Are you keeping yourself from God?

Hoses 5
1“Hear this, you priests! Pay attention, you Israelites! Listen, royal house! This judgment is against you: You have been a snare at Mizpah, a net spread out on Tabor. 2The rebels are knee-deep in slaughter. I will discipline all of them. 3I know all about Ephraim; Israel is not hidden from me. Ephraim, you have now turned to prostitution; Israel is corrupt. 4“Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God.

According to Hosea, people who are going the wrong direction, doing bad things, etc. are running from God. God let's them be in their sin. He turns His back on them. ..."Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God."  Does that mean they are forever lost then? Is God turning His back on them as if He is keeping them from changing. That is kind of scary, don't you think? Their deeds do NOT PERMIT them to return to God. That sounds...final, doesn't it? 

But then, we have to remember 1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  God is a merciful God and He will forgive us if we acknowledge our sins and ask Him to forgive us. After all, He sent His only Son as a sacrifice for all sin. So, He keeps pursuing us. He might let us have our way in our sins, as in Hosea, so that we can come to realize how messed up we are and turn back towards Him, but He really doesn't want us to spend eternity in Hell. 

So, Hosea 5:4 isn't stating that we can NOT get back to God. It is stating that God is giving us over to our sin in order for us to realize we are sinning, because until we realize we are sinning and ask for forgiveness, we have shut ourselves off from God...we cannot commune with a sinless God. God wants us to be with Him. He doesn't turn us over to our sins as if He is giving up on us. He turns us over to our sins, so that we will eventually seek Him instead of our sinful desires. 

So, are you keeping yourself from God? Is there something you know you shouldn't do but stubbornly keep doing it? Has God let you sit in your stubbornness? Are you ready, yet, to stop sinning and look to God instead? 

Father, please help us see our sin. We are so used to sinning that we don't even see it most of the time. In fact, we don't even see You most of the time. Please, Holy Spirit, don't stop convicting us of our sins. Father, forgive us of our sins. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.