Lessons from Hosea?

“People can think correctly and behave rightly and worship politely and still live badly–live anemically, live individualistically self-enclosed lives, live bored and insipid and trivial lives.” – Eugene Peterson, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places

The morning readings this week have taken me to the book of Hosea. A book about a prophet who was called to and who fell in love with a prostitute. Her name was Gomer and she was as unfaithful as a person could be. But Hosea loved her. He loved the children – whether they were his or not. Hosea’s story and book is about more than a broken marriage and unfaithful spouses. Hosea’s life is a living parable of what God’s people were doing to their beloved.

Idols aren’t something we talk about much in the church anymore. It feels like something from a bygone era-something we have grown out of as a child grows out of fantasies and make-believe. We now have the “full-revelation” of Jesus and His Church and old gods like Zeus and Aphrodite; or Baal and Asherah are stories of mythology. We are a technological era. We have science backed minds, and have evolved from such simple beliefs of spirits that need to be appeased.

And yet, the people that Hosea was speaking too had a lot of the same problems we do. They worried about having enough to feed and support their families. They worried about their health. They worried about natural disasters. They worried about whether they could be content when the world around them seemed to pass from crisis to crisis. If they had 24-hour news, they’d probably be just as confused and concerned about the direction of their nation.

God’s invitation to Hosea was not just to be a mistreated husband for his entire life. It was to show the lengths of love–and Hosea loved Gomer. He loved her though she repeatedly chose other lovers and other cheaper places of provision. Gomer had been given a new life and she left it. And when Hosea heard she was being sold as a slave, he went to the slave market, he bought back his long lost wife and restored her as his precious partner. Gomer had settled for a life that was based on transaction. Hosea wanted to give her a life that was truly alive with love.

Eugene Peterson’s words are another set of lenses to see what Hosea did – what God does for me. I want to live life wide open, but all to often I am inundated with distractions that leave me feeling anemic, bored, insipid, and trivial. It’s not about the work (at least not all the time), but there is something that draws me into “individualistic and self-enclosed” living. And it makes me wonder, do I have a Gomer problem? Do I have a longing for lesser than substitutes for life? Do I have an idol problem rather than a “God isn’t coming through on his promise to give me an abundant life” problem?

At the end of his book, Hosea prays for the repentance of God’s people –

“Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for your sins have brought you down. Bring your confessions, and return to the Lord. Say to him, “Forgive all our sins and graciously receive us, so that we may offer you our praises. The Lord says, “Then I will heal you of your faithlessness; my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be gone forever.”

Hosea 14:1-2, 4 NLT

The idols of the ancient world may seem dead and gone, but living in a time like ours, I wonder if they truly are? We may have all the answers, all the correct teachings, more bible studies on our shelves than we could ever truly consume, but do we have life? Is it possible that we have traded a real encounter and relationship with the ONE who sees our wandering eyes and hearts for a lesser than knock off? Is it possible that casual Christianity, something that is little no more than boring meetings and lectures, has take us away from the One who promised (and promises) life abundant?

I’m glad God loves me the way Hosea loved Gomer – more so, because he is holy loving. I want to be solely His and to see the idols that I instinctively turn to instead of him. I want to know the freedom of being and living as the beloved of God.

“Lord Jesus, forgive me of my wayward heart. I repent of running after “lesser-than’s.” I want to be at home with you and find myself fully alive in being your beloved. Help me when the idols of my culture try to lure me and seduce. Give me the assurance that your Spirit is there to strengthen me. Thank you for loving me the way you do. And thank you for placing me in the family of faith – the people who are a fragrance of your love and life to the world. Amen