In my last post I asked why do we find it so hard to trust God for our inheritance which He promises to us? In our favorite scripture from Jeremiah 29 we read “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper and not to harm you, Plans to give you hope and a future” Continue on and read and absorb, “Then you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord” Jer 29:11-14.
Doesn’t this scripture just beg the question? Why is it so hard to just accept that God wants us to Find Him, and believe and move on?
Maybe the answer is staring us right in the face and we cannot see the ‘larger than life’ forest for the trees.
IF its a matter of the heart, IS IT LOVE?
As I continue to study Hosea, my experience of love in two marriages reminds me of Hosea’s metaphor of betrothal of a people to their God. My first husband had no desire for children and in fact insisted on aborting our first. We could not remain faithful to one another and the marriage died.
My second husband was the opposite. For me, just knowing that his love would support me and our children because his desire for love and faithfulness matched mine made that relationship so strong and the love so real that we have survived 38 years of incredible joy, some trials and the blessing of children. Thats the love that is of God and responds to our love.
Hosea 2:14-23 (NIV) writes one of the most beautiful passages about Gods love for His people found in the scriptures. He uses this metaphor of betrothal and marriage.
The verse that stands out to me in the NIV is 2:21 “In that day (when the betrothal is established) I will respond,” declares the Lord— “I will respond to the skies, and they will respond to the earth; 22 and the earth will respond to the grain, the new wine and the olive oil, and they will respond to Jezreel”. Note how he repeats “respond” four times. We know that three times is standard in scripture for “PAY ATTENTION” what does Four then signify? This is beyond important!
You have to know that in the context of Hosea’s story Jezreel represents his first son named Jezreel and symbolically, Israel, who will soon be punished because of a massacre that occurred at Jezreel in disobedience to God. God has promised punishment for this act. Yet, after that will follow restoration and the rebuilding of a faithful Israel.
In the poetry of Hosea, who likens this restoration to that of a failed marriage relationship caused by adultery, we hear an incredible promise that answers and gives the key to knowing and trusting God for everything.
The NIV says that in His gracious restoration, God will respond to the skies, and there is a cascade effect that flows in response to the new wine and olive oil and then He will at last respond to Jezreel. The use of respond rather than “answer” in this passage is so powerful, I can almost feel the urgency of Gods LOVE, calling us to reciprocate to Him as He senses or feels our love flowing towards him again! This fits into the betrothal or marriage metaphor so perfectly as all who have experienced the love of husband and wife know that sense of being drawn together as one in body, soul and spirit. Especially when the desire is to procreate, bringing life into existence!
That’s the LOVE that is OF God and Responds TO our love. LOVE is what causes me to believe and trust in Him until my last breath is breathed!
The olive Garden of Gethsemane where the New Wine was being formed in the Spirit, mind and body of Christ as He submitted to His Fathers will.
From Woodstock up: The Journey 
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