The book of Hosea has been trying to kill me for awhile now. I thought I’d let it slay you for a bit, too.
If you are interested, the previous posts are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. (That’s a lot of heres.)
We are now near the end of chapter two:
“On that day I will make a covenant
With all the wild animals and the birds of the sky
And the animals that scurry along the ground
So they will not harm you.
I will remove all weapons of war from the land,
All swords and bows,
So you can live unafraid
In peace and safety.
I will make you my wife forever,
Showing you righteousness and justice,
Unfailing love and compassion.
I will be faithful to you and make you mine,
And you will finally know me as the Lord.”
Just like in Chapter one, this is a future word about God’s people. A time when the long-awaited Messiah reigns on the New Earth with all whose hearts belong to Him. A time when wolves lie down with lambs and infants play near cobras’ holes. When people will turn their swords into plows and nation will no longer war against nation.
In other words…not yet.
We obviously do not live in such a time as this. We just celebrated the First Advent at Christmas. Jesus did indeed come for us. But there’s a Second Advent. A time when He will come again and make all things right. Jesus will not just scrap His creation, He will redeem it. He will make a New Heavens and a New Earth.
Does that affect you strongly? Have you seen enough hard things to long for Redemption of it all?
This is what the prophet is celebrating in these Hosea verses. And notice how tender God is with His Bride. He will make sure she can live in peace and safety. He will be the Perfect Husband – not just Righteous and Just, but also full of compassion and unfailing love.
Even though we are not in this future paradise yet, in what ways has He shown Himself to be this Perfect Husband to you now?
We may not know perfect earthly peace and safety, but how has He shown you that’s what He does for your soul even now?
The Perfect Home is coming. Until then we already have the Perfect Husband.
“And you will finally know me as the Lord.”
This is good! I love when God shows us glimpses of Himself even in this broken world. We all want peace, safety and a life free from troubles and heartache. However, how many of us are willing to live in perfect obedience, humility and submission to God’s holy rule? Not that living in submission means you’ll automatically have God’s favor and therefore no troubles but many of the heartaches and difficulties we see every day are a result of sin – ours, someone else’s, results of a fallen and broken world.
Grace really is amazing – if you think about the way that God blesses us when we most certainly don’t deserve or earn it. He shows us to be a perfect Husband to us when we’ve been the most undeserving wives. For me recently, God provided for us in ways I felt we did not deserve. I don’t feel like I had adequately done “my part” to make the equation balance. When God chooses to bless me anyway, I’m reminded of Grace. I didn’t earn salvation – the greatest provision God’s ever provided, but He still provided it. The perfect Husband.
Oooo…that’s really hard for me. When I don’t feel I’ve done “my part.” Grace upon grace upon grace, baby.