Redeeming Love

I cannot stress enough how applicable the Bible is and how personal a relationship with God is. Going through the book of Hosea was intimidating to me at first because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to make it practical and interesting the whole way through with every chapter. It's a good thing God took care of that problem when He had the book written. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, "All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training for righteousness. It is enough that God has said it, but He has gone a step further and has proved it to me consistently with every chapter.
In Hosea 3, God's love is displayed in undeserved faithfulness to an idolatrous people. He commands Hosea to buy back his wife. He does so and tells her in vs. 3, "You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you." God expects the same of us, but He is there with us the whole way. Just as Hosea said, "so will I also be to you", God will also be the same to us. We owe it to God to be faithful, but God owes us nothing. It is such a strong display of how far reaching God's love goes. Also, as Hosea bought back his wife, Jesus did the same. Mark 10:45 says, "For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many." Hosea told her, "You must dwell as mine for many days." In vs. 4 it says, "For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods. I mentioned last week that I have trouble relating to having "idols". Vs. 4 has helped me see it from a different perspective. When I thought of these things mentioned like king or prince, sacrifice or pillar, ephod or household god, with the exception of household god, these things are not necessarily evil, but God has stripped them of these to draw them back to Him. It has made me realize how I forget God because of business in my life. In vs. 5 it says that, "Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days." Coming to God in fear really is something that is downplayed. Gus spoke of it in Sunday School how people treat Jesus as a peer and not as our redeemer. It is apparent in our literature. I don't intend to tear down the author of "The Shack", but I want to point out my own deficiency. In the book the main character was in the presence of God blatantly swearing when the Bible warns against the tongue as being set on fire of Hell. When I read it, I didn't even think of how Moses was afraid to look on the face of God when He appeared to him in the burning bush. I not only forget God, but forget his role in my life. Yes God is my friend and yes He is closer than a brother, but do I live my life for a friend? Do I die daily to my flesh because God and I are "tight like that"? God paid the ultimate price of leaving His son to die at the hands of the ones He created so that an unfaithful people could have a relationship with Him. God is my King. That is why Israel went without one, because they forgot who God was.