The Friday of Ember Week in September
Posted on September 25, 2026 by under
Scripture: Hosea 14:1-9 (NKJV)
14:1 O Israel, return to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity;
2 Take words with you, and return to the Lord. Say to Him,
“Take away all iniquity; Receive us graciously, for we will offer the sacrifices of our lips.
3 “Assyria shall not save us, we will not ride on horses, nor will we say anymore to the work of our hands, ‘You are our gods.’ for in You the fatherless finds mercy.”
4 “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for My anger has turned away from him.
5 “I will be like the dew to Israel; He shall grow like the lily, and lengthen his roots like Lebanon.
6 “His branches shall spread; His beauty shall be like an olive tree, and his fragrance like Lebanon.
7 “Those who dwell under his shadow shall return; They shall be revived like grain, and grow like a vine. Their scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
8 “Ephraim shall say, ‘What have I to do anymore with idols?’ I have heard and observed him. I am like a green cypress tree; Your fruit is found in Me.”
9 Who is wise? Let him understand these things. Who is prudent? Let him know them. For the ways of the Lord are right; The righteous walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.
Devotion
Hosea 14 is a declaration of the radical change that is worked through justification by grace through faith, as lived out in the restoration of God’s people as a whole. Hosea directs the whole nation to repent, as if all were alike. Any already penitently believing would not bristle against this, but become leaders by admitting that their penitence would never be enough, sorrowing all the more over sin, and trusting all the more in the Lord’s promise. They will teach their brethren to renounce all trust that is not centered in the Lord, and confess Him as the only Father they can have.
Doing so is transformative—both to the individual and to the body of Israel as a whole and is, therefore, formative to the New Testament Church. Such is her very nature (Jer. 31:34, Heb. 8:1–13) as Christ’s Bride. Brought out of iniquity and stumbling, Israel becomes a place of abundance: roots deep, branches spread, sweet aroma, providing shade that revives each individual as if constantly becoming a new crop. It shows beauty that gives beauty—like an olive tree that provides food, oil for the beard and skin and the mollifying of wounds, and even for producing light. In such a condition, Israel not only is not to become like Ephraim—prosperous, yet idolatrous—but to convert Ephraim (Samaria). This is all, again, affirmed not merely as a return from exile, but as the Kingdom of Christ!
Collect: Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we, who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve to be punished, by the comfort of Thy grace may mercifully be relieved; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Collect for the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Lord, we pray Thee, that Thy grace may always go before and follow after us, and make us continually to be given to all good works; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
