I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. (Hosea 2:14)

[markdohle]

"Therefore I am now going to allure her;
 I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her.
(Hosea 2:14)

Aridity in our walk with God

The soul is made for the ‘Living Water’, that which allows our souls to flourish and grow.  Yet the desert is also a reality that dwells within each of us.  A place of dryness, thirst, listlessness and a feeling of not knowing where one is moving towards, for in the desert there are no well worn roads.  It is there that we ‘wait on the Lord’ in faith.  Where we seek the ‘Living Waters’ out of love and longing and not just simply to have our prayers heard, or to give us spiritual consolation; we learn that God gives and takes, draws close and then pulls back…..yet that is an illusion.

 God is always yes, there is never change, for it is we who change, grow or pull back.  In the desert we learn trust; we also over a period of time learn that the living water is just below the surface nourishing us in all that we need.   Our self love and self seeking die in the desert and what is left is our longing for the embrace of the living God. 

Even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.|
 (Psalm 139:12)

 

[Guest bonnieschamberger]

!!! Im so excited about reading this because this is what God has been talking to me about today  and also what He has been telling me during this wilderness time for me..when I have an especially listless day where its almost as if my wheels are spinning ..He brings me right back to this and pins and calms me down again...speaks peace be still.

[markdohle]

8 hours ago, Yowm said:

The true object of Hosea 2:14 is Israel. I mean would you really apply the surrounding verses to yourself or just pick the sweet sounding ones?

And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand. I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts. And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them. And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD.
(Hos 2:10-13)
 

The desert experience can happen for two reasons.  One is a deepening love and commitment to the Lord, it is a purification of our love, pruning as Jesus said the Father did.  The second happens because of sin, both are based on love and compassion of the Lord to draw us closer.  We see it all around us.  People who love the Lord, going through very rough times.  Yet they stay faithful.  Others who fall away and because of sin they go through the same thing. 

I have read Hosea many times, there is nothing sweet nor sentimental about him.  Yet God's love and compassion are real.

 

 

[markdohle]

10 hours ago, bonnieschamberger said:

!!! Im so excited about reading this because this is what God has been talking to me about today  and also what He has been telling me during this wilderness time for me..when I have an especially listless day where its almost as if my wheels are spinning ..He brings me right back to this and pins and calms me down again...speaks peace be still.

Thank you for your beautiful testimony my friend.

 

[Guest Teditis]

8 hours ago, Yowm said:

The true object of Hosea 2:14 is Israel. I mean would you really apply the surrounding verses to yourself or just pick the sweet sounding ones?

And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand. I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts. And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them. And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD.
(Hos 2:10-13)
 

To me, the whole of the verses speak of God's Unconditional Love... and how He

Loves His children even though they forsake Him... He'll still take the time to woo

us back to Himself.

[Guest Teditis]

12 minutes ago, Yowm said:

That would be a subjective application but not the intended message of Hosea 2:14.

I don't think so... it's clear to me that these verses are showing God's Unconditional Love

by restoring the "adulterous wife"... this is also the view of many theologians that I've seen

and studied. So, to not see it as such is walking outside the more traditional view of these

passages.

But go with what you like...

[Guest shiloh357]

55 minutes ago, Yowm said:

That would be a subjective application but not the intended message of Hosea 2:14.

Exactly right.  The object of God's love in Hosea is Israel.   The book is about Israel, the adulterous wife.   To generalize the particular and try to make this about all of humanity violates some pretty basic rules of interpretation.

[Guest Teditis]

15 minutes ago, shiloh357 said:

Exactly right.  The object of God's love in Hosea is Israel.   The book is about Israel, the adulterous wife.   To generalize the particular and try to make this about all of humanity violates some pretty basic rules of interpretation.

So how is he exactly right? Yowm is telling us that it has nothing to do with God's Love.

He says that the verse is about Israel and it adulterous behavior, period. He leaves out God's Love altogether.

I say it's about God's Love for Israel and the restoring of the "adulterous wife" (Israel) back to Him.

And the generalization of the particular in this case is warranted because of the allegory to Gomer.

That the Love of God is one the lead subjects of the entire book of Hosea and that it applies to all of His children

is so apparent that only those without the Love of God in them would miss it.

You're apparently confused... again.

[markdohle]

1 hour ago, Yowm said:

As I said, Hosea 2:14 was written to Israel, not our experiences, the rest is left up to your imagination. Rome has a real problem with acknowledging the promises in the OT as applying to Israel, both then and now. It's called a literal interpretation.

For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.---Rom 15:4
 

[Guest shiloh357]

34 minutes ago, Teditis said:

So how is he exactly right? Yowm is telling us that it has nothing to do with God's Love.

He says that the verse is about Israel and it adulterous behavior, period. He leaves out God's Love altogether.

I say it's about God's Love for Israel and the restoring of the "adulterous wife" (Israel) back to Him.

And the generalization of the particular in this case is warranted because of the allegory to Gomer.

That the Love of God is one the lead subjects of the entire book of Hosea and that it applies to all of His children

is so apparent that only those without the Love of God in them would miss it.

You're apparently confused... again.

I was speaking to the context being about Israel and not being a general reference to mankind.   I was drawing a distinction between application and interpretation and it appears that is what Yowm was addressing as well.  Yowm didn't say it had nothing to do with the love of God.  That's a value you are assigning to him.  

I am not the one who is confused, here.  You take another swipe at me like that, and I will report you.  I am not putting up with your under-the-radar digs.