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God's Faithfulness to the Faithless – the Wilderness Experience Hosea

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God's Faithfulness to the Faithless – the Wilderness Experience Hosea God’s Faithfulness to the Faithless – The Wilderness Experience Hosea 2:2–3:5 Introduction We’ve been talking about the book of Hosea, and the idea that God is faithful to the faithless. So far what has happened is that God has told Hosea to marry a prostitute, and that this would be a picture of God’s relationship with the people of Israel. So Hosea marries Gomer, and then she has three children. The names of the three children do not seem that great—the first one is a prophecy about the fall of Israel, the second one is called “Not Loved,” and the third one is “Not My People.” Nice names! Not something we would ever want to call our children, but God is making a statement about how the people of Israel have treated Him. This does not seem like a very nice story. Poor Hosea is told to marry a girl who is only going to be unfaithful to him. As for the Israelites, God tells them that they are like unfaithful Gomer—and that description extends to us. Does it make you feel good to be told you are like a prostitute? Larissa shared last week that God is letting us know that when we sin, it is as serious as being unfaithful in a marriage. As we continue to read in Hosea, it’s about God and His love for Israel, but it also relates to us today and the relationship that God wants with us. Hosea 2:2–13 – Israel’s Faithlessness Condemned So now let’s go on with our story—I’m going to read quite a bit right from the book of Hosea, because it continues to tell what was happening. We’ll start with chapter 2, verse 2: “Contend with your mother, contend, For she is not my wife, and I am not her husband; And let her put away her harlotry from her face And her adultery from between her breasts, 3 Or I will strip her naked And expose her as on the day when she was born. I will also make her like a wilderness, Make her like desert land And slay her with thirst. 4 “Also, I will have no compassion on her children, Because they are children of harlotry. 5 “For their mother has played the harlot; She who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, Who give me my bread and my water, My wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’ 6 “Therefore, behold, I will hedge up her way with thorns, And I will build a wall against her so that she cannot find her paths. 7 “She will pursue her lovers, but she will not overtake them; And she will seek them, but will not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go back to my first husband, For it was better for me then than now!’ 8 “For she does not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the new wine and the oil, And lavished on her silver and gold, Which they used for Baal. 9 “Therefore, I will take back My grain at harvest time And My new wine in its season. I will also take away My wool and My flax Given to cover her nakedness. 10 “And then I will uncover her lewdness In the sight of her lovers, And no one will rescue her out of My hand. 11 “I will also put an end to all her gaiety, Her feasts, her new moons, her sabbaths And all her festal assemblies. 12 “I will destroy her vines and fig trees, Of which she said, ‘These are my wages Which my lovers have given me.’ And I will make them a forest, And the beasts of the field will devour them. 13 “I will punish her for the days of the Baals When she used to offer sacrifices to them And adorn herself with her earrings and jewelry, And follow her lovers, so that she forgot Me,” declares the LORD. (NASB) Wow! This doesn’t sound very good! And it doesn’t really sound like God is being faithful. It starts by saying Israel is not His wife, and He is not her husband. He speaks about her adultery and harlotry, which is a reference to Israel worshiping other gods. It says He’s going to hedge up Israel’s way with thorns, build a wall against her so she cannot find her paths, take back His grain at harvest time and His new wine in its season, take away His wool and flax given to cover her nakedness, He will put an end to her gaiety, her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, He will destroy her vines and fig trees and make them a forest, and He will punish her for the days of the Baals. That sounds kind of mean—it sounds like God is just punishing her. How is this God being faithful when Israel is being faithless? It doesn’t seem to make sense. However, we do see glimpses of God’s faithfulness in the midst of these verses. Even when Israel went after other gods, God was providing for her, but she didn’t realize it. It says, “For she does not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the new wine and the oil, and lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.” So God was providing, although the people took God’s blessings and used them in their service of other gods. And the things that are happening to Israel are with the hope that she will come back to her senses— “Then she will say, ‘I will go back to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now!’” We see the heart of God in longing for His people to come back to an intimate relationship with Him. Hosea 2:14 – The Wilderness The next verses help give some understanding of God’s faithfulness in the midst of Israel’s faithlessness. We see the heart of God even more. Let’s continue to read. Verse 14 says, “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, bring her into the wilderness and speak kindly to her.” What does “allure” mean? It means “to powerfully attract or charm.” So God is going to powerfully attract Israel to go in the wilderness. He doesn’t drive her there, or drag her there, or force her there. He allures her. But what is the wilderness? These days when we use the word “wilderness” we sometimes think about hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and seeing beautiful views in places where few people go. The “wilderness” is almost romanticized. But in the Bible when they talk about the wilderness, it’s the desert—the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, and it was not fun! The desert is a place of hardship, of need, of trials. And when you’re in the wilderness, all you want to do is get out of there. The wilderness is what Israel experiences with all those things that God is doing to make life hard for her—hedging up the way with thorns, taking away the grain and wine, destroying the vines and fig trees, and taking away all the gaiety and celebrations. So why does God want to “allure” Israel—or us—into the wilderness? I’ve had a few personal wilderness experiences—I’m sure most, if not all, of you have, too. I think we go through various wildernesses throughout our lives. I’d like share one of them with you. This may not be as big as your wilderness, but they come in many different ways, some lasting longer than others. I want to share this because of what God brought out of it in the end. I had played the piano since I was a young child, but since high school hadn’t done much besides playing in church. I was pretty busy with our family and home schooling our children. But around the year 2001 I began to have a longing to do more with music—I realized how much I loved it and how much I wanted to play more and maybe even study music. Our kids were getting older, and I had more time to pursue some personal interests. So I got tons of books and videos from the library— the limit at the time was 150, and I maxed out my limit. I realized there were ways to learn so many different styles that I was interested in. I started practicing more, but I ended up practicing so much that I developed pain in my right arm, and it began bothering me every time I played. I went to the doctor, who first said it was carpal tunnel syndrome, and she matter-of-factly told me I’d probably have to stop playing the piano, possibly for good. I couldn’t believe it! Just when I felt like a whole world was opening up before me, I felt like it was being taken away. Eventually I learned that it was probably tendonitis, but it didn’t make any difference—it hurt to play the piano. I remember sitting in my closet—we had a big closet that was made out of a hallway—and just crying and praying. This desire had just been rekindled in my heart; I had been so excited to learn more and play the piano more.
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