HOSEA

      The Lord said to me, "Go, show your love to your wife again, even though she is loved by another and is an adulteress.  Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes."      (Hosea 3:1    NIV)



     The book of Hosea doesn't have a "3:16", so I chose a verse that pretty well sums up the story.  Written by the prophet, Hosea, the purpose of the book is to express God's message that there is always hope of reconciliation with God - for those willing to repent and come back to Him.  No matter how far off the path of righteousness we have strayed, God's love remains steady. Like the Father in Jesus' story of the prodigal son  (found in Luke 15:11-32), God is standing with open arms , willing to take us back when we repent. It is a love story.
     In the story of Hosea, he is married to an unfaithful wife.  God ordered Hosea to take her back, to honor the marriage, to forgive her, to care for her as if nothing had happened. At the same time, Israel was being unfaithful to God - spiritual adultery.  "Eating the sacred raisin cakes" referred to offering certain cakes to fertility gods. God's chosen people had rebelled against Him, spurning God's love, worshiping false idols.  But God was willing to take them back, honor His sacred covenant with them, and care for them - just as He had instructed Hosea to do.  When God forgives, He  REALLY  forgives.  "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." (Psalm 103:12)

photo of Death Valley

     Sometimes before we can experience the joy of this true relationship with the LORD, we first have to spend time in the desert of despair.  The desert of despair is, of course,  of our own making, but it usually doesn't seem like it while we are going through...  We wonder, "Why me?", or "Why now?", or, just "WHY?"  But, upon honest examination, we find that we were the cause of our own misery all along. When we let God down, we bring ourselves down. Often, because we are so human, we don't listen very well until we are in the desert, down in a well, or lost in a valley...
  

photo - Valley of the Dry Bones

God speaks of this in Hosea 2:14, 15:  "Therefore I will 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 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."  (NIV)  The word "Achor" means "trouble".  So, to paraphrase, God is saying that He will speak tenderly to us while we are in the desert of despair and that He will turn the valleys of trouble into doors of hope.
     Romans 15:13 expounds on this idea:  "May the God of  hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."  Christ's wedding gift to us is His constant love, hope, and commitment to us, His Bride.

painting by mrschertin9, photobucket,com

          Now,  THAT'S  a love story!

GENESIS 3:16

     " To the woman He said, 'I will greatly increase your pain in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children.  Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.' "  (NIV)

     Adam and Eve had sinned;  they had disobeyed.  They had not heeded God's warning that to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would result in death.  When faced with temptation each of them made the wrong decision.
     You see, God created us with the ability to make choices.  Otherwise we would be hollow and incomplete - not human.  We learn from making decisions, good and bad, throughout our lives. Disobedience (like eating the forbidden fruit)  is sin.  In fact, it's probably the most frequent sin of mankind.  Somehow, we are often willing to listen to voices other than  the Good Shepherd's, resulting in disobedience to God's word. Sigh.  But, when we recognize and confess our sins God is always there, willing to forgive us, restore our relationship with Him, and help us try not to make the same mistake again.
     Not only did Adam and Eve disobey God, they also tried to hide from Him.  I remember hearing this story as a child and thinking how silly they were to try to hide from God... After all, God knows and sees eveything, right?  Well, then, why do we today try to hide from God through the misuse of drugs, alcohol, materialism, or _____________________? (You fill in the blank.)
     When confronted by God no one in the Garden of Eden was willing to take responsibility for what happened.  Adam blamed Eve.  And Eve blamed the serpent.  Owning up to what we have done isn't usually easy, but it's the right thing to do.  God already knows; don't try to put the blame on someone else or on circumstances.  Confess your sins and ask Him for forgiveness.  Receive God's forgiveness.  Then, move on!
     Okay.  We can easily be forgiven, but sometimes there IS punishment for sin. There ARE consequences for our actions.  (Reminds me, somehow,  of Newton's  third law of motion:  "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.")  In reading through the remainder of the book of Genesis, we find many examples of life's poor choices and their resulting consequences.  Those stories are there for a purpose - to give us examples of what NOT to do, how NOT to act, what NOT to say...  As we read in the Bible, we might feel that some of the punishments seem a bit harsh.  But, we need to remember that God is Holy, totally Righteous,  a completely moral Being. We make our choices, and, if we choose sin, He chooses the consequences.  We don't necessarily understand because all we see is the life we are living.  But, He sees the larger picture called eternity.
     So... when you are tempted, if that little voice in the back of your mind says, "Don't do that",
 DON'T DO IT!

"After The Fall"  My  watercolor collage of Eve and the serpent - after the sin of disobedience.
She doesn't look very happy, does she?