Sometimes it’s in the times we feel abandoned, our times of darkness, despair and desperation as we face the consequences of things we’ve done, that we are able to see most clearly…
Read Hosea 2: 2-8
These are harsh words.
Time has passed. Gomer has moved out, abandoning her husband and her children. Verses 2-5 read like an ancient bill of divorce, removing the ex-wife’s right to food, protection, shelter, even clothing. After all, she seems to be getting all these things from the “other lovers” she’s run off to anyway. The prophet reminds us that this is a picture of Israel’s relationship with God. They have long-since forgotten that all they have and are comes from God, the one who has cared for them and provided for them.
God may have been abandoned but he will not give up on his love for Israel. It seems that God will prevent Israel from pursuing the relationships with other nations and the idols that have taken his place. She too will know what it feels like to be abandoned. It’s at that moment that she realises. “I might as well return…”
I hear echoes of this story in a story Jesus told about a Lost Son. Partied out, abandoned by his good-time friends and down in the muck of the pigsty, the Bible says he, ‘came to his senses’ and started the journey back to home, father and a celebration.
This story is my story and your story. We were far from God, living for ourselves when he came looking for us. God came to us in the times when we had lost enough faith in our own ability to fix things for us to be open-hearted to our need of him. He didn’t come to rebuke, but to rescue us and restore our lost relationship with him.
Maybe you’ve never taken the step of coming back to the God who loves you. Maybe you don’t really know that much about Jesus’ rescue mission to planet Earth which made it possible. Take time during this week to talk to someone you know who is a follower of Jesus that you trust. Talk to God…ask him to show himself to you in a fresh way and tell him that you want to know and follow him.
Or perhaps you know that although you used to have a really close relationship with God you have moved further and further away. Now is the time to put things right. Talk to God, tell him that you’re sorry you spoiled the relationship and that you want to become God’s close friend again. You’ll find God has been with you all along, waiting longingly for this moment, and will hurry to meet you and restore your relationship with him.
And in both cases, the Bible says there’ll be a huge celebration in heaven.
Pilgrim Traveller 