“Come, and let us return to the LORD; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up.”
Hosea 6:1
Over my thirty plus years of ministry I have spent many hours counseling married couples. I always tell couples who come to see me for marriage advice that they will not shock me with anything they tell me, and trust me when I say this, I have indeed heard it all. But that doesn’t mean each situation isn’t unique because in the scheme of things, every couple’s scenario is unique to them and presents a challenge that is new to them.
This is true of one particular situation while ministering out west. As in many cases, the counseling started over the phone on a Monday morning. A young man who was a local farrier, started attending church with his seven-year-old daughter. After a few weeks in attendance he gave his life to Christ, as my close friend and local veterinarian Greg led him to saving faith.
As time went on the young farrier and I developed a good rapport, and that is when the call came in. He explained to me that he and his wife have been separated for more than a year and she was seeking a divorce from him. I can accurately say, this young man loved his estranged wife unconditionally and though she was unfaithful to him, he was willing to forgive her and take her back. But what is most important about this situation of disloyalty, is the fact that she was not just unfaithful but also was carrying the child of the man she was having the affair with.
As time went on, the young man’s wife agreed to meet with him in my office in order to come to an agreement as to what to do next. The farrier took a day off from work, met his wife at the steps of the church and walked into my office together. Normally, I would say this was a good sign but it was short lived as the couple shared their separate desires for the future of their marriage.
With tears streaming down her face this young wife and mother said she did not love her husband, nor wanted to stay married to him. She said she loved the other man and was having his baby. Yet, the husband said that he loved her and loved no other, and if she was willing to return to him, he would raise the other man’s child as if it were his own. Unfortunately, his wife gave a resounding “No” and walked out of my office never again to be seen by me.
As I recall this counseling session to mind, I remember feeling sad for the couple. I was sad not just for the poor outcome, but the future effect it would have not only on them, but on their daughter’s life and that of the unborn child. I was also sad because as determined as I was to help them get back together, my efforts were lost in the moment. It’s true, I cannot make anyone turn their marriage around, they must want it first, they must be willing to love, forgive, and heal. They must be on the same page, determined to do things the right way, willing to allow God to work in their life, willing to make Christ, Lord over their life. As I think back over the years that have past, I wonder where they all are now, I still wonder how it turned out. Only God knows for sure.
In some ways this tragic story reminds me of God’s dealing with Hosea and Gomer. You will recall that God told Hosea to take for himself a wife of “whoredom and to have children of whoredom.” It seemed to be an unreasonable command but is best brought to light when we read one of the key verses found in chapter 3:1 Here the Lord says, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the Lord for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans.” As Hosea began his ministry during a time of prosperity for the upper class of Israelites while at the same time oppressing the poor. The northern kingdom was in moral decline under the reign of Jeroboam II and with any moral decline comes the desire to serve other gods and live for self.
CALLING ISRAEL FOR WHAT SHE WAS
Forgive me for my crudeness, but there is no polite way of saying this, so I am just going to say it like it is: Israel played the part of a whore when it came to their faithfulness (lack thereof) to God. They craved and sought after an illicit relationship with Assyria and Egypt in the hope of becoming stronger militarily. In the process they mixed their worship of the One true God with Baal worship, making their worship of God null and void.
CALLING ISRAEL BACK FROM THE EDGE OF THE PIT
In some ways, Israel was heading for a great pit of which there would be no climbing out of. They had lost their way, heading in the wrong direction, and walking dangerously toward a pit of which they would never climb out of. But just as Hosea went after his unfaithful wife, with the desire to bring her back to him, so it is God was pursuing Israel with His tender and passionate love.
God would over time, discipline his people for the sin of idolatry, their sin of unfaithfulness, but it is always with the desire to restore them to a healthy relationship with Him. Through discipline and sometime severe discipline, God will wake His people up out of their stupor of unfaithfulness—He does this through repentance.
THE CALL OF REPENTANCE RATHER THAN MANAGEMENT
The bottom line for the Christian is; if you want the right relationship with your heavenly Father and you are living in sin, living unfaithful to Him, you need to turn the corner with God through repentance. To repent means to turn around, go in the opposite direction. You don’t rationalize your sin away, you don’t manage your life to “look good on paper,” you deal with your life honestly and openly, confessing your sin, repenting, doing life in Jesus the right way—faithfulness to Him who saved you. And let’s face it, we might be fooling everyone around us, but we are not fooling God. He takes spiritual adultery very seriously. Revisiting Hosea has caused me to reevaluate my view of faithfulness to God. How about you, are you doing some reevaluating at the moment?
This is Pastor Pat FROM BEHIND THE PEN wishing you Joy in Jesus!