Unfaithful but Loved (Hosea)

God’s had me meditating on various parts of Hosea for several weeks and He even had me read Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers again, which is an allegory of Hosea. This is a compilation of a number of thoughts on this topic.

Yesterday, the Lord chastened me 3 times throughout the day on the same topic… my lessened intimacy with Him. He did it so gently and in love that it broke my heart as I could feel how my choices hurt Him. I couldn’t help but realize that it was back to Hosea again – Him lavishing me with ardent love while I have philandered. God forgive me… and of course, He has.

Being His

And the LORD said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.” – Hosea 1:9

Throughout the Old Testament, God’s constant desire is that He would be our God and we would be His people. If you thought of the relationship in terms of an engagement, this is Him breaking it off. My heart hurts reading this because I can’t begin to fathom how much we had to hurt His heart to get Him to this point… and yet, He still hadn’t given up on us.

Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, so that she cannot find her paths. – Hosea 2:6

Still in His hurt from our betrayal, our jealous, ardent Lover seeks to keep us from our own poor choices that wound both Him and ourselves. He is nudging us towards the right choice – towards Him (Hosea 2:7b).

Even in our unfaithfulness, His heart of love remains true as He provides without our even knowing or acknowledging (Hosea 2:8).

Love & Praise in the Desert

Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth… – Hosea 2:14-15

This verse is where I’ve been living for the last two years. He’s wooed us (Allen and I) into this desert season – and yet even here He has shown Himself faithful and true… and been constant even in the face of our inconsistency. He truly is making the valley of trouble (Achor) a door of hope.

In v15 the word “answer” actually implies praise. We will respond with praise as He speaks tenderly to us in the desert… this is Him drawing us all the nearer. Beautiful. His heart is beautiful.

Our Choices

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge… – Hosea 4:6a

The first portion of this is heavily quoted but rarely paired with the root of the issue, we have REJECTED knowledge. The original Hebrew word implies knowledge of God. In essence, we’re rejecting Him, knowing Him, and without Him we perish.

Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. For the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not the LORD. – Hosea 5:4

There are things we can be doing in our life that literally make a relationship with God impossible. Are we willing to look truthfully at our activities and assess if they’re hindering a relationship with God? And if we will assess them, will we be willing to make choices to give them up — or will we keep playing the harlot to feed our flesh and satisfy our lusts?

Love

Come and let us return to the Lord, for He has torn so that He may heal us; He has stricken so that He may bind us up…He will raise us up that we may live before Him.

Yes, let us know (recognize, be acquainted with, and understand) Him; let us be zealous to know the Lord [to appreciate, give heed to, and cherish Him]. His going forth is prepared and certain as the dawn, and He will come to us as the [heavy] rain, as the latter rain that waters the earth. – Hosea 6:1-3 AMP

Like setting a bone, He’s wounding us for our own good. In His love He’s still fighting for us – to rightly align us with Him.

For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice… – Hosea 6:6

I once heard John Bevere share a story on this that drove this point home for me. He was watching his favorite team on TV in a big game. There was 5 minutes left and he heard God asking him to go talk with Him. He said he’d give Him 4 hours later if He could just watch the end of the game, which he proceeded to do.

Afterward, he prayed for 4 hours and couldn’t feel or hear the Lord at all. Finally after begging and beseeching, God explained why — He wanted his obedience, not his sacrifice. Love obeys. Works try to sacrifice in lieu of obedience. Relationship is about love.

…besides Me there is no savior. – Hosea 13:4b

There’s only one savior. We cannot save ourselves. Our money, our good works – nothing can save us but Him. We need to stop running and be swept up into the love affair He’s offering, “accept what is good” (Hosea 14:2).

He desires we “dwell beneath His shadow” (Hosea 14:7) — close and intimate. Tender love.

Conclusion

Let those who are wise understand these things. Let those who are discerning listen carefully. The paths of the LORD are true and right, and righteous people live by walking in them. But sinners stumble and fall along the way. – Hosea 14:9 NLT 1997

Lord, help us to walk Your paths. Hedge us in. Keep us aligned with You. Be our God and let us be Your people. Thank You for Your mercy and Your steadfast love — it is a gift beyond comprehension!

4 Replies to “Unfaithful but Loved (Hosea)”

  1. Meghan, this is very beautiful. I love how the Lord is so loving in the ways in which we have hurt Him. This makes me take a look at my own life and ask, “Was I still loving when someone hurt me so deep that it felt like my heart was ripped out, stomped on, and left for dead?” He loves when we correct ourselves. It is like my daughter, I will tell her something and when she corrects it, it pleases me. However, when she corrects something that I never knew about my heart simply loves her deeper. I can only imagine the Lord doing this with us. If we, worldly people, would learn to correct ourselves- just imagine what Jesus’s heart does. I feel that I have made huge strides this last year. It isn’t by Him telling me what to do, but my heart wanting to please Him. Meghan, your love of the Lord has inspired me in so many ways. I feel Jesus on you when I come around you. Sometimes I don’t feel worthy of your love or His, but the Lord has corrected this and has shared that I am worthy of much more! How awesome is that? I see you and I am excited about one day being where you are because it is a beautiful image I can see. However, I can just imagine what God sees and how much farther I am in His eyes. Thank you so much for sharing this beautiful story. I think I want to read Hosea now. I love you very much!

  2. Kacie, you made me cry 🙂 You are SO precious — to Him and me! I love your heart because in it I see Him to clearly reflected in your love, honor and humility. I’m so blessed to know you.

    By the way, I have a feeling some Hosea art (dyed4youart.com) is gonna be coming 🙂

  3. Meghan, this is so powerful. It made me cry as I remembered how many times I too have hurt Him by allowing myself to be distracted and neglecting my intimate time with Him. Even though I love Him SO MUCH; I am all too easily caught up in so many other things…….I remember one time in particular one incident that happened about 3-4 years ago…….
    when I was totally caught up in a new relationship and without realizing it, allowed this man to become an idol …taking Jesus’ RIGHTFUL PLACE on the throne of my heart! DAYS passed without me opening my Bible or really TALKING to Him…and of course there was no intimate fellowship with Him!
    All my time was taken up with this man John! Then one day..during a call from a prayer partner;
    Jesus began speaking THROUGH HER….Meghan, He was CRYING……and SO UPSET….He said I had left Him, that He had taken John away from me because I had let him have first place in my heart…and He loved me too much to lose me….He said He KNEW about my loneliness and yearning for a husband, but that HE was my HUSBAND….He could not bear to lose that special connection and love between us. He begged me (THROUGH TEARS) to keep Him FIRST and He would meet ALL my needs. I was in the spiritual realm, with Him on His KNEES and me on MY knees also….with our arms around each other…BOTH of Us CRYING! I said “I’m SO SORRY Lord….
    I’m SO SORRY I hurt You! Please don’t cry…..I can’t bear it…. LOOK! I’m throwing him (John)away!”
    (I felt in the spiritual realm as though I LITERALLY THREW him AWAY from me! ) I said to Jesus “I don’t want him! I love YOU! I want You! You’re FIRST! You’re FIRST!” while He continued to cry in my arms… so hard I could literally FEEL His body shaking….Meghan, I felt like my HEART was being RIPPED OUT OF MY CHEST! It hurt so badly to know I had hurt Him! I was crying too and (in the spiritual realm) rubbing His back and telling Him over & over that I loved Him, and I was His…and begging Him to STOP CRYING…that I COULDN’T BEAR IT! (Him crying ) that He was “ripping my heart out”. I pulled back a little, took His face in my hands and wiped tears off His face and kissed Him…His cheeks, eyes (wet with tears still…) His forehead…His lips and then just threw my arms around His body and hugged Him tight again. His body trembled as He took a
    shaky breath…but THANK GOD He stopped crying! He really shook me up with this encounter…and I BEGGED The Holy SPirit to NEVER allow me to hurt Him like this again! I COULDN’T BEAR IT!!!! I was DUMBFOUNDED by HOW upset He was….OVER ME!!!!! And the depth of His love event hough I had hurt Him so badly! POWERFUL STUFF…….

    Love you!
    Lisa
    I

  4. Pingback: Meghan W » Blog Archive » Receiving Love

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