Seek Ye First Today's Three-minute Bible Study Print, Study and Apply Title: Seek Ye First----------------------------------- Date: 12/1/2001 Keywords: "return" Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation. Passage: Hosea 5:15-6:1-3* 5:15. I will go away and return to My place Until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me. 6:1. "Come, let us return to the Lord. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us. 6:2. "He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day That we may live before Him. 6:3. "So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, Like the spring rain watering the earth." Questions 1. There are two speakers in these verses. The speaker in 5:15 is God. What is His message?   2. The speakers in 6:1-3 are those whom God is calling to repentance. How would you summarize their message?   Practical help God had promised the people of Israel that He would satisfy them with all the good things they could ever want if they sought their fulfillment in Him and in Him alone. They traveled a different path, though, and sought fulfillment in other gods, in immorality, and in wealth. God’s response (5:15) is to withhold the blessing of His experienced presence until they saw the folly of their ways. Their response to His perceived absence (6:1-3) was to realize how much they really needed Him, and return to Him. Does Israel’s experience parallel your own? Are you seeking fulfillment and satisfaction in something other than the One True God? Is porn the "god" of choice? If you have traveled the road of porn for very long, you have discovered how empty and barren it is. There is no joy to be found on the screen — only a momentary, cheap thrill, followed by hours of regret and guilt. Isn’t it time to "return to the Lord"? He will satisfy with His experienced presence if you will turn from your other "god" and seek Him first. eXXit homepage Index of three-minute studies Copyright 2001 by eXXit *"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission."