Hosea 1.6 6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And
the Lord said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on
the house of Israel, to forgive them at all.” (ESV)
Sometimes, I raise my eyebrows at the names people give
their children. I know that sounds a bit harsh: whose dang business is it anyway that I call my kid: ________!? It
sure ain’t mine. I didn’t get to choose my name and you didn’t get to choose
yours; they were given to us by our parents (or parent) and the bottom line is:
they are all known by God. They are all known by God from eternity past and in
that sense He allowed them to be named whatever they are named before any of us were born.
Hosea is told (by God) to marry a whore named Gomer (whose name means: complete; vanishing),
because His people (Israel) had prostituted themselves by going after other
gods, and calling them real, and forsaking Him; or at best, including Him among
the crowd. There is no crowd. God says there are no other Gods; He doesn’t know
one. (“Turn to me and be saved, all you
ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.” Isaiah 45.22)
The pinnacle of mankind’s sin is simply: to un-God God.
That is, either lump Him in with other “deities”, or to write Him off
altogether” “The fool says in his
heart,“There is no God.”” (Psalm 14.1) The one who writes off God is
himself written off. And then God says things like: “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of
Israel, to forgive them at all.” The nation of Israel wrote off God, and He
returned their favor.
Why does God seem so petulant at times? I think it’s because we are so petulant all the time. We write stuff off all the
time – we write off people as unworthy, beyond help, not-worth-the-effort. Why
would it seem so strange that God would write-off His own people? It’s called wrath. Wrath is that point at which God
will go no further; He’s said all He’s going to say. He’s done.
Men’s gods are petulant. God is not. Men’s gods are
capricious and untrustworthy; God is not. Men’s gods are like themselves; God
is not. Men’s gods are just gods in the crowd; God is not. God names a little
girl, No Mercy, because He is told
His people they’d reached a point where He would no longer deal with them; they’d hit the point of no return – He cut His losses and moved
on. That ought to make one think…
I am so grateful for grace yet I need to remember that
grace is not cheap nor is it a hall-pass. I am accountable for my thoughts and
my motives and for everything I do because if I’m not careful, I’ll lump God in
with “the gods in the crowd” and forget what He’s done for me. Personally, I
can’t afford that. I’m grateful for once saved, always saved, but I can’t use
that as an excuse to excuse my behavior. The thing for which I want to be known
by God and by men is: faithfulness.
May I be faithful to the one and ONLY God there is, and help others to be as
well…
Father God, that is
my prayer – amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment