“He destroys you, O Israel, for you are against me, against your helper.”
– Hosea 13:9
What a picture of the folly of sin, the foolishness of sinners. Israel is working against the God who is their helper. Picture it. God, the God of the universe with all power and all wisdom and all love desiring to help the people of Israel here in the Old Testament, and they are working against him to their own detriment and destruction.
And yet to think, this is really the essence of sin in our own hearts. When God gives us His Word and leads us by His Spirit and we say, “No, we don’t want your ways. We want to do what we think is best. We want to think and feel and speak and act according to our ways instead of your ways.” And we work against the God who helps us.
Hosea 13:9 Reminds Us of God’s Promise to Us
Oh, and even that, what a picture that God desires to help us, that God calls Himself our helper. Just let that soak in right now. I don’t know what all you’re walking through, what you’re facing in your life or your family or your work or church or anything that you’re facing right now, but I know this. The God of the universe desires to help you. So I just want to encourage you, don’t work against Him. Trust in Him, look to Him, walk with Him. And He promises, this is a promise from His Word. He will help you in every way you need.
God, we praise you as our helper. We are awed that you, the God over all, the sovereign king of the universe would say to me today personally and to every single one of us, “I’m your helper. I’m here to help you. I’m here to serve you, to provide for you, to give you what you need.”
Hosea 13:9 Praises the Lord for His Grace
We praise you for your grace and your mercy as our helper. We praise you for your power and your sovereignty as our helper. Your wisdom, all that you are, it is overwhelming, awesome beyond words to consider that you are our helper today. So we say together in each of our lives and collectively, “We need your help. We confess our need for your help.” And we say to you, “We don’t want to work against you. We want to work with your help.” So please lead us. Help us by your Spirit and your Word to walk with you today, with you, not against you, with you. We don’t want to rely on anyone or anything else but you. We certainly don’t want to rely on ourselves. You are our helper. We seek your help and we praise you for your promise to give it to us.
Praying for the Unreached Among India and Bangladesh
We pray that when we are prone to work against you, that we would see, open our eyes to the folly, foolishness of our sin. And God, we pray for so many people around us who need your help. We pray for people around the world who need your help. We pray for the Sunri Sadhubanaik people of India and Bangladesh, hundreds of thousands of them in the Xanadu people group. They need your help. They need your grace. And they need your mercy. They need the Gospel. God, they need the Gospel. Help them, we pray. Cause the Gospel to spread to them. Send laborers into the harvest field among the Sadhubanaik people of India and Bangladesh. God, we pray, we intercede for their help, for their eternal salvation.
God, we are a hopeless without your help, and we praise you as our helper today. We pray for your help, and we praise you for your promise to give us all the help we need. In Jesus’ name, we pray, according to Hosea 13:9. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
