Unfaithful

Lyrics to a song by Brooke Fraser:

“We are Hosea’s wife,
We’re squandering this life.
Using people like ladders and words like knives.
We are Hosea’s wife,
We’re squandering this life.
Using bodies like money and truth like lies.
We are more than dust,
That means something.
We are more than just
Blood and emotions,
Inklings and notions,
Atoms on oceans.
…What do I live for?”

Have you ever read the story of Hosea?  It’s one of my favorites in the Bible.  The first time I read it was on February 14th, 2010.  I distinctly remember because it was Valentine’s Day and I was bummed.  I am such a romantic deep down and there is part of me constantly longing to have a boyfriend.  I want to feel loved and protected and heck - cherished for all that I’m worth!  I want someone to appreciate my curly hair, my temper, my thirst for knowledge, my crazy personality, my love for creating music, and my horrible impulsiveness.  The good and the bad.  Now tell me, what girl doesn’t want that?  

It’s not wrong to want this.  I know, because God created me to be a young woman who longed for these things.  But He also knows that there is only one who can satisfy these longings.  On Valentine’s Day of 2010, He showed me why I was feeling all of these things.

“Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry
      And children of harlotry,
      For the land has committed great harlotry
      By departing from the LORD.”   (1:2)

God told Hosea to marry a whore - no, that is not me using coarse language.  I mean it literally.  A prostitute.  Why?  To show Hosea how He felt.  To symbolize the Lord’s relationship with “the land.”  Israel, God’s chosen and beloved people, had been unfaithful to Him.  Because I have been adopted into the Lord’s family (1 John 1:12), I am apart of that chosen and beloved people.  Which means that I have been unfaithful to God, too.

    “‘I will punish her
      For the days of the Baals to which she burned incense.
      She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry,
      And went after her lovers;
      But Me she forgot,’ says the LORD.” (2:13).

That’s me.  How many days have I spent an hour getting ready for school, with make-up and clothes and jewelry, but only five or ten minutes with God (if I even spent time with Him at all).  I have forgotten about Him so many times.  I have run “after my lovers,” too.  Does this boy like me?  Do I like him?  Giving my heart away to young men with good intentions, but their intentions don’t matter.  What matters is that I forgot my first love (Revelation 2:4).  I have been unfaithful.  But wait!  2 Timothy 2:13 says, “If we are faithless, He will remain faithful, for He cannot disown Himself.”  So how does that connect to the story of Hosea’s wife (Israel)?

     “Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
       Will bring her into the wilderness,
       And speak comfort to her.
       I will give her her vineyards from there,
       And the Valley of Achor as a door of hope;
       She shall sing there,
       As in the days of her youth,
       As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.
       “And it shall be, in that day,”
       Says the LORD,
       “That you will call Me ‘My Husband,’
       And no longer call Me ‘My Master,’ “ (2:14-16).

Wow.  So God decided not to give up on His good-for-nothin-cheatin-wife.  He called us back to Himself.  He comforts me - I don’t have to feel guilty for my past or for being unfaithful to God.  Because He is no longer my Master, He is my husband!  Wait… HUSBAND?

     “ I will betroth you to Me forever;
      Yes, I will betroth you to Me
      In righteousness and justice,
      In lovingkindness and mercy;
      I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness,
      And you shall know the LORD.” (2:19-20).

He has betrothed me to Him in faithfulness.  Where I am weak, He is strong.  Where I am unfaithful, He is always faithful.  He has forgiven me for my unfaithfulness.  He is my true love.

The rest of Hosea continues with this timeless love story about the dashing Hero who will stop at nothing to win over his bride.  In fact, if you read on all the way to the New Testament, you will find that He gives His LIFE for His bride. 

What more could a girl ask for?

How could we say no to this gift, this declaration of unconditional love?

What are we going to live for?