How many of us like to please? I’m sure most of us do; the only problem is we try to please everyone— we want to avoid offending God and at the same time indulge in the pleasures of this world. The values of this world and the values of God stand in violent opposition to each other. Yet we try to embrace both. Some of us may not be trying to purposely oppose God; we’re just hoping that He will allow us to get into bed with the enemy. That metaphor may sound too graphic but James 4:4 calls it just that. It says “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” Allegiance to the world is an insult to the God who loves us. Why though, is God so exclusive? Because the world contains its own ideas, principles, and standards, all inspired by Satan, and all filled with corruption. In our own minds we like to think that there is a wide road between God and the world, a road on which we can walk and keep both happy, but not so. In between the two is a fine line, we are either entirely devoted to God, or we are entirely a part of this world. The ideas and values of each are so completely different that there is no such thing as middle ground. A coin cannot land on both heads and tails at the same time, likewise a Christian cannot be both on God’s side and on the world’s side.
When we do try to walk on both sides we betray God. Anything but complete devotion to God is betrayal to Him. When we choose things like money, possessions, careers or status over God we are, you could say, cheating on Him. God sent his Son to die on this earth so that we could be partakers of His sinless nature, so that we could be called His own. Many times throughout the Bible, Jesus is referred to as the Husband and the church, His wife. When we put things in human terms they become easier to understand, just like Jesus did with the parables.
So, imagine for a moment a husband that is good looking, has a charming personality, is incredibly intelligent, and has plenty of confidence in everything that he does. And imagine that he selflessly devotes himself to his wife at every opportunity that he gets. He gives her expensive gifts, takes her to exotic vacations, and cooks for her every night. His affection for her is demonstrated at a considerable sacrifice to himself, but he loves her so it is not a burden to him. He is the perfect husband, and she the apple of his eye. Now imagine this lucky woman, demanding more of her husband, complaining when perhaps instead of pie for dessert there were muffins, and when she gets bored she sleeps with the other men in the neighbourhood. Basically, imagine her forgetting everything that her husband does for her on a daily basis and trading it for trash. To us this seems absurd; how could someone be so apathetic and ignorant? Most women would never choose to live in a slum; they wouldn’t choose to divorce a goodhearted husband for an abusive one. But according to Micah that is exactly what Israel did, and what we are doing today. In Micah 6:3 God asks us “O My people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against Me.” We have a God who loves, which means we have a God who suffers. And in this text we can hear the heart-cry of God. He says to us “Why? What did I ever do to you? Haven’t I given you everything you could possibly ever need? Don’t you know what I have done for you? I laid down My life for you.” But in laying down His life for us, as Brother Larry Watts has said many times, in laying down His life, He gave us the choice to reject Him. And it is only this amazing love that could be so steadfast in the face of such betrayal.
In the Bible God uses this exact comparison of a husband and wife when comparing Himself and Israel. Let us turn our Bibles to Hosea 1:2. “Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord.” We don’t have the time to read the entire story of Hosea, so I encourage you all to read it for yourselves, but the point I want to make here is that Hosea had a wife that was a harlot and often cheated on him. Now I imagine Hosea must have been a very kind husband, yet his wife still treated him thus. And through this prophet and his wife God was trying to show Israel that what they were doing was one and the same. Let us read Hosea 1:9. “Call his name Lo-ammi: for ye are not My people, and I will not be your God.” Israel’s adultery was a stinging insult to the Creator. He was Israel’s husband, He was a kind and loving husband, yet still He was treated in this way. The words He spoke here to Israel were words of deep pain. Sometimes it’s hard for us to attribute such pain to a God of perfect foresight. Yes, God knew ahead of time of Israel’s adultery. Yes, He wasn’t blindsided by their unfaithfulness. But the picture of the forsaken husband grieving for His beloved as she commits adultery is a picture given by God Himself. He wants His people to know: His foreknowledge doesn’t remove His pain. Like we mentioned before, we have a God who loves, therefore we have a God who suffers also.
Yet though God spoke words of deep pain and hurt, He still did not leave His people. In Hosea 3 we find words of hope and love. Let us turn to Hosea 3 and read from verse 1–3. “Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine. So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley: And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee.” Just as Hosea still loved his wife and bought her and rescued her from the life of adultery she was leading, so Jesus has done for us. He loves us and has bought us with His own blood that we might be saved from a life of sin.
Can you imagine doing what Hosea did? Can you imagine the person you loved being unfaithful over and over again, yet still looking out for them, still bringing them back, still being the best person you could be for them? To forgive is even difficult for us sometimes, yet Hosea did much more than that. He went the extra mile.
What is one of the characteristics of being a good friend? Loyalty. So not only should we be faithful to God, to our spouses, but also to our friends.
I personally have made the mistake of betraying one of my closest friends, yet they forgave me. But it was a rare occurrence and I was very blessed to have such an amazing friend. But how sad would it have been for me to lose those friends, through a wrongdoing of my own. How sad would it be if God said to us one day “I know you not.”
So every time you place something above God, every time that you ignore His word, every time you forget all His blessings and are tempted to complain; remember the picture of the forsaken husband grieving. Remember the story of Hosea and his wife. But most of all remember our God loves us and wants us to be faithful only to Him, and because He loves. He also what? He suffers. So it is my wish and prayer that we remain faithful and bring not suffering upon Jesus. AMEN.
Nidia Romero