Smeagol is Free!
A hermitudinal view of...stuff...


10.15.2008  

Cake Eater

Hosea 3:1
Then the LORD said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes."

For some years now, Hosea has been one of my favorite books of Scripture. The reason is simple: while the LORD is forthright and shocking in what He communicates to His people through Hosea, He is also shamelessly vulnerable.

We've all seen it before: the guy who won't give up on a girl, even though she's made it abundantly clear, in one way or another, that it just won't work out. Sometimes, the girl is just way out his league; at other times, his buddies don't know what he sees in her, and they don't feel any remorse in letting him experience the full length and breadth of their mockery. Either of those situations, to be kind, are truly quite sad.

In the case of God the jilted lover, "sad" just doesn't cut it. He uses Hosea's painful marriage to an errant bride as an illustration of His own covenant fidelity to His people in the midst of their blatant and remorseless infidelity. The prophet is not given a voice to portray his pain, but the human heart does not need such kindling: Hosea's wife, the one whom he has loved, has been unfaithful, again and again and again, and still, God commands His prophet to redeem her and love her yet again. It would seem naive or cruel of God to command such a thing of Hosea, wouldn't it? Indeed, much like God's unrelenting pursuit of Israel, the whole situation can seem agonizingly foolish and hopeless, given Gomer's, like Israel's, propensity toward waywardness and sin.

I almost want to ask, "God, don't you get it? Why don't You just give up?"

I think...that's the point.

God's pursuit of me is beyond absurd. If anyone else did what God did in loving me...well, it's not even possible, so I can't even ponder such an asinine notion. The point, fellow sinners, is that God will not stop short in doing what He must to make you know and feel the full force of His love. Unlike some half-baked idea concocted by some testosterone-filled hopeless romantic, however, God's love is perfect. Is it painful? Yes. Is it patient? Yes. Does it reveal flaws? Yes. Does it keep its promises? Yes. Is it unrelenting? Yes. Does it overcome sin? Yes.

I write this not for you, but for me. I write this because I need to be reminded, every single second of every single day, that God does what He promises. I write this because I forget, and because I sin. A lot. I write this because, while I hate to sin, I'm still afraid to go to God for forgiveness when I do sin. And that's a lot. I write this because I think, throughout all of Scripture, even though God's message is unrelenting, I still don't get it...and because of that, He did not and will not give up.

posted by Bolo | 3:14 AM
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