A husband and wife threw a dinner party. The house was crowded with their friends. But the wife began gossiping about her husband. She cursed him, calling him names amongst their friends.
When he realized what she was doing, the husband pulled her aside and said, "What are you doing? Not only are you embarrassing me, you are bringing disgrace to yourself. Are you drunk?"
"I'm sorry," she said.
"I forgive you. Now don't do it again."
But not five minutes had passed before she was gossiping about her husband again. She began to get drunk and the things she said were disgusting lies.
Again the man pulled his wife aside, saying, "Stop it! I already told you this. You are bringing shame upon both of us."
"I'm sorry," she said.
"I forgive you. But I will not forgive you a third time."
So she went back to the dinner party, but was soon inviting other men up to her bedroom, seducing them and sleeping with them. Having had enough, the husband took her roughly by the arm and threw her out of the house naked into the dark.
So the Lord will forgive you many times, but if you continue to disparage His name, cast drunken lies about Him, or lie down with false gods He will treat you as the wronged husband must treat his wayward wife. For He loves you, and will be embarrassed for and by you many times before He rejects you, but do not test the Lord, for when He acts it will be swift and it will be fair and just.
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7 comments:
Hey brother...
Very vivid!
Have you read Hosea lately?
in HIS love,
Nick
Thanks, Nick. Actually I read Hosea over the weekend and that's what triggered this. It's a powerful book. And it's tough to tell whether the story of Hosea's family is a parable of Israel's faithlessness or if it is a factual story AND a parable of Israel's faithlessness.
The love of the Lord is awesome indeed, but so is His fury if you turn against Him.
Blessings, Nick!
Kyle,
I agree with Nick that this parable is very vivid, but it seems to personify the God of the Old Testament. Didn't Jesus die for our sins? Can a murderer not find peace if he finds the Lord. Can a prostitute not find forgiveness if she asks for it.
To me the difference is clear when comparing Hosea's Gomer with the Luke's story of Jesus and the prostitute. Jesus forgave the prostitute for all her sins, while Hosea was commanded to toss Gomer out of his house.
I have no doubt that the wives’ sins were many, but my Lord will forgive give no matter how many times I sin, and no matter how many times I leave his path. For this is the bedrock of my faith, and pray dearly that it is true.
Just a few thoughts
Jon
Dear Jon,
Where do you see Hosea commanded to cast Gomer out of his house?
Nick
The glory of God and our relationship with Him through Christ is that we can ask for forgiveness and receive it.
However, we have to at least make an effort to walk in His ways so that we don't just ask for forgiveness and go back to a life of perpetual sin.
It's like a parent who tells a child "No" ten times in a row, but never punishes the child. The child never learns. But if you tell a child "No" twice, before they get a spanking, then after that spanking, the child realizes that their parent really won't put up with that kind of behavior.
The wayward wife says she's sorry, but does nothing to demonstrate that she really is or that she'll ever change her ways. In fact, she gets worse each time. A cheating, lying, gossiping spouse does not usually stay married very long.
Is there a point at which a person has gone beyond the realm of God's forgiveness? I don't know. No man can know the mind or will of God entirely, so as it says in Deuteronomy 6:16-17:
"Do not test the LORD your God as you did at Massah. Be sure to keep the commands of the LORD your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you."
Nick,
I think you are losing the forest for the trees. Thank you for pointing out the minor inaccuracy in the minutia of my comment, but the general premise still stands.
You see, I actually like the parable a lot, but felt that the moral at the end didn't paint the entire picture. As written it seems to indicate that the Lord has a fuse and if you reach the end, BOOM, but what I was trying to say was his fuse is infinite and if you truly ask for forgiveness and mean it, you shall receive it. The way I see it, the fuse meets the stick of dynamite (to keep the bad metaphor going) when we die. God willing, you have hopefully made your peace before that time, even if it is in you last days after a life of sin. So, with the story of the “Wayward Wife”, she has asked for forgiveness but never really meant it, so she should feel her husband’s wrath.
Jon
But Jon,
The general premise cannot stand when one of the major assertions is false. You draw a false dichotomy between the "God of the Old Testament" and "Jesus [who] died for our sins" and you use the alleged command to cast out Gomer as evidence of that Marcionite difference.
The fact that Hosea keeps Gomer despite her awful sin is a beautiful picture of the Creator God we worship in Jesus.
The Hebrew Scriptures cover hundreds and hundreds of years of God's relationship with his people. That being the case, we see times when God speaks to his beloved tenderly, and times when he must be harsh.
The Greek Scriptures cover less than a century in the infancy of the church. It is to be expected that, given that context, we find an overwhelming amount of tender speech from God. That's how you treat babies.
The God of the OT is incredibly gracious, and the God of the NT is a consuming fire, for they are one and the same.
in HIS love,
Nick
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