The Desert

Photo Credit: Joanna S

In July I got to Joshua Tree National Park. I enjoyed climbing rocks, spending time with friends, and see some amazing views. 

God reminded me of Hosea 2. This chapter has become very dear to me because it is a reflection of my own story. 

The first part shares in graphic detail how Isreal has prostituted themselves to idols and how God responds. It's a sad tale of God's chosen people exchanging the glory of God for a false god. I too at one time had traded glory for an idol. I had let my dream of marriage grow into an ugly idol that consumed me. 

Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way. She will chase after her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them. 

This is what the Lord did for me. He blocked my way with a thornbush that I couldn't get around. I had chased my idol, but it wasn't what God wanted for me. In His kindness my engagement was broken. My heart shattered. 

Then she will say, `I will go back to my husband as at first, for then I was better off than now.'

When what you trusted in falls arart you reach back to what is worthy of trust. And this is what I did. While I lay shattered I purposed to go back to what was true and real. 

What follows in the next verses is a graphic and hard description of what God did to punish His wayward people for their idolatry and prostitution. Coming back to God is always what we should do. Yet He doesn't leave our sins unpunished. Yes He covered on the offense on the cross, but I still had to be corrected. I had to realize how wrong I had been so that I could appropriate the grace that God had for me. It was a hard time. The only way I made it through was God's sustaining hand. He stayed with me through the process and restored me. 

"Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her.

After the break up, I went through a rough time. So much pain and brokenness. Yet in the middle of all of it, I heard the tender voice of God. He kept calling out to me. He was calling me to come away from the noise and distractions. He allured me into the desert. Where we could rekindle our relationship. Where He could restore my soul. Where He could show me that He was my Source and Hope. 

There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. 

Indeed, the Lord made my Valley of Achor (trouble) into a door of hope. What looked like a dry desert became a passageway to green meadows. It took a few years, but God healed my heart. He made me sing again. He was so good and gracious. He renewed and restored me. Now because of His goodness I live in so much freedom and grace. 

There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.

"In that day," declares the LORD, "you will call me `my husband'; you will no longer call me `my master.' I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips; no longer will their names be invoked.

I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the LORD.

I will show my love to the one I called `Not my loved one.' I will say to those called `Not my people,' `You are my people'; and they will say, `You are my God.'"