There are two readings for today.
SCRIPTURE: Hosea 3
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
The LORD said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.” [Hosea 3:1]
Why would Hosea go back to his unfaithful wife?
Why would he even pay money to get her back from her other ‘lovers’?
Couldn’t he find someone better, someone faithful, someone that loved him back?
Would you go back to a spouse that treated you like this?
Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” [Luke 5:31-32]
Hosea goes back for the same reason that Jesus comes – because she needs help.
She is living in a self-destructive way, she is ruining her own life and the life of others.
She is sick, she is a sinner, she needs grace and mercy in order to find peace.
This is why Jesus comes to us, because we need His help.
The religious leaders also needed His help, but they refused to believe or accept it.
They thought they were OK as they were.
And maybe some of us are like that too, we don’t think we need Jesus’ help as much.
Do not be fooled, you and I need God’s grace and mercy just as much as Gomer.
We may not be drawn to ‘sacred raisin cakes’ (the meaning of this is not clear, something to do with offerings to idols), but we have our own sweet delights that we are drawn to.
Things or experiences or people that we love self-destructively, that we cling to for meaning and purpose and satisfaction, but which cannot satisfy.
Only God can satisfy our hearts, only God can bring peace to our soul.
And so the Lord comes to us, foolish wanderers that we are, and buys us back.
He pays a price beyond what we are worth, because He thinks we’re worth it!
Unfaithful, unwise, unreliable… self-serving, self-absorbed, self-destructive.
His hope is to restore us back to the place where He created us, living and enjoying life with Him and each other in His world.
He is doing whatever it takes to bring us back:, and looks forward to the day when they do: Afterward (they) will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to his blessings in the last days. [Hosea 3:5]
Are you coming back to the one that has come to you?
Will you receive His grace, His mercy, and as a result His peace?
PRAYER:
Lord, I have my own version of ‘sacred raisin cakes’, those things I love more than You. Thank You for not giving up on me; thank You for bringing me back to repentance!