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During the past year I had the privilege to travel a lot with a friend of mine around the North Eastern United States. We have spent countless hours racking up miles in my Ford Taurus. Normally, we enjoyed our time traveling but there were rare occasions where we would be come frustrated. While the average person gets overly aggravated at slow moving traffic or construction, we became irritated when we were driving the opposite direction of the sunset. There is nothing that dampers my spirit more then having to see God’s beauty out of a tiny mirror looking backwards. Yet, all too often this seems to be the preferred way of meeting God today. We pray to see God’s beauty and presence in front of us, but instead we spend too much time looking back.
Hosea is possibly one of the most romantic yet discarded love stories in the Bible. Hosea was a prophet who was given a strange direction by God – go and take a woman who he knew would be unfaithful as his wife. Okay, so at first glance it doesn’t seem that romantic, but it is…because it’s our story. The book of Hosea is God’s plea to us to cease being unfaithful to him. It’s a reminder of everything that he has done for us but more importantly shows us the beauty of what God is currently doing in our lives as well. Think about the person you love the most in this world. If you only love that individual for what they once did for you and continually live in the past you have a pretty poor relationship. Instead, we should wake up every morning and be in relationship with that person for whom they currently are. Love is in the current moment and not just the past. We need to take time not only to reflect on what God has done but search for what he is doing now. God is unchanging and so is his love towards us, but this doesn’t mean that our love for God and his love for us is not renewed every morning.
“When Israel was a child, I loved him.” Take a moment a substitute your name in for Israel. In the Old Testament, Israel was the name of the collective chosen people of God. Today, you and I are the still the chosen people of God, the new Israel, the new gathering of those who love God, if you will. When the Church, the collective body of Christ brought together because of the love of Christ, was brand new in the 1st CE AD, God loved her. When the Church approaches God with a renewed attitude everyday, He loves us. It goes beyond that, though. When Michelle was a child, God loved her enough to speak a plan over her life, to knit her in Dottie’s womb and to place reminders of his presence daily in her life, if she would only open up her eyes and see. God loves us each with the intensity that a mother loves her child, only wanting our love in return.
He loves us enough to call us out of the captivity that has taken a hold of our lives. When I was in Russia I helped at a young adult retreat, where the theme was victory in Christ. Here I got a whole new perspective on the things in life that hold us captive. We feel bound by guilt and imperfections. By addictions. By how we see ourselves. By how we have treated others. And somehow we become so caught up in the things that keep us captive that we cannot see God right in front of us yearning to set us free. Gomer, the woman who was taken as a wife by Hosea, was so imprisoned by prostitution that she didn’t see that Hosea wanted to set her free by loving her. God is calling us to exit out captivity like he called the Israelites out of their captivity in Egypt. He sees our need, and he meets us where we need him the most. More often then not in situations where we feel imprisoned we ask “where is God?” but maybe we need to be asking “are we letting God be God?” Are we looking at the extension of God’s grace in front of us or like Gomer are we not acknowledging that God is enormous enough to heal any wound and set us free from any captivity? Do we see the problem as being bigger then the Almighty Creator of the Universe? He created the stars, placed the sun the perfect distance from the earth, etc. Yet he can’t handle my problem. Are we moving away from God the more he is calling us by constantly trying to handle our problems on our own or we ask other people for help and advice before we ask God? The more he is extending his love towards us are we shying away, not seeing how the love of God can heal all wounds?
We need to look to verses 3 and 4 from the scripture lesson when we are blinded to God’s immense presence in front of us. “It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up in my arms; but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love.” Another version says ‘But they don’t know or even care that it was I, the Lord God, who took care of them.’ Here is another one of those places where we need to substitute our names into the passage. It was God, the Creator and Sustainer of all that lives and moves and breathes that taught Michelle how to walk through life. This does not mean that God abandons us blindly stumble through life on our own. He took time to teach us how to walk like a loving parent teaches their children. And when we do stumble and fall God picks us up, and gently urges us to try again. What a better way to see the overpowering present love of God then when he picks us up when we fall?
I have been spending a lot of time talking to my close circle of friends about scars. Mostly because we all have them. Some of us have been physically hurt by others and ourselves. We have emotional wounds that no one can see but that hurt us everyday. One of the quotes that we’ve been exploring a lot is that God is in our scars. At first glance this seems to be saying that God caused our scars but really it is saying that God loves us so much that he is the healing agent in our wounds. He reaches deep inside of us, where it hurts the most, and brings wholeness if we’d only let him.
In verses 5-7 God is crying out of his discouragement towards his children. But this is where most people get caught. They forget to look in front of them to see God in the rising sun each day or at their wounds to see how God has brought about healing. They don’t see him as a daily presence in their lives. They are so blind they think God has abandoned them. This leads to complaining, a manifestation of our blindness of God in our lives. If we would look in front of us to see the grace we are given every day we really wouldn’t have a reason to complain.
We don’t look towards verse 8- 9 where God says he could never abandon us. We are marked with his love. We cannot out sin God’s grace. Like the lost Israelites or Gomar we need to return to God. Lying ourselves at his feet and thanking him from the depths of our hearts for the grace and countless blessings that he has lavished upon us. I think if we were honest with ourselves we would see that we could become closer to God. Intimacy always leaves rooms to grow closer and to see something new, just like there is always a new color or striking aspect of beauty in the sunset.
My friend Matt is a musician who is working on producing an album to speak to Christians. After a recent discussion where we were talking about not being able to outsin God’s grace Matt penned this song that I want to share with you.
(my apologies to Matt if you are reading this – I didn’t know what the revision of Lily ended up being so I used this.)
Hosea is possibly one of the most romantic yet discarded love stories in the Bible. Hosea was a prophet who was given a strange direction by God – go and take a woman who he knew would be unfaithful as his wife. Okay, so at first glance it doesn’t seem that romantic, but it is…because it’s our story. The book of Hosea is God’s plea to us to cease being unfaithful to him. It’s a reminder of everything that he has done for us but more importantly shows us the beauty of what God is currently doing in our lives as well. Think about the person you love the most in this world. If you only love that individual for what they once did for you and continually live in the past you have a pretty poor relationship. Instead, we should wake up every morning and be in relationship with that person for whom they currently are. Love is in the current moment and not just the past. We need to take time not only to reflect on what God has done but search for what he is doing now. God is unchanging and so is his love towards us, but this doesn’t mean that our love for God and his love for us is not renewed every morning.
“When Israel was a child, I loved him.” Take a moment a substitute your name in for Israel. In the Old Testament, Israel was the name of the collective chosen people of God. Today, you and I are the still the chosen people of God, the new Israel, the new gathering of those who love God, if you will. When the Church, the collective body of Christ brought together because of the love of Christ, was brand new in the 1st CE AD, God loved her. When the Church approaches God with a renewed attitude everyday, He loves us. It goes beyond that, though. When Michelle was a child, God loved her enough to speak a plan over her life, to knit her in Dottie’s womb and to place reminders of his presence daily in her life, if she would only open up her eyes and see. God loves us each with the intensity that a mother loves her child, only wanting our love in return.
He loves us enough to call us out of the captivity that has taken a hold of our lives. When I was in Russia I helped at a young adult retreat, where the theme was victory in Christ. Here I got a whole new perspective on the things in life that hold us captive. We feel bound by guilt and imperfections. By addictions. By how we see ourselves. By how we have treated others. And somehow we become so caught up in the things that keep us captive that we cannot see God right in front of us yearning to set us free. Gomer, the woman who was taken as a wife by Hosea, was so imprisoned by prostitution that she didn’t see that Hosea wanted to set her free by loving her. God is calling us to exit out captivity like he called the Israelites out of their captivity in Egypt. He sees our need, and he meets us where we need him the most. More often then not in situations where we feel imprisoned we ask “where is God?” but maybe we need to be asking “are we letting God be God?” Are we looking at the extension of God’s grace in front of us or like Gomer are we not acknowledging that God is enormous enough to heal any wound and set us free from any captivity? Do we see the problem as being bigger then the Almighty Creator of the Universe? He created the stars, placed the sun the perfect distance from the earth, etc. Yet he can’t handle my problem. Are we moving away from God the more he is calling us by constantly trying to handle our problems on our own or we ask other people for help and advice before we ask God? The more he is extending his love towards us are we shying away, not seeing how the love of God can heal all wounds?
We need to look to verses 3 and 4 from the scripture lesson when we are blinded to God’s immense presence in front of us. “It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up in my arms; but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love.” Another version says ‘But they don’t know or even care that it was I, the Lord God, who took care of them.’ Here is another one of those places where we need to substitute our names into the passage. It was God, the Creator and Sustainer of all that lives and moves and breathes that taught Michelle how to walk through life. This does not mean that God abandons us blindly stumble through life on our own. He took time to teach us how to walk like a loving parent teaches their children. And when we do stumble and fall God picks us up, and gently urges us to try again. What a better way to see the overpowering present love of God then when he picks us up when we fall?
I have been spending a lot of time talking to my close circle of friends about scars. Mostly because we all have them. Some of us have been physically hurt by others and ourselves. We have emotional wounds that no one can see but that hurt us everyday. One of the quotes that we’ve been exploring a lot is that God is in our scars. At first glance this seems to be saying that God caused our scars but really it is saying that God loves us so much that he is the healing agent in our wounds. He reaches deep inside of us, where it hurts the most, and brings wholeness if we’d only let him.
In verses 5-7 God is crying out of his discouragement towards his children. But this is where most people get caught. They forget to look in front of them to see God in the rising sun each day or at their wounds to see how God has brought about healing. They don’t see him as a daily presence in their lives. They are so blind they think God has abandoned them. This leads to complaining, a manifestation of our blindness of God in our lives. If we would look in front of us to see the grace we are given every day we really wouldn’t have a reason to complain.
We don’t look towards verse 8- 9 where God says he could never abandon us. We are marked with his love. We cannot out sin God’s grace. Like the lost Israelites or Gomar we need to return to God. Lying ourselves at his feet and thanking him from the depths of our hearts for the grace and countless blessings that he has lavished upon us. I think if we were honest with ourselves we would see that we could become closer to God. Intimacy always leaves rooms to grow closer and to see something new, just like there is always a new color or striking aspect of beauty in the sunset.
My friend Matt is a musician who is working on producing an album to speak to Christians. After a recent discussion where we were talking about not being able to outsin God’s grace Matt penned this song that I want to share with you.
(my apologies to Matt if you are reading this – I didn’t know what the revision of Lily ended up being so I used this.)
You said that’s a clever line
From a fake, romantic storyline
I must have got from a movie.
You don’t wanna talk about why
You lost the sparkle in your eyes
That I feel in love with as a kid
Lily, why you gotta beat yourself down,
You cry and cry ‘til you make no sound
And you call yourself names and dig into veins
But Lily, Jesus loves you just the same.
I wish there was a Christmas Island
Where we could all be friends
And only talk by laughing
And all the internal wars would end
And everything would feel like home
I wish I felt like home to you
But you’re so unhappy
You could be happy
I wish you were happy
Because everyone deserves to come back home.
Because Jesus loves you just the same.
If today you feel like God has abandoned you or unloved or unhappy, stop looking at God’s grace through the small mirror of recollection. Remember that you cannot outsin God’s grace for God’s divine love in so much stronger then any concept we have of God’s vengeance that binds us. Because Jesus loves you just the same. May you remember that in a new way everyday as you look afresh on what God is doing in your life.
Amen.
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