (“my people”) and Ruhamah (“the ones I love”).

God alone has the power and grace to allow us to experience beauty even when things are brutal. He alone allows us to see light and life as it peeks through the darkness. Seek Him and His “brutiful,” transforming ways even in the midst of your most difficult days. —Tom Felten

MORE

Read Isaiah 61:3 and consider how God can bring beauty and joy even during desperate times.

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How has God worked in “brutiful” ways in your life? How might He be transforming you in the midst of a trial you’re facing?

‘Trust In You’ – Beautiful New Worship Song From Lauren Daigle from lauren-daigle on GodTube.