Editor’s Note: Today’s devotional is written by Cami King of JCC.
Devotional Thoughts for Today
Hosea 3
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.” 2 So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a half of barley. 3 Then I said to her, “You shall stay with me for many days. You shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man; so I will also be toward you.” 4 For the sons of Israel will remain for many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar and without ephod or household idols. 5 Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king; and they will come trembling to the Lord and to His goodness in the last days.
Rick Warren developed a Bible study tool for narratives called “Picture It,” where you imagine yourself as a character from a Bible story to get a richer understanding of what the passage is trying to teach. While not the most rigorous tool in the arsenal, it’s a useful one for the book of Hosea. This short chapter is full of so much drama that it can seem unbelievably fictional. But it’s not some made up drama. It’s a true story of a real man and his real wife that God is using to show his people what their relationship with him really looks like. And I think we stand to learn much from it about the heart of our faithful God.
Picture it: you’re Hosea. How would you feel if the woman you loved left you to be with other men? What kind of heart would you have to have in order to still love her after that – and not just a feeling of love, but to also do love towards her by finding and rescuing her, overcoming your pride and publically loving her. What would you have been thinking or doing those lonely nights when she was away? As you headed to the auction block, what would be running through your mind? How would you feel as you watched her exposed and being sold to the highest bidder? How would you feel as you gave your precious resources to buy back your own wife? Slow down and try to imagine.
Most of us read this story absolutely furious with Gomer. We want to scream, “What are you doing? Don’t you see? Stop this right now!” But as Brooke Frasier once said, “We are Hosea’s wife.” We are constantly turning away from God who loves us more than anything and prostituting our hearts in worship of far less worthy lovers. And it’s easy to forget that with God, we are in a relationship with a real personal being. And while He’s faithful beyond measure, His faithfulness looks like something, feels like something, and costs something (just as it did for Hosea). May our hearts be moved as we remember the loyal love and faithfulness of our God today!
Prayer: Precious Savior, You are faithful (slow down and really declare those words to the Lord). My heart is so prone to wander, and I am constantly turning away from the life You offer me with You, to live my own way. Please forgive me. But no matter where I go, Your goodness and loyal love do indeed pursue me wherever I go. And for that, I am deeply grateful.
Bible Reading for Today: Ecclesiastes 7
Lunch Break Study
Read Exodus 34:5-8: The Lord descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the Lord. 6 Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; 7 who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” 8 Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship.
Questions to Consider:
- When the Lord reveals Himself (shows His glory) to Moses on Mount Sinai, how does He describe Himself? What do each of these characteristics mean, and what kind of picture does this passage paint of what God is like?
- What do you think the Lord means by His words in the last clause of verse 7? How did we see this at work in our passage from this morning?
Notes:
- (1) Compassionate & (2) Gracious – God’s compassion and grace work hand in hand. The first is the feeling in His heart concerning us that leads to acts of benevolence toward us. (3) Slow to anger – God is patient. While He does get angry in the face of sin and brokenness, He is slow to punish us in hopes that we will repent and be saved. (4) Abounding in lovingkindness – this is God’s loyal or covenantal love that endures forever. This is what we see playing out in Hosea. (5) Abounding in truth – As Jesus said, He himself is the truth. (6) Keeps lovingkindness for thousands – God’s love spreads wide and is offered to all who will believe. (7) Forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin – God forgives; He makes a way for us to be forgiven instead of being punished. (8) By no means leaves the guilty unpunished – God is also just, so His grace isn’t cheap. He doesn’t just overlook sin – He either punishes it or atones for it.
- “Visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” This can be a tough phrase to understand. Elsewhere in Scripture we learn that no man is punished for something He didn’t himself do. So what is God saying here? Sometimes, God gives people up to their own sin and allows the natural consequences of those sins to play out. Commentators call this God’s “passive judgment” where He isn’t necessarily punishing actively, but allowing sin to take its full course. And as many of us have experienced, the consequences of our patterns of sin affects those closest to us – especially our children.
In this morning’s passage, we saw that God would leave His people without king or sacrifice (v. 4). Because of their rebellion (they turned away from God’s king and from worship of Him), they would go without a king and without worship (sacrificial system) for a time before God restored them. This would help them to see the full weight of their sin and rebellion against the Lord and send them running back to Him.
Evening Reflection
What are the other “lovers” in your life that draw your heart away from the Lord? In other words, what things are you willing to compromise for? Is it career and success? Having a certain kind of lifestyle or a certain kind of family? Is it recognition or the approval of others? Is it wealth and comfort? We all have altars where we offer devotion (our time, treasure, talents) to achieve things we think will satisfy us or make us happy. Spend some time identifying those areas and offering them to the Lord, asking for freedom. Remember Hosea’s wife and ask God to give you singular devotion to Him alone. Remind yourself of God’s great love for you and all He has done to buy you back from bondage to those things.
History is filled with people who have sought meaning in philosophy—only to be disillusioned by the fruitlessness of their search. One such person was Justin Martyr (born in the early 2nd century A.D.), who attempted to find fulfillment in the Greek philosophy of Stoicism. Unconvinced, he then cycled through the teachings of different philosophers but was never completely satisfied. Around A.D. 130, conversations with an elderly believer led Justin Martyr to surrender his life to Jesus and experience a powerful life transformation.
I’m sure at one point, all of us have thought about “the one.” It’s this person who embodies all of our dreamy attributes or perfect personality traits to fit our every need and desire. But as you get older, this list gets shorter and shorter because we begin to see that there is no such person.
Have you ever had someone take credit for your hard work? I’m sure all of us have stories where we did all the work, put in the hours and the effort, but someone else unrightfully took all the glory. The worst part is when the other is valued for work that we did. Surely it wasn’t a good feeling and thus perhaps we can understand God’s anger in this passage a little better. The Israelites have done two things: they attributed the blessings from God to their idols, but more importantly robbed God of His glory. How often do we find ourselves following in the same footsteps? Some of us attribute it to luck or even coincidence. Some of us think we deserve it because we’re the ones who put the work in. In all this we put pride in ourselves and forget it was God who has brought us this far, and placed us here. Rather than having hearts of gratitude, we develop hearts of consumerism, constantly wanting more and failing to discern between our needs with our wants. John Calvin consequently describes our neglect as, “thrusting God from his preeminence, and insult his glory.” As the year is coming to an end and we celebrate Christmas, let us give thanks and glory to God for all that he has done for us. Let us give credit where credit is due.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you suddenly became famous and made your debut? Who would be there and what would you be doing? Messing up would not be an option since your precious reputation is on the line.
In your small group, would you say you are vulnerable about your struggles? It takes great courage to be vulnerable. We may not be vulnerable for fear of feeling shame.
December is an opportunity to reflect on the powerful message of Christmas. If I could sum up the message of Christmas in one word, it would be presence. There is power in “being with” people because presence communicates love. I came to grasp the power of presence for the first time during the summer after my sophomore year in college. I met with a Christian counselor once a week during that summer. The reason was, during the spring of sophomore year, I fell into mild depression. I lost a lot of joy in doing regular things. All I wanted to do was sleep so I could numb away my feelings. It was hard to study, and hard to worship! I was bearing a lot of hurt and anger towards my father, who was absent for a majority of my upbringing. During one session, as I shared my pain to my counselor, she cried and mourned with me over my pain. It was such a powerful moment. I felt like she was sincerely identifying with me in my pain. She was present with me with her ears and her heart. By her presence in my brokenness, I regained the strength to heal and to have joy. By her “being with” me, I felt like God’s love was so near to me.
Batman has been and will always be one of the greatest and well-loved superheroes. But the main reason Batman is so adored is not because he has super-human strength (he doesn’t), nor is it because he can fly (he can’t); he can’t turn invisible or shoot lasers from his eyes either. I think the thing about Batman that draws us to him is the fact that Batman is “one of us.” Yes, he fights for justice and defeats bad guys, but when it comes down to it, Batman is like us—fully human!
In 2010, I was on a short-term mission trip to Northeast China. Traveling to different villages, we preached and taught many pastors who had gathered from surrounding villages. It was during one of these secret gatherings that the police barged in. Four policemen kicked the door open and immediately arrested my pastor and his translator. Within moments, he was put into the police car and driven to the police station, hours away. I began to panic.
There are moments in life when God’s faithfulness comes into focus, when we go past trusting in God’s promises to experiencing them in their fullness in our personal lives. Those are precious moments. Mordecai and the people of God are having one such moment. They have walked through hardship and persecution, through fear and uncertainty, they’ve fasted and prayed, hoped and depended upon the Lord; and now they are delighting in the fruit of God’s faithfulness. And moreover, because of their dependence upon God through difficulties, many others have come to know the Lord as well – they saw that God’s blessing was upon the Jews and wanted in.