The blockquotes in this post contain my paraphrase of Hosea’s prophecy.
Let your siblings know they are illegitimate. Let your mom know she’s not my wife. Tell her to quit whoring or I will undress her and shrivel her up like a desert. And I will have zero compassion for her offspring – those wastrels born of harlotry. Why? Because she insists it is her many lovers that sustain her.
I am writing from a marriage conference where our watch word is “nothing hidden,” where tragically, the marriages represented have been damaged (in varying degrees) by things that have been hidden. In God’s kindness, he is undressing some of us and exposing our delusions that pornography, cocaine, other lovers, vocations or homosexuality could satisfy us.
We are telling our stories in pods comprised of four couples each. The stories are all the same. Hidden things were sown in the heart, whirlwinds of hellish outcomes have been (and are being) reaped. After hearing a particularly painful account yesterday of a multi-decade affair, I asked myself, “Why? Why would a person do this to themselves and the people they supposedly loved?” Why do dogs return to their vomit?
It seems that in a world where the ultimate engine is Love, God permits men to feed on vomit until it looses its savor. I think he does this because he cannot help the foolish animal until it is broken of its folly. God even gifts the heartbeats and breaths we fools require to get us to that last pile of stench. Why two decades though? Because for some beloved children, that is what it takes.
When Paul says that we receive the due penalty of our sins within us, this includes deception. Sinning induces a spell upon the sinner such that vomit looks tasty. Iniquity is a mystery. God uses even deception for his own purpose which is our freedom.
I’m going to sponsor her disorientation. While she is foolishly pursuing her provision from men who are only using her, it is I who have been providing for her. I even provided the money she’s given to Baal. Consequently, I am going to remove this provision and strip her naked before her lovers. No one will rescue her from this fate. The party is over. Beasts will devour the leftovers. I am going to punish her for her unfaithfulness…but, I am not done with her.
There is something hopeful about having been stripped bare and having no other options than God. In this place eyes can begin to once again see and ears can once again begin to hear. The only hope for restored love is that deception be broken. There is hope for the hopeless for one reason only – there is a Lover Who is persistent in His love. Whether its a marriage between a man and a woman or a God and the world he so loves, there is hope because it is He Who loved first.
I am going to attract her back to me. In her wilderness I am going to open a door of hope and say some kind things to her. She will sing once again as she did when I rescued her from Egypt. She will forsake even the name of Baal. In this day, there will be peace on earth and good will among men. God and Israel will renew their vows and heaven and creation will celebrate. The earth will know harmony such that even the crops will flourish because it is God doing the sowing. God proclaims over this new day …
I am going to have compassion on her. No one else is. I am going to say to an estranged people that they are mine! I will say, “You are My people!” And they will say, “You are my God!”
Father, we can claim You as our own only because You have claimed us as Yours. Our hope rests in Your initiatives. May this be the day of salvation for many of us who have come to hide no more from You or our spouses. Amen.