Come, and let us return to the Lord;
For He has torn, but He will heal us;
He has stricken, but He will bind us up.
After two days He will revive us;
On the third day He will raise us up,
That we may live in His sight.
Hosea calls us to repentance…for us to return to the Lord, because regardless of what has happened between us and God, He will heal us and bind us up. And, He will do so quickly: i.e. after two days.
The beauty of repentance is that the Lord is quick to receive us and restore us to spiritual health. There is no long period of time required. We return to Him; He receives us.
But the beauty of repentance is also the problem of repentance. For as quickly as the Lord heals us, we become unrepentant and merciless. I mean, consider the parable from Matthew 18:21-35, and the servant who after his master had forgiven him a debt that was larger than he could ever repay, went out and had someone else punished for the debt owed to him. I spoke about this unforgiveness in this sermon.
Yet simply stated, we think that making some sort of ritualistic vow (i.e. increased church attendance) is sufficient enough to show thanksgiving to God for His mercy. But the Lord is clear: “I desire mercy and not sacrifice.”
And this is why He asks:
O Ephraim, what shall I do to you?
O Judah, what shall I do to you?
For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud,
And like the early dew it goes away.
Every time He forgives us, our faithfulness – like a morning cloud – retreats at the shining of the sun. Like the early dew on the grass in the morning, our faithfulness dries up quickly.
More than simply going to church, He wishes us to become the church (find out what that means, really). And we become the church by loving the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and loving our neighbors as ourselves – sharing the mercy we’ve received with those around us.
When we fail to share mercy, we are being unrepentant. When we fail to share mercy, we turn away from the Lord to whom we had just returned.
How many times have you returned to the Lord, only to turn away again?
Yes: He will receive you every time you return. But, how do you feel about the fact that you continuously turn away from Him again, after receiving His mercy?
We prepare for His coming by acknowledging how often we turn away from Him. We prepare for His coming by asking the Spirit to keep us from fleeing from the Way. We prepare for His coming by turning to Him with greater and greater desire for Him, until our souls cleave to Him.
May the Lord bless us in this preparation for His Second Coming!
