Let us press on to acknowledge him.
Hosea 6:1-3
(Sept/15/2013)
1. “Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds.
2. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.
3. Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.”
Mr. Sang-yoon Kim gave me two books last Sunday. I managed to read both even though I was occupied with many things. The author is Pastor B-N Kim, whose wife has been in coma for the past 8 years. These books are composed of his essays that describe how he has been taking care of his wife with three children, and contain his humane distress as pastor and as natural man before God. Among other things, I found this sentence very inspiring: God did not provide the strength and help to heal my wife, but he provided the strength and help for me to take care of my wife. As my wife and I finished reading them, I’m going to circulate them among our members, so that many of you can read them as well.
It would be really wonderful if our life were filled with happiness, joy and success only. However, our reality is not that bright. While I was reading the books I mentioned, I wondered again, ‘Why does it seem as if suffering and trouble occur to people who commit less sins? Why does it seem as if people who sin more are living a better life?’ How would God think when He hears the agony of people who encounter hardships that cannot be explained by the rule of cause-and-effect?
One of the most widely loved Psalm of Psalms would be Psalm 23, which confesses ‘The Lord is my shepherd. He makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside quiet waters.’ That verse always reminds us of a beautiful and peaceful scenery in our mind. However, the human reality described in Psalm 23 is not that romantic, in fact.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.
The valley of the shadow of death. This is the human reality that everyone must go through. Failure, disappointment, separation from loved ones, and pain from sudden diseases all consist of our valley of the shadow of death. In a bigger picture as well, our whole world emphasizes more and more competitions. Even though we apparently become richer, inside us we become more exhausted and come to feel smaller.
Note that the author of Psalm 23 remarks that he “will fear no evil” even though he walk through the valley of death. In contrast to him, many people do not recognize the fact that the valley of death is a place they ‘pass by’, but they ‘live’ as if the valley of death is their original living place. They are stuck in the valley, and do not know that they should ‘pass through it’. They embrace their mental scars of the past, hurt themselves due to their shameful memory, and step backward even though they know that they shouldn’t do so.
Now going back to our original question, why does God not protect and guard us? Why does God not help us not to go through hardships? This was the question that I myself questioned a lot when I got cancer. This is a question about God’s justice.
One thing that I can tell you for sure, based on the Bible, is that God is not the one who ‘eliminates’ the hardships of our life. He is not someone who prevents and eliminates life sufferings and pain. But he is the one who helps us not to be stuck in sadness and despair coming from hardships and pain. He is the one who creates hope and vividness within us even in the course of sufferings, so that the life pain does not control us. This is the God that the Bible continues to testify to us. And it is our job and responsibility to escape from the valley of the shadow of death. How can we do so?
• Return to the Lord
Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds.(1)
Hosea appeals to those who are stuck in the valley of death that they should return to God. This is the only way to escape from the valley of death. We should bring our heart to God continuously. We should not want God to make our will fulfilled in our way, but make God’s heart our life criterion and assess our life according to the criterion.
Around the 8th century B.C., when Hosea was writing this book was very chaotic especially in terms of politics. Military army continuously tried coups, and thus lay people were having a very difficult life. They tried many kinds of pleasure in order to forget about their anxiety. Religion was corrupt too. People gave service to God, and to Baal at the same time. They couldn’t ignore the temptation that Baal could satisfy their needs right away. When the center or core fell down, everything else fell down soon.
A life of faith is actually a process to seek the center that has been lost at some point. If you are still staggering after you became a believer, it indicates that you haven’t found the center, God. When you stagger, God either consoles you or rebukes you. When your path becomes more distant from the center, God blocks it, as written in Hosea 2:6.
Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds.
But the Israelites didn’t listen to God, and God gave them over to their sinful desires and shameful lusts, as written in Romans ch. 1. God didn’t rebuke them but let them stuck in the place of their lost minds. This is really terrifying. When your children go the wrong way, you admonish them because you love them. If you don’t do anything to stop them, it would be a disaster for them. Likewise, when we go on the wrong way, God first warns us. If we don’t sense the warning and continue to seek our own desires, God give us over to the sinful desires and make us pay for them. This is a very scary story.
However, what relieves us is the fact that God ‘relents’. His mercy is far more powerful than his anger. Hosea experienced the God of mercy and tenderness. He describes God’s love as the tender love of mother, sweet love between lovers, and the heart of mercy. God is not only the one who judges, but also the one who reconciles and heals. He is also the God of patience, who waits for their people to repent their sins and return to him. This is the love of God toward us. The Bible says that the father who was sincerely waiting for his prodigal son to come back is our God. God is now waiting for the return of you, who have been wandering in the valley of the shadow of death.
• Jesus, the way
Brothers and sisters, how can we then return to God? It’s through the way, Jesus.
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)
How clear this message is! We can take Jesus’ way and return to God. There is no mystery in it. However, so many people don’t take that verse as their life guidance, but interpret it as only a religious doctrine that if one doesn’t believe in Jesus, he doesn’t go to heaven. By using that verse, they argue that they will go to heaven because they go to church and live a religious life. How lamentable!
John 14:6 is Jesus’ invitation for us to live the way of Jesus as a saved man. To believe in Jesus is to follow his way. Those two are not separable. His way entails self-denial, taking up his cross. His way is also narrow and only a few find it, but it leads to life. Therefore, those people who pursue the glory of resurrection but avoid the suffering on the cross cannot be considered to have faith. Those people who don’t follow the road of Jesus cannot be considered as believers, even if they claim that they believe in Jesus. Your confession that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life must lead to your life change. Jesus’ way is something you follow, but not something you only confess and praise about. God knows your heart. God knows whether your confession is sincere. Let us walk the way of Jesus, then our salvation will be fulfilled.
The more difficult our life becomes, the more distant we feel about God. But the reason we do not meet God and still wander around is because we don’t know God very well. Hosea says that God is near. He describes God’s presence in a metaphorical way.
As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.”
God appears in a very familiar way as the sun rises, but sometimes he appears in a less familiar way like winter rains. But he surely comes. Hosea is saying that God comes to us before we return to God. This is God’s grace. This is why we should not be disappointed. We can sing a song of hope even in the valley of the shadow of death, because we have our Lord who comes to us before we search for him.
However, many times we don’t trust God but more depend on secular things because money and power look more powerful than God in reality. The Lord knows this sinful nature of human and moans:
Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears.
He is criticizing that we don’t trust God like the morning mist even though we are experiencing God’s love. Brothers and sisters, God wants our heart. He doesn’t want us to obey the laws or give sacrifices or praises. Consider verse 6:
For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
Giving Him mercy and acknowledgment, rather than sacrifice and burnt offerings, is a true service and faith. Interestingly, the four prophets who lived around the 8th century B.C. all teach about service. Amos proclaims that a religion without justice and righteousness is dead. Isaiah says that a true service is to seek justice, encourage the oppressed, defend the cause of the fatherless, and plead the case of the widow (1:17). Micah also says that what is good is to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Our faith should be realized in our life, not just performed in religious ceremonies.
Our era seems pretty similar to the one of the 8th century B.C. Churches are big and glamorous, and they carry out serious ceremonies. However, the poor cry out on the street more, and the oppressed suffer more. Now the Bible tells us, “Let us press on to acknowledge God!”
Brothers and sisters, we should acknowledge God, and it takes our effort. Our life should be changed into God-centered. As mentioned before, his way is not wide and straight that many people find. His way is narrow, rough, and not popular. But his way leads us to the eternal life. I sincerely pray that you can experience the joy of following the way of Jesus. Amen.