In his commentary on Hosea, Derek Kidner poses the age old question: “If God is all-powerful and all-good, why does he not rid the world of evil?” Kidner maintains that Hosea helps us examines this from God’s perspective.
If we listen with open eyes, Hosea shows us the complexity of the puzzle, the complicated mess of brokenness in the world, he shows us the entangled mess of family. Hosea shows us that the answer for us, the broken children of God is thankfully not an either/or, but the answer is a humbling, self-examining, mixture of recognition, amazement, failure, restoration, repeat.
In this book, we can see we have an all-knowing God that at the right times withdraws, at the right times displays displeasure, but above all else we see that we have a God that always provides his tender mercies, his amazing grace and his eternal and divine love. So what can we take from this book of trials, disappointments, failures and hurts?
For me I see so much hope and encouragement. I see:
1) That no matter the circumstances in our lives God is with us; no matter our failures God is pursuing us always.
2) That we have a God that loves the broken, messed up, worthless, failures; the ragamuffins of this world. You know; someone like me. And He loves us so much that he would send his only Son to seek and save; to pay our debt in full and for all time.
3) And that despite all the negative in this world, we can rejoice in the living and certain hope we have in Christ.
Hosea 14:4-7 NLT
"The Lord says, “Then I will heal you of your faithlessness; my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be gone forever. I will be to Israel like a refreshing dew from heaven. Israel will blossom like the lily; it will send roots deep into the soil like the cedars in Lebanon. Its branches will spread out like beautiful olive trees, as fragrant as the cedars of Lebanon. My people will again live under my shade. They will flourish like grain and blossom like grapevines. They will be as fragrant as the wines of Lebanon."
Oh what a good and gracious God we have…a God that is with us always, that opens the eyes of our hearts, a God that heals and loves and restores. Should this surprise us about God? To quote James Boice, “it should not, because God is the source of every good gift and all fruitfulness. Beauty! Strength! Value! Delight! Abundance! These are in him. He is beauty, strength, value, delight, and abundance. He is the answer to our need.”
Finally, when I think of all Hosea went through, when I think of all Christ went through; the pain, the hurt, the disappointment, the humiliation, all for Gomer, all for us; I know we can keep moving. We can keep moving despite the circumstances, the negative before us, despite our failures over and over again, we can keep moving…moving toward God. And along the way we can know, trust and live with eternal and certain hope, we can live with joy because Christ has finished it all for us, we can live in the assurance that like the old hymn says; “it will be better farther on.”
When my faith took hold on Jesus,
Light devine within me shone,
And I know since that glad moment,
“It is better father on.”
I have plunged into the fountain,
Flowing free for everyone;
I am saved and Hope is singing,
“It is better father on.”
Grace and Peace!
