“I will make you my wife forever, showing you righteousness and justice, unfailing love and compassion. I will be faithful to you and make you mine, and you will finally know me as LORD.”
Hosea 2:19-20
That day seems very far away. So many people try to debate and speculate on when the day will come when Christ returns, but it is fruitless to do so. We can sit around and talk about it, and even form all new churches around the when of this wedding feast, but to what purpose? It’ll be a waist, and do you really think it will matter if you were right or not?
I remember hearing one time that someone believed that any time someone speculates a day of when Christ would return that Christ to mark that day off of his calendar because he knew that he would not return that day. It is kind of a comical thought but it’s probably more accurate than any other end times guess, only God the Father really knows the day He will send His Son back to us.
These days feel a little hopeless sometimes though, people are divisive, and always tend to believe their way is the right way, or even at minimum a good way. Righteousness is not found among man, Justice not actualized among woman, love seems to have an end among children, and compassion is fleeting among the elderly. Those days seem so far away, when the Father will send the Son and we will know true righteousness, justice, love, and compassion.
Hosea:
Hosea was a prophet to Israel and in some weird times as well. Punishment toward Israel for its idolatry was on the brink of occurring. But through Hosea God sought to extend possibility for grace, but they did not heed the message of Hosea and thus were taken over and overthrown.
That was not the only weird thing though for Hosea. If you have read this book at all, you may have come to realize God asked him to do some unconventional things. For starters, Hosea was asked by God to go and marry a sexually promiscuous woman, some translations simply say prostitute. Well, that’s abnormal. But it gets better, they have kids and the names of their kids, as chosen by God, come to mean a place of murder, not loved, and not my people. Essentially God was disowning Israel as His child. To top it all off, Hosea’s wife leaves him, whether that was a blatant leaving the family or having an affair.
But here comes the whole point of Hosea, Reconciliation. Hosea would be challenged to go after his wayward wife and bring reconciliation to the relationship and family. It seems to be an unprecedented challenge to Hosea. In fact, for many that was warrant enough for divorce. But God is not in the business of divorce, He is not like the gods of Greek, Roman, Egyptian, or Persian mythology.
God’s Business:
God is in a business of making amends, even when He has literally done nothing wrong, He strives toward Reconciliation. For this God is a God who IS righteous, just, loving, and compassionate.
God is righteous because He is the one who determines right from wrong, and God can never do any wrong. If a sin exist, God could never commit it, and never against His own creation. God is always doing the right thing in order to achieve His purposes, which we could never say about another human. All the ways we make decisions and think about different issues has a flaw somewhere in it. Even taking the moral high ground on every issue, will do some wrong along the way, and we must be weary of when we do wrong.
More so than is humanly possible, God brings proper Justice. This is seen in punishing Israel, His covenant people, who intentionally broke the covenant by worshipping other gods and treating the neighboring people groups wrongly. God very many cares about how we love Him and how we love those who are different from us. No one could possibly refute that and still stand on Christian grounds. God cares about Justice among humans. In fact, His justice is all about equality to the point it almost sounds like socialism, but its different because the justice in not implemented by man, but by God.
God is loving because He may a way for mercy even as He is just. He already had plans for the restoration of Israel in the days of Hosea, and then He offered the same mercy to the whole world. I would really like to see someone try to argue that God is not loving. Sadly, many people in His church do not extend mercy and do not even try to act lovingly toward believers or non-believers alike. “But what is more loving than telling them the hard truths of their sin?” Some have argued in defense for being rude and judgmental toward the LGBTQ+ community or others. Share truth, yes, but the truth is that Jesus has mercifully died for them even while they are sinners. Do not justify your unloving behaviors with scripture.
God is compassionate, I believe God deeply cares and is concerned for all those who are oppressed and shut down by other humans. Hence God’s punishment of Israel for how it treated others. Yea, God still denies and is against sin, but think about the women caught in the act of adultery who was about to be stoned. Jesus stepped in and prevented a “just” slaying of a sinner. But in so doing He reveals who else has sinned, we must not consider ourselves above the judgement of God because of our faith, instead we must use the righteousness He has given us to step in with compassion for those who desperately need the New Life found in Christ.
Final Blessing:
So God is about reconciliation, because He is righteous, just, loving, and compassionate. And just has God is, so we are called to exhibit the same qualities of God. We are to embody and represent God in our beings, not point fingers to those who are opposed to God, how can one do so and still believe God is on your side? When the Gospel message is literally about God being for the oppressed.
So may the Lord of Life and Redemption be with you in every step, every breath, and every heartbeat of your journey.
Comments