"She said, 'I will go after my lovers, who give me my food and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink.' Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way. She will chase after her lovers but not catch them." -Hosea 1:5b-7a.
Let's face it. It's not about physical. In fact I think with God that's the last thing he's concerned about. Because the physicality of things is not the issue. It's only another side effect. The hands of a clock tell time yes, but only because of the mechanics working on the inside. Without their workings the hands would never move. Same with us.
If you're one who has their relationship with God confined to a book on a shelf, a church on a street somewhere, or a religious status on their profile then you're probably not going to make sense of what I'm saying because it will seem trivial and silly. But if you talk to God as if you're best friend is sitting next to you, if you hear Him whisper, if you find yourself wanting to make Him happy as if His happiness is the reason for your own happiness then I will probably make more sense. (Not that I'm super Christian...I'm not. I'm more closely related to Hosea's wife...which is a character from the Bible you won't hear too many encouraging Bible studies done from.)
I find my current wonderings and revelations stemming from an outcome of my adulterous heart. A muddied wedding dress. A lost ring. A torn veil. And to be quite truthful not many actions have to be played out for this abandonment to occur. A simple check out. We've all been there-that place where suddenly someone has just checked out. Maybe it was done in a simple step out of a door or maybe it's just the lack of speaking or caring. Either way it goes a decrease of love happened. I'm not the victim in this case. I'm the one who left footprints leading out of the place where she belongs. And I did this to God.
It's an age old temptation. Actually, it's the original temptation. I don't think Eve was particularly hungry when she ate of the fruit. I don't think she was hypnotized. I think she lost faith and abandoned God if only for a moment. I think she suddenly wondered if God was holding out on her and it was imperative to take things into her own hands. She no longer trusted God for survival. Her reliance shifted. And we've been fighting this same temptation ever since. To settle for the best we can do NOT the best God will do. We take things into our own hands and talk ourselves into believing something is right because really we feel that right just isn't possible so we take what we can get and try our hardest to convince ourselves that what we have is more than enough.
How does all this add up to Hosea and the verses listed above? Simple. We run to every other possible outlet in attempt to supply what we need. In the movie, "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" Norah makes a statement when Nick asks her about the benefits of having a friend with benefits, "Yeah, that's crossed my mind. I don't know. I don't know, he's just always been there, and you just feel ignored for long enough and, it's just nice to feel special sometimes." We grow so desperate. We are human. We are not immune. It sounds so condescending to admit to ourselves that we want to feel special but if we didn't, why would we search and go back to the places where we hear and feel what we want to hear and feel so much. "You're beautiful." "You're amazing." I could go on and on with this list. But if it's really fulfilling, why do we have to keep going back? I think for two reasons. We're insecure/not confident and we are traversing back to the wrong sources.
Read Hosea. It's like watching that movie that drives you nuts. You know the one. Where there is a girl who loves a guy and this girl is perfect for him and he really loves her too but just can't realize it and the whole time your mad and frustrated and getting really mad at this man saying, "Open you're eyes! Quit crying like a wimp, she's RIGHT THERE!" That's kinda like Hosea's wife. Her husband provides everything and doesn't leave an empty space in the morning. But yet she keeps searching.
Finally she is walled in. She looks around and everyone she looked to is gone. She can't find her way. She can't find a lover. She is alone. And in our own lives this is normally where we get angry and bitter at God and everyone around us who isn't showing up when we want them to. Why are we alone? Why aren't we like so and so? Or Why have you just put me in this place? We're like a hurt dog crying in pain obviously needing help but lashing out to anyone who even tries to come near us. When will we realize this pit we're stuck in is safer than the path we were running down?
"Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into he desert and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor (Trouble) a door of hope. There she will sing (respond) as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt. 'In that day' Declares the LORD, 'you will call me 'My Husband'; you will no longer call me 'my Master'." -Hosea 3:14-16
The desert. He leads her to the desert. My all time favorite romantic moment in a movie is in Pride and Prejudice (the Keira Knightly and Judi Dench version) where Elizabeth can't sleep and right at sunrise she meets Mr. Darcy in a field right beyond this enormously large oak tree. It's stunningly beautiful. This landscape is painted so well you quite literally hold your breath. Now, when I conjure up visuals of the desert scenes come to mind from movies such as "Black Hawk Down" or the snake scene in the desert from "The Little Prince" where he gets bitten, or even in "Hidalgo" where Frank and his horse are so thirsty and exhausted they are clearly ready for dead. Either way when a desert comes to mind somebody's delusional, bitten, or ready for dead. No, it doesn't normally scream romance. So why is this the place He leads us to allure us?
Walk through a garden of a million red flowers. Now go and walk through a place of strict concrete, smog, and devoid of any greenery and find one red flower. Which will make you turn around? He doesn't have to heighten His beauty or heroism. He doesn't need the landscape and He knows too well we don't need the distractions. Everything we clearly and desperately need is found solely in Him. And it's being deprived of everything that we find sight to see what we really need. The water we ache for in the desert. In the harshest of conditions He is the only thing that can save. Our freedom our life depends on this knowledge and faith. To wound us and bring us to the point of "alone" so we have nowhere else to look but His face. And no other name to call but His own.
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