Return

1 Return, Israel, to the LORD your God.
   Your sins have been your downfall!
2 Take words with you
   and return to the LORD.
Say to him:
   “Forgive all our sins
and receive us graciously,
   that we may offer the fruit of our lips.
3 Assyria cannot save us;
   we will not mount warhorses.
We will never again say ‘Our gods’
   to what our own hands have made,
   for in you the fatherless find compassion.”
 4 “I will heal their waywardness
   and love them freely,
   for my anger has turned away from them.
5 I will be like the dew to Israel;
   he will blossom like a lily.
Like a cedar of Lebanon
   he will send down his roots;
 6 his young shoots will grow.
His splendor will be like an olive tree,
   his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.
7 People will dwell again in his shade;
   they will flourish like the grain,
they will blossom like the vine—
   Israel’s fame will be like the wine of Lebanon.
8 Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols?
   I will answer him and care for him.
I am like a flourishing juniper;
   your fruitfulness comes from me.”
9 Who is wise? Let them realize these things.
   Who is discerning? Let them understand.
The ways of the LORD are right;
   the righteous walk in them,
   but the rebellious stumble in them.

As Israel went, so goes the United States of America. This nation rose from a tiny group of British colonies to the envy of the world in less than 200 years, as the people worked acknowledged, praised, thanked, and worshipped the Lord God as Master/King/Father, with the Bible as the Owner's Manual. But here as in ancient Israel, as life became easier, the people have become idolatrous, running after other lovers, turning away and denying the God who loved and blessed them. The only differences between this nation and Hosea's Israel were language, culture, and technology. We have some rulers who spurn the Almighty, who base their trust and hopes in the economy, the military, they have the spirit of Nebuchadnezzar where haughtiness and pride ooze from them ... we have sown the wind, and even now the whirlwind approaches. They have built a house of cards and dominoes.
It is not too late though, beloved. It's time to return to the Lord, and we must be active, and activated. The time for slumber has passed. Just as the destruction of Nineveh was averted, so the judgement that is coming, and even now comes, can be averted, but much has to happen. As Christians we must know that the battle lines have been drawn, we have been deployed, We must take up our battle stations. It's time for all believers to open the vast armories and wield the weapons of our warfare that our heavenly Commander-in-Chief has given each of us when we became believers.
The prayers of the righteous avail much.