Today’s passage is Hosea 1:1-11. God make Hosea a prophet during the reigns of Uzziah through to Hezekiah in Judah and of Jeroboam in Israel. Because Israel had committed spiritual adultery against him, the Lord told Hosea to marry an adulterous woman. He married Gomer and had three children, the Lord telling him to name them according to what he will do with Israel and Judah. He says he will no longer show love to Israel but will to Judah and will save them. He promises that he will eventually reunite Judah and Israel and call them his people.
How have you wandered away from the Lord? (2)
Do you put your faith in the strength and promises of the world or in those of God? (7)
Do you listen closely to your pastors and small group leaders? (11)
My most famous wandering away from the Lord occurred near the end of my first marriage when I committed adultery just before my wife died of alcoholism.
I was Christian and I went to church twice a week. I prayed hard at those times, sometimes in tears. I made confession.
But my relationship to God took second place to my desire for happiness, for earthly love, and a relationship that would bring about my happiness.
I looked to a woman already practiced in adultery for an emotional security that had long vanished in my marriage.
I broke the rules of my faith to satisfy my desires.
I failed to look to God for the security I craved.
Now I wander from the Lord when I do not do my QT daily.
I recently went to Canada to visit my family and love them and encourage them to worship the Lord.
The time difference between there and here, the resulting jetlag, and the constant moving from house to house to visit my mother, sister and three children played havoc with me, which I used as an excuse not to do my QT regularly.
Posting a few QTs only made my lack of consistency more apparent.
And on my return, I missed QT again, feeling slightly righteous by going to Wednesday worship.
Where do I put my trust?
Without a doubt, it used to be in the promises of the world, in the stock market where I lost most of my pension fund, in the strength of my body and mind, in the promises of family and colleagues, in doctors, in self-help courses, and in a dozen different agencies, events and people.
When my life collapsed and I had no wife, no job and no prospects, I turned to the Lord in anger and I stayed angry until I reflected more deeply on just what was important in my life and who was important.
It took years to work through that and I’m still working through it.
But Jesus’ promises in his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) echoed in my head.
Those are great promises!
The faith of the centurion (Matt.8) continues to inspire and provoke me.
And maybe best of all is Jesus’ words to those of us weary and heavy burdened that carrying his yoke will give us peace.
There is no peace and no joy in the world and all its promises are empty as well I know.
God’s promise of salvation and all the others that follow it are what I strive to remember and hold to now.
Listening to the advice and prescriptions of the church pastors and small group leaders is hard because I still want to me my own man.
I suffer from a lack of humility.
When I run into the same attitude of my students, I shake my head and mutter, “If only they’d listen, it’s so simple!”
But that’s my ongoing struggle of pride and self-centeredness.
Even when my wife gives me good advice and says, “You should do this,” I still sometimes get upset and angrily respond, especially if it’s about something I’ve done or not done with a mokjang member or a teacher or staff member or student. Every moment of anger is a strike against love, against my God.
Application: Do my daily QT and trust in the Lord for insight and understanding.
Lord, let me look no further than you and your holy Word for security and strength. Let me not turn away from your love by wanting my own way. Curb my anger, I pray, especially towards those I love most.
