But you must return to you God;

maintain love and justice,

and wait for your God always.

Hosea 12:6, NIV (1978)

 

Hosea is an interesting person, and the Book of Hosea is an interesting book. It explains the depth of depravity that the people of God had sunk to, and it explains their upcoming punishment as well. The graphic way in which God has Hosea illustrate Israel's sin is especially noteworthy: God had Hosea marry an adulterous wife, and the children that she bore would not even be Hosea's. God issued this shocking command in order to show what had happened to His chosen people: They left the Lord in order to engage in a type of spiritual infidelity with idols.

 

And God had had enough!

 

So, God also had Hosea tell the people what kind of punishment that they could expect. It involved many harsh penalties, but the greatest of these would be that they would no longer even be recognized as belonging to God any longer. God's chosen people had rejected God, so they could no longer remain in the sacred covenant that He had made with them. And it wasn't because of God at all - it was because the people had broken the contract, and now they were about to discover the penalty associated with those who treat the Lord in such a fashion. 

 

Their doom was announced, and their fate was seemingly sealed - that is until God threw these unfaithful children one last lifeline. They could avoid the penalty if they would just return to God!

 

However, there was a catch: Their return had to be sincere! It would be proved by a maintaining of love towards one another as well as an upholding of justice in the land. In addition to this, they would have to wait for their God always! This meant that their return must be proven genuine, and the proof of their sincerity would be in their trust, for the very act of waiting for God and everything that went along with that including waiting for His lifting of the penalty, waiting for His final decisions as to how they must live, and waiting for His reward to return.

 

Trust is an easy thing to give lip service to, but it is a very difficult thing indeed to live - and they were going to have to live with it.

 

So, what's the point? Why dredge up ancient history for a people long dead? The answer is plain, isn't it? We have times in our lives when we are unfaithful to God. We don't feel particularly unfaithful. It's just when it comes down to giving Him the time and effort that are rightfully His, we often give it to other gods. We work instead of worshipping on the first day of the week. We watch television instead of reading His Word and praying. We spend our money on our pleasures and then bemoan the fact that we are too poor to help others.

 

And it's not that it is somehow wrong to work or watch T.V. or buy things that we enjoy - that's not the point. The point is that when we do these things instead of giving to God His due, it is at that point we are being unfaithful. We are all guilty of such things, and therefore worthy of any punishment that is due us. But God has an offer for us, and it is the same one He made to unfaithful Israel. 

 

We simply need to return to Him. That will mean returning to a mutual love for one another, as well as a desire to live in a just manner. Perhaps more than anything else, it will involve a renewal of our trust in God. All of these things are easy to say, yet hard to do, but they can be done - and they must be done!

 

The question before us then is this: Are we ready to do it?

 

The answer to that question will very likely determine nothing less than our eternity. Let's make sure, then, that we give the right answer!