Being Pursued By God

What would you do if your spouse cheated on you...would you want to stay married?

God asked a certain prophet named Hosea to marry a prostitute and to remain faithful even though she would not remain faithful to him. Do you think you could do what God asked Hosea to do? Imagine Hosea's surprise when God asked him to take on this assignment. I would have loved to be a part of that conversation. If it was like mine and God's there was a lot of questioning on Hosea's part and he was really asking, "are You sure?"

Can you imagine Hosea asking Gomer to marry him? Or how that even happened? It had to be weird on both sides. Imagine marrying her knowing that she was going to be with other men, but he was still intimate with her. We know that Hosea fathered at least three of her children. Being intimate had to be difficult, just being a husband had to be hard for him. Knowing what was happening he had to have asked God, "Okay, how long do I have to endure this?" Read Hosea, it never says that they divorced or that he left her.

But this story isn't just about Hosea and Gomer or God and the Israelites or even the Father waiting for the prodigal son to come home. It is about us and our relationship with God. We all have a sin or struggle that we cannot seem to shake or get rid of...we ALL have at least one that we sit there and go...crap I did it again! Whether it be anger, bitterness, greed, envy, jealousy, gossip, lust, cussing etc...fill in the blank. When we do it we know we are letting God down and that is one of the worst feelings in the world.

Try to imagine God saying to you what He said in Hosea 2:2, “But now bring charges against Israel—your mother—for she is no longer my wife, and I am no longer her husband." OUCH!!! Imagine breaking God's heart soooo much that He finally has enough and wants to break it off. He gives you a divorce certificate. How would you feel?

We might say, "I thought He loved His people? That seems pretty harsh." But we put God in a catch 22 don't we...We curse Him when things go bad and we forget Him when things are going great.

But the awesome part is that God never does give us the divorce certificate...

This paints a beautiful picture of God's undying love for His people...

But we don't keep cheating on God just because He will forgive us. Paul warns us in Galatians 5:13 not to use our freedom to do what we please.

Where many of us would have bailed long ago, God sees redemption. Where we see damaged goods, God sees people with purpose.

Read Hosea chapter 2: 8, 13

This doesn't sound like a ticked off God. I picture the tears of a Father when he sees a hurting child. Yes, He is disappointed when I mess up, absolutely, it crushes Him! He doesn't ever enjoy disciplining us either. Why do I say that? Because when I read Hosea 2:13-16 I see a God that is in pursuit of you and I.

He will win us back...
Speak tenderly to me...
Transform my situation (whether circumstances or sin) into hope.
We will have intimacy with God again, a love that no human body can contain.
More importantly we will always have a relationship with Him, at least on His part.

Look at Hosea 2:19-20

Forever you will be His, this doesn't sound like someone who is tired of you.
He shows you a better way to live
Unfailing, always there
His compassion runs deep
You will know Him as God, your God.

Hosea 3:1 tells us that no matter what we do God will still love us...
The best thing to know is that you are not alone in this battle...even though you feel like it. You feel dumped on by this world, nothing seems to be going right, God is telling you He understands. We have done the same thing to Him for years and yet, He still pursues us even though He shouldn't give (at least me) the time of day. We get mad at Him when He doesn't seem to be working on our time table or is slow in answering a prayer or doesn't seem to answer at all. But the bottom line is we should tremble in awe of the Lord and His goodness as Hosea writes in 3:5. Yes, we do get beat down. Yes, we do screw up. But you know what? God is bigger than my sin and my circumstances. This isn't just a pep talk. I have been in the valley and on the mountain top. I have received good and bad news and God has asked me to do some hard things. But to know God is in pursuit of us is amazing all in itself, especially when I think about how much I have let God down. You confess - God forgives, I believe John tells us that in 1 John 1:9. And Paul tells us in Romans 8:38 that nothing can ever separate us from His love.

We bring the divorce papers - not God! We reject Him - He does not reject us!

Someone needs to hear that today...I know I did.

Read Hosea
6:6 - wants us to show love and to know Him
7:7 - wants us to cry out to Him
7:8 - wants to redeem us
7:14 - wants honesty from our hearts, tell Him how you really feel
7:16 - wants us to turn to Him
8:12 - wants us to listen to Him because He knows what is best
8:14 - when He is showering blessings on us (which is more than we give Him credit for) don't
forget Him
11:1 - He loves us
11:2 - He is calling us
11:3 - He helps us in our journey
11:4 - He leads us
11:8 - He doesn't give up on us
12:6 - Come back to Him when you find yourself slipping, learn to love and speak for those who
cannot speak for themselves, and always depend on Him
14:1 - Confess your sins/struggles to Him
14:2 - He will forgive us and graciously receive us.
14:7 - Be restored, refreshed and renewed...

Be blessed,
Steve

Make War

Many of us have been abused by this world. Like a helpless woman in an abusive situation we have endured physical, emotional or verbal abuse. We are not unlike the Israelites. They were abused and opressed. But God sent Moses and he got Aaron and together they went to rescue them.

God has heard your cry and He has sent someone to rescue you. He has come to set you FREE!!!

But after all He has done you refuse to trust Him. Like the Israelites you wonder if you should leave your captivity, after all it is all you have known. You come to the place where you and God are standing on a cliff. You look around you and realize it is all yours, freedom, peace, rest. But just like the Israelites in Deuteronomy 1, you see the giants. You realize all you will need to face and you wonder if it is really worth it. You know you will have to face them to gain total victory. You start wondering, doubting and questioning if you will ever win. And just like the Israelites you become weaker by the second because of all your doubting. You would think that the Israelites would have remembered all the miracles that just happened to set them free but obviously they forgot. We are just like them, God has done many miracles in our own lives. But what God has done is yesterday's news and we have today's battles.

Yet in Matthew 18 we are told that if we have faith as small as a mustard seed we can move mountains. Nothing is impossible with God!!!

But you say your mountains are too big.
Those people have really hurt me.
My scars are too deep.
I just can't seem to shake this sin off.
My debt. My sin. My hurt. My family. My spouse. My job or lack thereof. My health. My life.
Those are your mountains and you tell them to move and they don't. You wonder why you seem so defeated...well...can I be blunt...you are defeated. Excuses only dig you into a deeper hole. Murmuring and complaining only add to your headaches.

God told Moses that He was with him so he should go and conquer the land and crush those giants. That same promise is also for you. Just like God wouldn't let the Israelites fight the descendents of Anak alone, He won't let you face your giants alone.

For you to be free you must break that bondage. To be at peace means that you have to calm the inner turmoil. To have rest means that you must fight the battle. So you must FIGHT!!! In a fight you must endure and Jesus tells us in Matthew, "those who endure to the end will be saved." Let's be the new generation of Israelites that conquer when God tells them to. It is time to stand face to face with your giants, and your mountain, whatever it may be, and Make War!!!

Be blessed,
Steve