Hosea's Wife

"...She said, 'I will go after my lovers, who give me my food and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink.' Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way. She will chase after her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them. Then she will say, 'I will go back to my husband as at first, for then I was better off than now.' She has not acknowledged that I was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil, who lavished on her the silver and gold— which they used for Baal. "Therefore I will take away my grain when it ripens, and my new wine when it is ready. I will take back my wool and my linen, intended to cover her nakedness. So now I will expose her lewdness before the eyes of her lovers; no one will take her out of my hands. I will stop all her celebrations: her yearly festivals, her New Moons, her Sabbath days—all her appointed feasts. I will ruin her vines and her fig trees, which she said were her pay from her lovers; I will make them a thicket, and wild animals will devour them. I will punish her for the days she burned incense to the Baals; she decked herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers, but me she forgot," declares the LORD. "Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor (trouble) a door of hope. There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt. "In that day," declares the LORD, "you will call me 'my husband'; you will no longer call me 'my master.' I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips; no longer will their names be invoked... I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the LORD.
(Hosea 2:5-18, 20)



For years this passage of Scripture has haunted me. Why you may ask? Well, because it is addressed to me.

Okay, if you're recoiling with shock that I would define myself as a adulterous wife, allow me to explain further. Throughout Scripture, God refers to Himself as the husband of His people. The church and the nation of Israel, are, by definition, His wife. This is, in my opinion, the most beautiful illustration of intimate relationship with the Lord that is contained in the Word of God. The fact that the God of creation, the God who sits on His throne majestic and glorious wants a relationship with His people that is marked by the intimacy, the exclusivism, and the love of a husband and a wife makes me shake my head with incredulous wonder.

So, back to the adulterous wife confession. The truth is that even though I don't like to admit it, I share more of Israel's spiritual heritage than I wish I did. I am "skillful at pursuing love" (Jer. 2:33) and yet, as the Lord prophetically expressed in Jeremiah, I continually find that I am "disappointed by Egypt just as I was by Assyria". (Jer. 2:36) Every time, same scenario. I, like Gomer, Hosea's adulterous wife described above, pursue other lovers rather than the love of my Husband. (Jer 2:1) Instead of finding all that I need and desire in my God, I attempt to find it in other things and people (my modern day Egypt and Assyria). And when I do, I "leave that place [or person or thing] with my hands on my head, for the Lord rejects those I trust and I am not helped by them." (Jer. 2:37) Every single other love falls short. People are great and they reflect the greatness of God, but they are not my God. Opportunities are wonderful and God-given, but they are not my God either. When they become so, they become idols, snares, and adulterous lovers that take me away from my one true love- Jesus Christ.

I have been following Christ for almost 9 years now. He transformed me the day that I chose to follow Him and He has been transforming me ever since. My life has yielded testimony after testimony of His deliverance, His mercy, His provision, His goodness. I will stand up and praise Him in the assembly every day of my life for all He has done. I know that He is real. He speaks to me daily. He convicts me and encourages me. He guides me. He comforts me. He is my life. In Him is everything beautiful and good and pure and joyful and holy. The fullness of all I need and dream of.

And yet, I am easily wayward. Prone to stray and squander my life on lesser things. To exchange the glory of God for created things. I wonder how many times I'll need to see that God is the only one who has ever "given me my food and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink". How many times I'll forget the one I love and go off in search of other lovers. How many good gifts He will give me and face the pain of my accrediting them to a mere mortal. Or how many times He'll need to pick me up when I've been bruised and battered by my own adulteries. Oh Lord, have mercy on this faithless wife of yours.

My beloved, I am a wretch. Always have been. Always will be apart from You. Yet, you know that I love you. Imperfectly. Sometimes faintly. But I know that you are my beloved and I am yours. My small breath of a life is yours. My dear bridegroom, correct me but only with justice- not in your anger, lest you reduce me to nothing. (Jer 10:24) Wall me in with thornbushes. Lead me into the desert. Do whatever it takes to teach me to be faithful to my covenant even as you are always faithful to yours.