Redeeming Love

I read the book of Hosea this week. There was a time that I would have found this book completely uninteresting and irrelevant to me. But that was before God came and got me and opened my eyes to the truth of His Word. God likes to give people physical demonstrations of what He is trying to tell them (well, us!).

Hosea was a prophet who was told to marry a prostitute. Her name was Gomer. They married, had children, and then she left him for her prostitution. God told him to go and get her back, to buy her back. He does that, and that’s all we know.

But if I am thinking about my own life, all my failures, both deliberate rebellion against God and the everyday failures such as losing my temper when I didn’t want to but feeling unable to control it…well, I noticed something about both me and God.

First, here’s what I noticed about myself. Now the prophet is addressing the people of Israel, but we can insert our own names into this because left to ourselves, we are no different. This is what they (or we) were like:

-there is no faithfulness or kindness.

-there is no knowledge of God in the land

-they make vows and break them.

-they kill and steal.

-they commit adultery.

-there is violence everywhere – one murder after another.

-wine has robbed them of understanding

-longing after idols has made them foolish

-they became prostitutes, serving other gods and deserting their God. (all from Hosea 4)

This seems just like the world we live in today! And there was a time that this list described my life very accurately, if I am honest. The way I was living was to please myself, no thought of God, trying to make myself happy but failing miserably. It wasn’t until I had a ‘moment of clarity’ that I reluctantly turned back to God. It was time to stop pretending that God’s word didn’t apply to me. ‘Even though I gave them all my laws, they act as if those laws don’t apply to them.’ (Hosea 8:12). I would think to myself: ‘it’s not so bad’ or ‘I’m not hurting anyone’ or ‘God wants me to be happy’…but those were all lies. Just a little twist of the truth! It was bad, because God said not to do it! And when He says that what He’s really saying is ‘don’t hurt yourself!’  Or ‘I’m not hurting anyone’….. that’s a lie, because I now needed to be a liar. And we are told in Proverbs that ‘a lying tongue hates those it hurts.’ You might say, but I don’t hate them, I just didn’t want them to know. But God says when we lie to each other, that is showing hatred or disrespect for that person. It was time for me to stop it. And this one: ‘God wants me to be happy’…that one is true. He does want me to be happy, but there is only one way to be happy, and that is to follow Him with your whole heart. When I first returned to God reluctantly, it didn’t matter to Him how I returned only that I returned. But I also agreed with Him that my sin was sin, and it needed to go. It wasn’t easy at first, but I was desperate, and I continued to reject the sin. And then one day, a miracle happened and I saw it for the evil thing that it really was. And I was also filled with joy. Suddenly, I wanted to know more about God. and that brings me to what I saw about Him in Hosea.

Remember. These are not just stories. They are about real people who lived and died and how God related to them: and God, who never changes, relates to us in the same way! Here’s what I noticed about God:

-O Judah, a harvest of punishment is also waiting for you, though I wanted to restore the fortunes of my people. Did you catch that?? God wants to restore our fortunes. Wow. He wants to bless us, to give us good gifts, to see us living lives of love and generosity with each other. The thing that keeps us from these blessings is our own rebellion against Him. But once I turned to Him, how quickly He began to transform my life. I never want to go back to the old life, and I never want to forget the joy I discovered in following Jesus.

-I wanted to heal Israel, but its sins are too great. He wants to heal us!! But our sins are too great. That just means that we keep sinning. That was me. God wanted to heal me long before I allowed Him to, but He waited until I was ready for Him. That’s what He does: He waits for us to choose Him. The enemy told me two lies: first that God was ‘holding out on me’ that I could make myself happy better than he could. And second, when I discovered that the first lie was a lie, he told me ‘It’s too late for you. God won’t take you back now.’ That was the second lie that he almost got me with except for one thing: I had started reading my Bible and that’s not in there. It doesn’t say that anywhere! God is in the business of taking people back. If I fell again today, He would take me back! The only difference is, I don’t have those desires anymore. I don’t want to hurt Him again. He created me, and I owe it to Him to live a life that glorifies Him. And now that’s what I want too: I have discovered that He has good plans for me and every day is an adventure.

-I wanted to redeem them, but they have told lies about me. To ‘redeem’ means to ‘buy back’ to ‘rescue or deliver’ or to ‘restore us to a right relationship with God’. When the prophet says that ‘they have told lies about me’ he says that that is what they are still doing. And that is what I did too! If you don’t know God, you will make assumptions about Him that are not true. But don’t fall for the same lies I fell for! It’s not too late to get to know Him. No matter what you have done, just turn back to Him. My sins were bigger than average. But the only good thing about that is that it showed me how desperately I need Him! So, if He would take me back, He will take you back too! He is good. His heart is kind. He is for me; He is not against me. Turn from your sin and get to know Him. Talk about Him with others. Did He answer your prayers yesterday? Then tell someone. Sop living your life as if God doesn’t exist: He is the reason for everything! Are you starting to see a glimpse of His heart for you? It’s so kind and but I didn’t know that because I wasn’t looking for Him. And here’s how the book of Hosea ends. God is speaking and He says:

‘”O Israel, stay away from idols! I am the one who answers your prayers and cares for you. I am like a tree that is always green; all your fruit comes from me.” Let those who are wise understand these things. Let those with discernment listen carefully.  The paths of the Lord are true and right, and righteous people live by walking in them. But in those paths sinners stumble and fall.’ (Hosea 14:8,9)

 Go find Him and find your joy and purpose for living.