An Excerpt to Ponder

Short of the gospel of Christ,this is the greatest love story ever told.Have you ever witnessed this kind of love? I have seen glimpses of it.It exists throughout the church.But nothing truly parallels the story of Hosea and the heavenly story behind it. This is a holy love.Gomer was committed to her own desires.She looked everywhere to be filled.Hosea was committed to being a reflection of the Divine Husband.He knew it was impossible to satisfy his wife's lusts, but he kept wooing her,imploring her to turn away from her own desires and find satisfaction in marital love.Finally, he redeemed her.He bought her back.
What was all this like for Hosea?We don't really know.It had to be a painful life,filled with shame and grief,but Hosea does not offer his personal reflections.What he reports is that he simply submitted to his Lord and obeyed.
What has this been like for our Holy God?In contrast to Hosea, God has given us a profound insight into his own heart.It can be found in Hosea 11.But before considering the heart of God for his people,consider how unprecedented it is for anyone to publicly share his or her deepest feelings in the midst of unrequited love.Isn't it humiliating when people know that you are the passionate pursuer who is not even recognized by the one being pursued?You feel like a fool.God,however,opens himself to us in one of the most dramatic passages in the Bible.
In the passage that follows, remember that we ourselves are Ephraim; we are Israel.


How can I give you up,Ephraim?
How can I hand you over,Isreal?
How can I treat you like Adamah?
How can I make you like Zeboiim?
My heart is changed within me;
all my compassion is aroused.
I will not carry out my fierce anger,
nor will I devastate Ephraim again.
For I am God,and not man --
the Holy One among you.
I will not come in wrath.(Hos 11:8-9)

God begins by posing a question,"How can I give you up?"Then he gives an immediate answer, "I cannot!It is impossible.You are mine."God says he will not treat his rebellious people in the same way he allowed two sister cities of Sodom to be destroyed.(Deut 29:23)
Now notice the word "changed".It is the word God uses to describe his own heart,"My heart is changed within me."This word is rarely used in the Bible as a description of someone's emotional experience.Instead,it is often used to describe the overthrow and destruction of a city. As such, when used to describe emotional experiences, it connotes something gut-wrenching. God is saying that his insides are in turmoil on behalf of his people.This is not so much God's talking about the pain of betrayal as it is God's revealing his intense compassion for his people.It reveals the depth of his desire to bring his people back to himself.
Does this surprise you? It does me.I still sometimes get the sense that God barely let me slip in the door of his kingdom.The good folks are already in.I made it because God had to let me in. I have professed faith in Jesus as risen Lord and Christ, and therefore, God didn't have a choice.
Yet God did have a choice,and he chose to love us with a passionate, faithful love.The reason I occasionally doubt is that I am thinking that God is like us - or like me.If Gomer were my wife, my instinct would be to let her go and say "Good riddance".I would want to cut my losses and avoid the humiliation of pursuing someone who ignored me.But the passage says that God is not like me.God is God,not a man."If we are faithless, he will remain faithful,for he cannot disown himself."(2 Tim 2:13)Moreover, this is not a stoic faithfulness.It is vulnerable and passionate. It is a faithfulness so instense that God describes it as tearing at his insides.
From this you can understand how misguided it is to judge God from the perspective of what we would do in a situation.The temporal and sinful is never the standard for the holy.If we judge by our own experience,we will assume that God will eventually get fed up with us and leave us naked in the slave market. But God says to us,"I am God, and not man - the Holy One among you.I will not come in wrath."
What restrained his wrath, especially considering that God is Holy Love and Holy Justice?The reason he did not come in wrath was that his holy justice was anticipating the time when Jesus would become the slave for us.He would take the shame and rejection that was rightfully our own. In its place,he would completely forgive and justify us.Even more, he would glorify us. (Rom 8:30) He would exalt us.
God looks at his creation from the perspective of the consummation.From that vantage point he sees what his Gomer will be.She will be a radiant bride, honoured and glorified. She will be presented before God's glorious presence without fault, and she will be received by him with great joy.(Jude 24)If God is passionate about pursuing an adulterous wife, you can be certain that there will be great celebration,laughter,and joy when his wife is glorified and in his presence forever.
---- excerpt taken from "When People are big and God is small" by Edward T. Welch available at amazon.com