Then she shall say, “I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better with me then than now.”
Hmm. Hosea opens with a command by God that he take a wife of whoredom, and so he did. The marriage went like you’d expect, marrying an adulterous whore. What an awful command from God. Apparently, it’s designed to signify God’s relationship with Israel. Israel is the lovely and special wife, who turns to other gods and disregards her husband.
At some point, the adulterous wife realizes things were better before, with the loving and doting husband, and chooses to return, just as Israel will.
In what ways have I turned away from the loving and doting God, pursued my own purposes, only to eventually realize that things were better with God? I am not aware of any huge life regrets, or one single bad decision or wrong path in my life. Either I’ve avoided them, or am still on the wrong path and don’t know. But I have made hundreds or thousands of smaller bad choices.
For me, they tend to happen when three of my sometimes-good-but-frequently-bad traits collide. I am doggedly self-reliant, and I’m proud. Put these two together, and I’m happy to pursue a wrong path, because like a toddler, “I can do this all by myself”. And then when it turns out I cannot, or I should not, I’m too proud to stop or ask for help. Or I won’t even start something that I’m not already good at, because I’m too prideful to do it badly. Some of these I’m quick to re-turn to God. But some I doggedly stay on the wrong path until I run repeatedly into the brick wall at the end.
This morning, I’m thinking about how great it is that we have a God that is always waiting for us to return.
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