Gut Punch

Hosea 11:8-10 - “Oh, how can I give you up, Israel? How can I let you go? How can I destroy you like Admah or demolish you like Zeboiim? My heart is torn within me, and my compassion overflows. No, I will not unleash my fierce anger. I will not completely destroy Israel, for I am God and not a mere mortal. I am the Holy One living among you, and I will not come to destroy. For someday the people will follow me. I, the Lord, will roar like a lion. And when I roar, my people will return trembling from the west. Like a flock of birds, they will come from Egypt. Trembling like doves, they will return from Assyria. And I will bring them home again,” says the Lord.

I must preface this and admit this is NOT what I intended to write about when I started this article. God took it in a totally different direction that, quite honestly, made me very uncomfortable. Prepare yourself for truth that comes from God, not me.

I watched the movie Redeeming Love based on the novel by Francine Rivers a few weeks ago. I must admit I had not heard of this novel. After I watched the movie, I had to do some research on the book. It turns out that the novel is loosely based on Hosea. Who knew?!? The novel/movie depicts the redemption of a woman that had been a prostitute since she was a child. It shows the story more from the prostitute’s side and garners sympathy for what she had endured. She was given to a pedophile/pimp as a child, and she did not know anything other than prostitution. This made me think about the vague history I remembered from Hosea. I remembered Gomer being a ruthless, almost Jezebel like woman. I decided I needed to re-read Hosea to determine if there was, in fact, some underlying victimhood that I was never aware of in my past readings. If you have not read Hosea in a while, I highly recommend it. It’s short enough to read in one sitting to be able to get the whole picture.

What did I discover? A God that never gives up on His beloved children. That is, in a nutshell, the redemptive story of Hosea. Gomer was a prostitute that was plucked out of her bleak life by a prophet of God and was given, undeservedly, a second chance at a good life with a good man. What did she do in return? After she bore him three children, she left him to seek out other men and returned to her harlot life. Now in the novel/movie it shows that she did that out of self-loathing and the belief that she did not deserve a good man. However, Hosea does not even hint at that possibility. I do believe that Ms. Rivers took some creative licensing with her storyline. Gomer is a representation of Israel and how they had completely, without remorse, turned their back on God. It shows how God pleads with His people to return to Him. It shows God’s never-ending patience and forgiveness.

One part of the passage above gives you a picture of just how much God loves His children. “My heart is torn within me, and my compassion overflows.” Have you ever thought of God’s heart being torn because of something you did or continue to do? Israel had turned to worshiping other gods. Verse 7 of Hosea 11 says, “For my people are determined to desert me. They call me the Most High, but they don’t truly honor me.” I hate to say this, but I believe that we as a culture, nation, and children of God are no better than the people Hosea was sent to prophesy to. We are caught up in distractions (other gods). We put other things in the place of God. We do not honor Him with our consistent time, devotion, and obedience. I think we all know that as believers we are partly to blame for the current condition of the world around us. Due to our lack of focus, prayer, commitment to God’s word and His church, we are seeing the dismantling of a culture that no longer has a moral compass.

Honestly, this is gut-wrenching to write. It hurts my spirit to know that my sins, my shortcomings, my selfishness is part of the cause for the mess we are in right now. I can only imagine if my heart hurts like this for my portion of this, how much more does God’s heart hurt to see the multitude of His children not being fully committed to Him. We are in this world but not of it. We are His Holy People. We are set apart and we must live set apart. I believe God is starting to roar, and we are starting to tremble at that roar. I also believe it is now time for us to fully return to Him so He can bring us home.

The book of Hosea is a picture of redemption. It is unimaginable hope for the wandering heart that simply must take one step back to their Father to be fully in His presence. This is a very hard, agonizing look into a mirror that most of us would like to keep tucked in a drawer. However, we can no longer hide behind our Facebooks, TikToks or news media and ignore the state of affairs we find in our world. Our children are being taught not to take their faith seriously. They are being taught that it’s ok to believe in Jesus, but don’t let Him affect your daily life. We cannot blame all of the lessons they are learning on the outside world. How seriously do we take our faith? Do we put going to church, serving God, and being obedient above everything else? If we do not, do we not think our children have noticed? That’s a gut punch, isn’t it? It hit me in the gut just to write it.

Repentance is what we need.

Redemption is what is waiting for us once we take that step,

and our redemption is not all that is hanging in the balance.