Hosea began his ministry near the end of the reign of Jeroboam II of Israel (793-753 B.C.). At that time Israel prospered economically, but was marked by injustice and spiritual decline. Hosea’s message constitutes God’s final warning to apostate Israel, and the prophet lived to see his predictions of judgment fulfilled when the kingdom fell to Assyria in 722 B.C. The unique feature of Hosea is that prophet’s relationship with his unfaithful wife. Gomer abandoned her husband to pursue adultery, even as Israel had broken her covenant with the Lord. But like God, Hosea had a genuine love for his bride. In the end he found her abandoned, rescued her, and took her back. Today as throughout Old Testament times, the Book of Hosea testifies to the unshakable love of God for His own.
Rather, as it is written: “ No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed it to us by the Spirit…
But as it is written – This passage is quoted from Isaiah 64:4. It is not quoted literally; but the sense only is given.
But it is evident that Paul had in his eye the passage in Isaiah; and intended to apply it to his present purpose. These words are often applied by commentators and others to the future life, and are supposed by them to be descriptive of the state of the blessed there.
Eye hath not seen – This is the same as saying, that no one had ever fully perceived and understood the value and beauty of those things which God has prepared for his people. All the world had been strangers to this until God made a revelation to his people by his Spirit. The blessedness which the apostle referred to had been unknown alike to the Jews and the Gentiles.
Nor ear heard – We learn the existence and quality of objects by the external senses; and those senses are used to denote any acquisition of knowledge. To say that the eye had not seen, nor the ear heard, was, therefore, the same as saying that it was not known at all. All people had been ignorant of it.
Neither have entered into the heart of man – No man has conceived it; or understood it. It is new; and is above all that man has seen, and felt, and known.
Landing safely on Ireland’s shores marks the origins of one of the world’s most beloved hymns.
Although everyone knows this beautiful, uplifting hymn, Amazing Grace, not many people know its Irish origins.
The haunting hymn Amazing Grace was penned by the anti-slavery advocate John Newton when he landed in Donegal, safe, having survived a shipwreck. His arrival on Irish shores marked the beginning of his conversion to Christianity and the start of a life of good work. He wrote the first verse in Buncrana, County Donegal.
“Up until that point, he was self-described as a wretch. He was involved in the slave trade.
“He was traveling to Liverpool from Africa and because of the trade winds they had a very circuitous route.
“He was caught in a violent storm and found himself crying out for mercy. He thought: ‘what mercy can there be for me, a wretch?’”
The ship managed to make it to safety, but Newton “stepped ashore in Ireland a changed man.”
Even though he remained active in the slave trade for another six years, he later became a staunch opponent of the industry.
“It is extraordinary to think that John Newton’s safe delivery to these shores at Buncrana on that fateful night of April 8, 1748, inspired him to write one of the most well-known and best-loved hymns in the world,”
Amazing Grace is more than just a song. It is someone’s salvation. As you’re about to find out, it’s a place, too
When it comes to arrivals in Ireland, however, few can match that of John Newton.
Stormy Seas
“At 23, John Newton was a foul-mouthed sailor working in the slave trade. Newton had rejected Christianity and delighted in mocking and criticising people of faith.“
In fact, during his passage back to England from Africa in 1748, Newton was so unpopular with “his crew that the captain blamed him for the violent storm which so nearly claimed their lives”.
And while that storm off Donegal’s coast didn’t take John’s life, it did change it.
Any port in a storm
During the storm that almost took his and his fellow passengers lives, Newton felt utter and complete fear and turned to God for mercy. That mercy came in the shape of Lough Swilly, a mirror of a lake between Inishowen and Fanad peninsulas in County Donegal. It was in Inishowen that the boat was repaired and the crew housed.
Calm after the storm
“I often feel that same sense of peace and “refuge” when I walk along the banks of the lough and gaze out across the water or listen to the waves gently lapping at the shore,” Ruth tells us. “No matter how busy I’ve been, a few moments by Lough Swilly are like taking a deep breath!” But Newton and crew wouldn’t have only been pleased with the surroundings. The care and attention they received at the hands of the locals was something unique. In the intervening years that warmth has not dimmed.
Welcome to Inishowen Whether it was Lough Swilly, Inishowen or his salvation from the storm, Newton was a new man. From this point on he renounced his work in the slave trade, became a friend and political ally of the abolitionist William Wilberforce and of course, penned Amazing Grace.
So the next time you sing Amazing Grace, spare a thought for John Newton and remember that neither he, nor the song, would be here without the calm of Lough Swilly and the Inishowen Peninsula.
This is my personal collection of thoughts and writings, mainly from much smarter people than I, which challenge me in my discipleship walk. Don't rush by these thoughts, but ponder them.
Milo 