God’s Faithfulness to the Faithless – The Wilderness Experience 2:2–3:5

Introduction

We’ve been talking about the , 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 , 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 . 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 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 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. It seemed like a bad trick had been played on me.

I’d like to read what I wrote to God in my journal in the midst of this time:

I go through cycles of being depressed and crying and praying, having hope in You, clinging to You in the midst of fear, seeing doctors, physical therapists, or massage therapists and putting my hope, time, and energy into exercises. God, if only I knew what I’m supposed to do! Resist the enemy? Repent? Plead with You? Believe for healing? “Claim” healing? Accept life as it is? Die to my dreams? Hold on and fight for my life? Quit trying? Try harder? Exercise hard and use my hand and wrist? Rest my hand and wrist? God, somehow I need an answer. I can’t fake it and pretend I’m healed when I’m not. I can’t even believe for healing when I don’t even know if You want to heal me. But I’m so sad, especially during worship times, that all I can do is cry when I hear music and try to focus on You.

This was my wilderness at the time. I felt lost—I didn’t know what God wanted me to do, so I felt confused, and in the midst of it all there was a sense of loss and grief over not being able to play the piano. I cried a lot. I tried to trust in God, but it was hard, and I didn’t know what He wanted from me. I didn’t understand any of it. I just wanted to be better.

The wilderness is a desert—there’s no food or water, it’s hot and uncomfortable. It is a place of spiritual, financial, or emotional drought. Wildernesses can come from relationship problems— marriages, other family relationships, friendships, work relationships. Financial hardship can be a wilderness, illness and pain, death of a loved one—everyone’s wilderness is different. The wilderness is not a fun place to be, and when you’re in it, all you want to do is get out of it.

So why does God bring us to the desert? Hasn’t He promised to bless us, to heal us, to give us victory? It doesn’t sound like a very loving thing to do. It doesn’t sound like a God who is being faithful.

Hosea 2:15–16 – Husband, not Master

Let’s continue to read in Hosea, and see if God gives any more understanding about this. We’ll start where we left off, in chapter 2 verse 15:

15 “Then I will give her her vineyards from there, And the valley of Achor as a door of hope. And she will sing there as in the days of her youth, As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.

After God brings Israel into the desert, He promises to give back her vineyards—that’s one of the things that He had taken away. So He promises to restore her. And He says He will make the valley of Achor as a door of hope. Achor is the Hebrew word for trouble, so God is saying that trouble will become a door of hope. Trouble will be turned into hope. That’s encouraging!

The verse goes on to say that she will sing there (in the wilderness) as in the days of her youth—some versions say she will “respond” as in the days of her youth. Do you hear the longing in the heart of God for intimacy with His people?

But there’s more:

16 “It will come about in that day,” declares the LORD, “That you will call Me Ishi [Ishi means “husband”] And will no longer call Me Baali [which means “master”].

The people had been worshiping the false god Baal, a word that means “master.” We worship anything that we put before God, and it becomes a god to us. And all other gods will be our masters—anything else you worship ends up being a master over you—but here we read that God wants to be like a husband, not a master, to us. Once again we come to the metaphor of a marriage, speaking of the intimacy that God wants with us. He wants a relationship of love with us, not a master/servant relationship.

So now we begin to see some of the purposes of the wilderness. In the wilderness, we look to God. In the wilderness, we become desperate for Him. We feel alone, and sometimes it is only in the wilderness that God can cleanse us from the things that keep us away from Him. In the wilderness we come closer to God, and we realize that He is not our master. He loves us intimately, like a husband, and He wants us to be close to Him, by His side.

A lot of things happened while I was going through my wilderness. The day I wrote in my journal I finally came to the point where I wrote this:

“I hold on to my life so much. I want to give You everything.” At this point I prayed and submitted my children and my husband, my body and my hands, my time, and my whole life to God. Then I wrote, “God is a jealous God. He wants my heart surrendered to Him above all else. I don’t know if I’ve ever been this fully surrendered before.”

In the wilderness we come face to face with our false gods. The things in life that keep us so busy are silenced, because they can’t bring us comfort or joy. We cling to God because He is the only stable thing in our lives. And He loves the fact that we are drawing so close to Him.

Hosea 2:17–23 – Restoration of Relationship

Let’s continue reading:

17 “For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, So that they will be mentioned by their names no more. …19 “I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, In lovingkindness and in compassion, 20 And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. Then you will know the LORD. ...23 “I will sow her for Myself in the land. I will also have compassion on her who had not obtained compassion, And I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they will say, ‘You are my God!’”

Do you hear the heart of God? He longs to betroth us to Himself in righteousness, justice, lovingkindness, and compassion. Again, betrothal speaks of the metaphor of marriage. Do you think God is trying to say something here? Look at the end result of what He is wanting to do—He will say to Israel, “You are my people,” and they will respond, “You are my God!” God is faithful to keep pursuing us, to bring us to the place where we will know Him. He is always faithful, even when it doesn’t seem like He is. He is always faithful, even when we are faithless.

There’s more to the story of what happened with me. Because of the problems I had with my arm, a doctor did some more tests and they discovered a brain tumor that I had with absolutely no symptoms. I had surgery to remove it, and it was a pretty serious thing, but it could have been a lot worse if the tumor had continued to grow over a longer period of time. If I hadn’t had the issues with my arm, I don’t know when or how it would have been discovered.

I also found a piano teacher at PSU who specializes in retraining injured piano players—you can’t get much closer to what I needed than that! She not only taught me how to play without pain, but she also taught me to play more freely and expressively than I ever had before, and she helped me become a better piano teacher. I would never have researched and found her if I hadn’t had the problems with my arm. And because I met my piano teacher, I ended up studying music at PSU and getting a degree— something that had only been a dream for me before this time. All of these good things came out of a very dark wilderness time. God was not only faithful to draw me to Himself and reveal His love to me, He also brought so much good out of a very difficult time—something He didn’t have to do.

God is faithful. He is there no matter what you are going through. When you come out on the other side, you will be able to see what God has done. Whatever your wilderness is like, God is there, waiting and wanting to help you know Him as intimately as a husband, not a master. If you are in a wilderness right now, don’t fight it. Look to God and see what He wants to show you about Himself. Reach out to Him, and know that He is faithful.

Hosea 3:1–5 – Buying Back

Let’s read a few more verses from Hosea, beginning with chapter three verse 1:

3 Then the LORD said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.” 2 So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a half of barley. 3 Then I said to her, “You shall stay with me for many days. You shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man; so I will also be toward you.”… 5 Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king; and they will come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness in the last days. (NASB)

At this point, Gomer has left Hosea and is with someone else. Hosea goes and brings Gomer back to his home. He actually has to buy her, and that is a picture of God redeeming us and buying us back with the precious blood of Jesus. The love of God is relentless, even reckless. Even when Gomer is with someone else, Hosea loves her and goes to get her and bring her home. Even when our hearts go after other things and we don’t love God first, He pursues us and wants us to be with Him. We may not always see it, but God is loving and faithful all the time.

Jeremiah 15:18–19 – Giving up Distrust

Before I close, I want to read about another person in the Bible who went through some very difficult trials. In Jeremiah 15, the prophet has just been complaining to God, saying that he has delighted in God’s Word, and he has not associated with people who have turned away from God. For this he is persecuted, and listen to what he says: 18“Why has my pain been perpetual and my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will You indeed be to me like a deceptive stream with water that is unreliable?” (NASB).

Jeremiah is in his own wilderness. Here is a man who just wants to obey God and who speaks the Word of the Lord, and all he receives is persecution—eventually there is even a plot to murder him. He is often called “The Weeping Prophet” because he has such a hard life and a difficult message to speak— and he weeps a lot. Here he feels like he is all alone, and that God is even deceiving him.

But listen to God’s answer to Jeremiah. I’m reading from the Amplified Bible, which gives added detail based on the original . God says,

19“If you return [and give up this mistaken tone of distrust and despair], then I will give you again a settled place of quiet and safety, and you will be My minister; and if you separate the precious from the vile [cleansing your own heart from unworthy and unwarranted suspicions concerning God’s faithfulness], you shall be My mouthpiece.”

If you are going through a wilderness, first I want to say that it’s okay to be honest with God. I’ve written some pretty crazy things to Him in my journals. But do so, knowing that ultimately He is faithful. It is a mistake to think that God is not there and won’t take care of you. Dare to believe that He has your best in mind. Let go of distrust and unwarranted suspicions concerning God’s faithfulness. Allow Him to draw you to Himself, and let the wilderness propel you to surrender more fully to Him.

And if you’re not going through a wilderness, you will at some point—it’s part of life. Practice now having an attitude of trust, and respond even now to God’s desire for intimacy with you.

One thing we can know is that God is faithful, and He will use even the wilderness to draw us close to Him.

Larissa is going to sing a song that talks about how we feel when it doesn’t seem like God is really there or is being faithful—when we are in the wilderness. Listen to the words, express them in your heart to God if you need to, and know that He really is there and is the reason to sing.

[Larissa sing “Reason to Sing”]