Knowing Him is All He Desires

Hosea 6:1, 6

 ¹ 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.

⁶ For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

The story of the prophet Hosea is a powerful story of God`s mercy and redemption. He told Hosea to go and buy himself a harlot to be his wife. People were adultering before God by worshiping other idols, building temples to them, and doing all kinds of immoral things. God`s jealousy for His righteousness rose, and He sent Hosea to show the example of His love to His people, so they could hearken to Him and repent before the judgment would come upon them.  The whole book of Hosea claims a message from God: “for I want mercy and not your sacrifice” meaning that God wanted His beloved people to turn to Him, so He could show them His mercy, and love, and spare the disaster of judgment.

I never really understood the circumstances in my life until He showed me that I was just like them, His people, who continued to go astray idoletrying left and right by worshiping other idols (I had other idols- my looks and the power that I had when I used them, people that I relied on to get me through the specific situations/circumstances, independence, pride). All those things are idols, and He knew that until He shatters them, I could never fully turn to Him. I was unconscienly selective of what to trust Him with and when. I was used to being a fighter taking care of things for no one did that for me otherwise. I was weary of all the burdens I had to carry for others and wished I had someone do that for me for once. God showed me that His yoke is light if only I fully trusted Him, and He placed me in situation where I had no other choice but to do just that (Mathhew 11:28-30). God never does anything without a bigger purpose, and His will is only for the better. I only wish I understood that sooner to avoid the pain that I go through.  God had to put me through trials in order to show me how insignificant my desires were compare to His will on my life.

I like how Oswald Chambers put it:

“If all you see is a shadow on the face of the Father right now, hang on to the fact that He will ultimately give you clear understanding and will justify Himself in everything that He has allowed into your life…

Will He find the kind of faith that counts on Him in spite of the confusion? Stand firm in faith, believing that what Jesus said is true, although in the meantime you do not understand what God is doing. He has bigger issues at stake than the particular things you are asking of Him right now…”

It took me awhile to understand why certain things happen. Now I know that “He has bigger things at stake” even if it doesn`t comply with my desires, and it shouldn`t if I committed my life fully to Him. Once I realized that I have nothing left to lose, as He exposed everything that I ever relied on besides Him (my path of idoletry), I realized that all I want is to see His glory. I want to be like Moses when he came down from the mountain and his face was aglow from talking to God (Exodus 34:29-31). I asked that of Him many years ago, and He reminded me so many years later of the conditions for that; there is a big price attached to that—my complete surrender to the Utmost High.

God destroyed everything in my life that had fake value attached to it, and casted away my idols, so He could come and fill my heart completely because it`s the only way how He would be able to take me to that “mountain” where Moses saw Him face to face.

I returned to the Lord once and for all because He exposed all my idoletry and brought me face to face with what I became over the years driving further and further away from Him. He has “torn”, so He could scrub me off all that dirt, and now He is healing me. He had “stricken” me by destroying all the things I ever held dear to me (I went through the worse betrayal by the closest friend I had), so he could show me that He is the number one in my life and not anyone else.  

This story of the prophet Hosea is a mighty story of redemption showing how much God`s love is unconditional towards us. He did not spare His Son, Jesus, only so we could have that access to Him and those close precious relationships. I was committing idoletry by placing things over Him, and it is the worst sin of them all—worshiping idols as He confirmed it yet again in the New Testament:

³⁰ And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’^[a] This is the first commandment.^[b]

³¹ And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’^[c] There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:30-31 NKJV)

When we reject to give up things we like, pleasing our flesh, we worship idol gods, and we sin against our Lord. I was like a harlot living in adultery by placing other things and people over Him, but He showed me His love, His mercy, and reached out His hand to lift me up from that bottomless pit.

If you are weary, and hopeless, and you don`t feel anything anymore, know that I felt all that and even more, but when I realized that the only way out is by searching Him, He was there to be found. He turned the meaning of my life around and gave me that hope, strength, and love for others that I lost. If you are exhausted, you should look into your life and see if there is anything or anyone who you esteem over Him to cast away those “idols” and stop your “adultery” because “He desires mercy” and knowledge of Him. He is a jealous God, and He would never share His glory with anything or anyone else.