UNFAITHFUL

​Hi friends! 

As the year is coming to an end, I’d like us to reflect on how the year has been regarding our relationship with God. I don’t know what your resolutions for this year were, but assess yourself in relation to your love and devotion to Jesus: have you honored the promise of love you made to the Lover of your soul? 

The Book of Hosea features Hosea and his unfailing love for a woman called Gomer. Gomer however  despised Hosea’s love by being an unfaithful wife and prostituting herself. The Lord used Hosea’s situation as an analogy to how he has loved us as his children wholeheartedly, but his children remained unfaithful to Him. 

Have I been unfaithful to the Lover of my soul? 

As we learn from this Book, resolve to reciprocate the Lord’s love and His faithfulness towards you. Resolve not to make anything an ‘idol’ or ‘god’ in your heart to take His place in your heart as your God. 

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Hosea couldn’t stand it anymore. Gomer was taking his love for granted, and he couldn’t take it anymore. He couldn’t stand seeing her lavish the love meant for him to her lovers who only left her empty and worthless. If only the Lord hadn’t asked him to take for himself such an adulterous wife and prostitute! 

Out of desperation he decided to talk to God about it. 

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“I’m unable to deal with it, Lord! How could  Gomer reciprocate my love for her with such unfaithfulness? How could she not love me back as her husband?”

But Hosea saw the sad expression on the Lord’s face and he knew what that meant.  Sitting next to Him, he heaved a sigh! 
 The Lord was going through a similar situation. And as Hosea’s situation was analogous to His, Hosea could understand his God’s grief.  

God had loved his people wholeheartedly,  making lots of sacrifices for them just to show how much he loved them.  But His people were guilty of adultery in departing from the Lord. Though betrothed to the Lord, they became unfaithful by prostituting themselves with false gods. 
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The whole theme for the book of Hosea is about how God’s people had been unfaithful to Him though He remained faithful, as the word ‘Unfaithful’ is mentioned several times in this Bible Book. 

How would you feel when the person you’ve loved wholeheartedly doesn’t love you back, but gives his or her love and attention to another lover? I don’t know how Hosea might have felt having to deal with such a situation. 

And as the Lord was experiencing same with the people he wholeheartedly loved, he realized that His people were unfaithful to Him!

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Have I been unfaithful to God? Have you been unfaithful to God? Have we been unfaithful to God? Are we ‘loving’ other things more than we should love Him?

Assess yourself. 

When we break our covenant of love and devotion to Him, we make ourselves unfaithful. When we don’t recognize Him as our Lord and as our husband; when we give our love, time, attention and services meant for Him to things of this world,  we make ourselves unfaithful! When we run after and satisfy our earthly pleasures and sinful desires we make ourselves unfaithful. 

Did you honor your resolutions to love the Lord with your whole being and to devote yourself to Him?

Have we been unfaithful to God who through all the changing scenes of life remained faithful to us? Have we dealt treacherously against the Lord?

Charles Spurgeon shares these words which reveal how subtly we’ve been unfaithful to God:

“Prayer has oftentimes been slurred- it has been short, but not sweet; brief, but not fervent! Communion with Christ has been forgotten… (How faithful have I been in my personal devotion, prayer and Bible study?) And instead of a heavenly mind, there have been carnal cares, worldly vanities and thoughts of evil. Instead of fervency, there has been lukewarmness.” 

If only like the Israelites we’d say, “Let us return to the Lord… He will revive us… He would restore us, that we might live in his presence.” If only we’d ask him to remove the unfaithfulness in our hearts so we can love him and serve Him whom wholeheartedly in the coming year! If only we wouldn’t make the desires for things of the world, money, laziness, relationships and technology idols in our hearts against the Lord, He’d come to us like the winter rains. (Hosea 6:1-3)

Yea! The lord is willing to have a closer walk with us!

Let us then resolve to love Him with all that we are and have!

Let us love him faithfully and wholeheartedly!