“I'm no stranger to the rain, I've fought with the devil/ Got down on his level” Sometimes I listen to this Keith Whitley song because I’m no stranger to the rain either. I’ve fought with the devil, resisted my Lord, and shaken my fists at the wind. And I know you have too! Life isn’t fair and for better or worse, people rarely get what they deserve. The Bible doesn’t have much to say about things being “earned” or “fair,” but it has a lot to say about “letting go and letting God.” The Bible doesn’t dwell on the ways in which we can be like God ourselves, but it does dwell on grace!
Here's the great truth: GOD ISN’T FAIR EITHER! And here is a corollary: we can’t earn… or lose... God’s love, because God is love! And that brings me to Hosea 11. Hosea doesn’t try to excuse the sins of God’s people. They are self-centered, and they willingly (almost eagerly) chase after idols of many kinds. On their own merit, they deserve punishment. If things were fair, they (and we) would never see the sun, but this passage is not about our sins. It’s about God’s grace!
Hosea 11:1-11 is a touching testimony to God’s amazing grace, and it goes like this: “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.” (vs. 1) He was enslaved and I rescued him from the hands of Pharaoh. I called my people to trust in me, but ″They kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols.” (vs. 2) They loved themselves more than they loved me, and “Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them.” (vs. 3) I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them.” (vs. 4) O yes, God bent down and fed them, but the people didn’t listen, and they didn’t even try!
They deserved justice. God knew that. But God couldn’t do it because His love was too great. “How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my burning anger; for I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.” (vs. 8,9) Men and women may yell, threaten, and break relationships with one another. They may strive to win or get even somehow, but God is able to offer unrelenting grace because God is God and not a human. He looked down from his cross with forgiveness in his heart because He is the Holy One in our midst! Amen.
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