Hosea and Our Idols

So I have recently begun to read Hosea for devotions. This little book towards the back of the Old Testament is often swiftly read over by daily bible readers eager to get to the Gospels. Yet this little book has taught me so much in the past two days. The story is very simple; Israel has fallen away from the one true God and have replaced Him in their hearts with idols. The prophet Hosea, following God’s orders, then marries the prostitute Gomer to represent to Israel what they are doing to God. Gomer, after having three children with Hosea, gives in to her old temptations and returns to the brothel. God uses this illustration to pierce the hearts of the Israelites. In chapter 2 God tells Israel of their evil. He rebukes them and warns that, because they did not turn away He will make “her (Israel) as bare as on the day she was born, I will make her like a desert.” (Hosea 2:3). This chapter is perhaps one of the best pictures of how God works through the trials for “the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). Of Israel God says “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...I will take away my grain when it ripens, and my new wine when it is ready. I will take back my wool and my linen, intended to cover her nakedness...I will ruin her vines and her fig trees, which she said were her pay from her lovers...I will punish her for the days she burned incense to the Baals...and went after lovers, but me she forgot” (Hosea 2:6-7, 9, 12-13). The first thought many Christians have when they read this is “I don’t worship any idols. I don’t have any wooden statues or incense to deities.” That thought is what many times keeps people from learning things for these Old Testament books. We still have plenty of idols in our day! They just changed their names. Mark Driscoll once said “Idols are normally good things, that we turn into god things, and that makes them bad things”. I’ll give you some examples: a young Christian man who wants to look for a good Christian wife. Obviously, that is not a bad thing, it is a very good thing. Yet if that becomes a quest, a life-consuming goal to the point where the young man loves the idea of this woman more than God, that is an idol. Same thing can happen in a marriage or friendship. Anything we place above God is an idol. Some other idols can include pleasure, pride, jealousy, jobs, family, Christian ministry, sex, people pleasing, knowledge, education, grades, perfection, being spiritual, recognition, leadership, and so many more. The root of all sins are idolatry! That’s why Hosea is such an amazing book; we all are like Israel. We all forget about God, we all cling to other lovers, we all burn incense to our own Baals. So God, in His all-knowing love, blocks our paths, unsatisfies us, punishes us. Takes away our comfort, our security, our money, our lovers. We are left naked like the desert. Yet this is not the end of the story. Gomer is saved by Hosea, who buys her back and brings her into his house and loves her. God uses an even better illustration. “I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her...I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness and you will acknowledge that I am God.”(Hosea 2:15, 19-20) This reunion is so wonderful that the Bible says, “‘In that day’, declares the Lord ‘you will call me “my husband”; you will no longer call me “my master”’”. (Hosea 2:16). This grace is so amazing that any anger or resentment or reluctance we feel melts away. The fear we had because of his punishment, that fear that makes us call him “master”, is gone when His embrace turns our fear into love as we utter through our tears “husband”. We change our name of God from a fearful name to one of affection. How amazing is God’s forgiveness. It changes fear to love, and turns a sinner into a saint. Turn from your idols, and run back to God!