This morning I felt like I should read from the book of Hosea. This is not in my repertoire of normal readings, but an interesting book nonetheless. I felt like I should read from chapter six, and the following verses grabbed my attention, partly because I had highlighted them previously, but also because of the relational paradigm they entertain. Here are the verses - Hosea 6:3-4,6 NIV:
[3] "Let us acknowledge the Lord;
let us press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises, he will appear;
he will come to us like the winter rains,
like the spring rains that water the earth. ”
[4] “What can I do with you, Ephraim?
What can I do with you, Judah?
Your love is like the morning mist,
like the early dew that disappears."
[6] "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings."
In typical prophetic literature, there is a back and forth between warnings and promised blessings, and encouragements for the people and God's encouragement and perspective. These verses represent some of the promise of the Lord, His encouragement, and His desire for relationship.
Hosea calls this relational paradigm "Acknowledgement" as in admitting that He is God, that He is their Lord, that He has given them a way of life, and that He has asked them to follow it, and that He has promised blessing if they do. This is much more that just saying - yeah there's God over there. It involves a recognition of their special relationship with God.
Hosea then gives us God's perspective when He is looking at Ephraim and Judah, two of the tribes. He calls them out for their short-term love and likens it to morning mist or dew that disappear quickly, where as His love, as described in verse three, is faithful and waters the whole earth. What a vast difference in comparison! God's enduring love for us, His constant blessing, His refreshing visitations are meant to draw us deeper into relationship with Him. He is always looking towards us and desiring our relationship.
The Lord continues on and says something that Jesus later quoted (Matt 9:13), "I desire mercy, not sacrifice, acknowledgement of God, rather than burnt offerings." These two acts were the core components of the rituals of the law, and God is saying quite clearly He prefers our hearts to acknowledge and follow Him. He desires relationship over ritual! He doesn't want people following a law without embracing the whole purpose of the law, which was relationship with Him.
God speaks of the short-term love of Ephraim and Judah, and that certainly rang home with me, for so often my passion for the Lord seems short-lived and passing. I can be all gung-ho in pursuit of Him, and then something comes along and I get distracted and away my mind and heart go, pursuing something else. I am grateful that He constantly is inviting me back, welcoming me back, making every day fresh with new mercies, like a morning rain!
Lord, thank You for never turning Your back on me, for always welcoming me back into Your intimate embrace! Thank You for your faithfulness in the face of my waxing and waning passions. Thank You that You desire relationship, that You have made a way for us to have relationship, and that You are always with me! Help me to return Your love, with something more than passing love that resembles morning mist.
No comments:
Post a Comment