When God Exposes Our False Loves…

Main Idea: When God exposes our false loves, recognize what has captured your heart, receive God's disruption as mercy, return to the God who is pursuing you, and rebuild your life around knowing Him.

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Hosea 2:2–3:5 — Running Commentary

Israel, by the prophet's own marriage, is called to repent. The word "plead" carries the idea of a call to repentance. She has to turn from her promiscuous ways. Hosea's language is intentionally strong: "She is not my wife, and I am not her husband." Her unfaithfulness is covenant unfaithfulness. This isn't simply Israel making a few bad choices. She has broken covenant with her husband. She has embraced the promiscuous and even openly dressed and identified herself with the part. The call is to disassociate from these ways.

If she does not turn, verse 3 says she will be stripped, revealed, and exposed to openly bear her shame. Further, that shame will lead to a fruitless desert where she will die in agony from thirst. The desert, wilderness, and thirst imagery all echo the Exodus. Israel is going to find herself back in a wandering wilderness.

Verse 4 raises an interesting question: How could the children be held accountable? They are called children of whoredom. They didn't grow up in the Father's home, raised to love and honor Him. They are illegitimate children, fathered by and raised to love a false god. There is a sobering picture here of what happens when a generation grows up outside of the Father's home, even reminding us of the importance of not being unequally yoked.

Verse 5 explains why the children are rejected: their mother has played the whore. She is indeed acting the part of a prostitute, pursuing other lovers for material gain. Here is where idolatry and greed come together. Colossians 3:5 tells us that greed is idolatry because it fixates the heart on created things, allowing the world and the things of the world to hold our affections and love, and allowing those things to control us and sit on the throne of our lives.

And the truth of the matter is revealed in verse 8: “She did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the fresh oil." God has faithfully provided for her needs, only to see His provision and blessing spent on idol worship.

Israel's ignorance of God and His provision is a key theme throughout the book. The verb translated "know" or "recognize" is used sixteen times in Hosea, more than any other Minor Prophet. She did not know. God had been providing, but she didn't recognize Him.

Then verses 6–8 show us what God is going to do. He will establish a hedge—a hindrance—around His promiscuous wife. She will try to continue her lustful ways. She will try to find her lovers. But she will be unsuccessful. And eventually she will return to her husband. That returning has at least a dual meaning. It is turning from sin to God, as in repentance, but it is also returning from exile to home. Both are likely in play. When Israel returns from exile, she will pass through the path of repentance. Exile itself will serve as the hedge that cuts Israel off from her false lovers so that she can return to her first love.

Then verse 9 begins the removal of God's blessings. And the most striking is God taking away the wool which was meant to cover her nakedness. Nakedness deals with shame, going all the way back to Genesis 3. Before the fall, there was a nakedness that was beautiful and good and right, where Adam and Eve were completely open and fully known. But now that sin has entered the world, nakedness carries the idea of shame. It exposes. It leaves us vulnerable and helpless, and Israel will be laid bare in the sight of all.

Think about the Garden.

Dignity: We were made in God's image.

Protection: There was no enemy, no death, perfect peace—perfect shalom.

Security: There was life in the order of the Garden.

God provided all of it. But now, God is going to remove every false security, remove her peace, and shamefully expose her. No one will be able to rescue her out of God's hand. As the Message puts it, "All her fly-by-night lovers will be helpless to help her."

As the passage continues, there is a picture here of someone who is ruled by pleasure. She has no problem, it seems, keeping the religious celebrations commanded by God. But she is just as quick to celebrate the feasts of Baal. She has learned how to maintain religious activity while pursuing false gods. She’s at bonfire on Friday nights, the bar on Saturday nights, and sitting in the pew on Sunday morning.

But, it's coming to an end. The lavish blessings will be devoured by beasts, and her pursuit of false gods will be judged. All of her religious celebrations are coming to an end, even the ones commanded by God Himself, for the truth of the matter is: God prefers no worship rather than fake worship.

Then the passage turns. Verse 14 is one of the most beautiful turns in the entire book: “Therefore, I am going to allure her." God's plan is to allure His bride again. It's as if He is courting her, dating her, winning her back.

Remember, the wilderness is where He first promised Himself to her. Now He is going to speak tenderly to her. In the wilderness, God will give His people a vineyard, and the place of Trouble—Achor—will become a door of Hope. Feel the imagery here. Notice what God is saying: out of the deserts of brokenness will come blessings beyond imagination. So whatever it is that you are walking through right now, I want to encourage you: don’t despise the deserts…don’t grow weary in the wilderness. God is taking His people back into the wilderness, where they had their first date, to court His bride once more. And she will respond as she did when she was young, with young, infatuated love. The place of trouble becomes a door of hope.

Then verse 16 gives us a fascinating word play. Baali, "my master," sounds like Baal, the false god Israel has pursued. Israel had acted as though her husband and her Baal were the same. Now the distinction will be clear. Israel had fused the name of the One True God with Baal.

We need to be careful that we don't confuse true YHWH worship with cultural beliefs about God. We can claim Jesus while trusting in our wealth, wisdom, education, or elected officials. We can say we belong to God while functionally putting our hope somewhere else. I came across a video short just the other day…sobering reminder. Maybe we put our hope in our kids’ athletic futures. The reality is that .02% of kids will play a professional sport, but 100% of our kids will stand before Jesus one day!

Verses 17–20 then begin looking beyond Israel's immediate restoration toward the ultimate restoration of God's people. I believe verses 16–20 point to a final Messianic fulfillment—the Day of the LORD. Because sin and Satan are forever conquered, the names of the Baals will no longer be remembered.

The peace of Eden will be restored.

Animals will live in peace.

Man will no longer wage war.

Psalm 23 will be lived in reality: "He makes me lie down in green pastures."

And there will be a forever marriage, filled with righteousness, justice, steadfast love, mercy, and faithfulness. It points toward the marriage Feast of the Lamb. And we will know the LORD—fully and intimately—as we are known.

Then verses 21–23 describe this new relationship using the language of agriculture and blessing. Notice what the earth answers with: grain, wine, and oil.

The Valley of war and bloodshed becomes the fruitful vineyard of God's people.

What was once a battlefield has been replanted by the LORD into a glorious harvest. Finally, Hosea 3 brings everything into the personal experience of the prophet. God's love for Israel is expressed in visceral terms again through Hosea’s life: Go love your wife again. Even though she's in bed with her latest boyfriend, eating raisin cakes and practicing her Canaanite fertility rituals. Hosea, go pay the price in order to bring his bride home.

When she returns, Gomer would know no lover for a period of time. There must be repentance. She will abandon her ways and return to her covenantal partner. However, she won't fully know the blessings and pleasures of the covenant for some time. Remember the temple in Exile? The Passover in Exile? The royal line in Exile? Even though the people come back, the Spirit never descends on the E/N temple? Four hundred years they’ll continue to wait until Christ comes!

And what God commands Hosea to live is now explained in Israel's experience. The lack of physical intimacy points to Israel losing her monarchy, sacrifices, pillars, priestly garments, and household gods. It can be equated to losing security, comfort, protection, religion, God, and some would say even prayer. Truly, the exile will strip her bare.

But why must Israel be brought so low? So that when Israel returns, she will be devoted to YHWH and seek David their king. It is safe to assume, as the NLT translates it, that this latter reference is a Messianic reference to David's Descendant—Jesus.

The return will be with reverent fear and awe. Israel's exile leads to return and seeking the One True God. But it will also remind her that she does not deserve to come before God, and she doesn't deserve His blessing. Their knowledge of their unworthiness will lead to seeking His goodness—particularly dependent upon His grace. So now, what do we do with this? When God exposes our false loves…

Recognize what has capture your heart

Psalm 139:23–24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”

Comfort

We can become so attached to an easy, predictable life that we'll compromise obedience to avoid discomfort. “I want God—as long as following God doesn't cost me anything." Comfort can become a god because we organize our lives around never being inconvenienced, challenged, or uncomfortable.

Pleasure

Sexual pleasure is the obvious contemporary parallel, but it can be broader…food, recreation, entertainment, you name it. Pleasure becomes an idol when "I want to feel good" becomes more authoritative than "I want to honor God."

Family

This one is a sneaky idol. Family is a good gift from God. But even something God created can become an idol. We can love our spouse or children so much that their happiness, success, or approval becomes more important than obedience to God.

Control

This may be one of the deepest idols because it hides underneath many others. We want to know what's going to happen. We want to control our children's future. We want to control our finances. We want to control our health. We want to control how people perceive us. We want to control circumstances. And underneath it all is: “I need to be in control because I don't really trust God with this."

Religious Activity

Think about it—Israel was still celebrating religious festivals. She was still doing religious things. She hadn't completely abandoned religion. She’d just added Baal to it. That's frightening. We can attend church, sing worship songs, read our Bibles, serve in ministry, teach Sunday School, give money, and still have a heart captured by something other than God. You can be religiously active while spiritually unfaithful.

It’s a deeper question than, “What are my idols?” The heart of the matter is what do I love most in life?

Receive God’s disruption as mercy

Again, I want to remind you of this line: don’t despise the deserts…don’t grow weary in the wilderness. Hardship doesn’t mean that God has abandoned you. Sometimes a closed door is His mercy. Sometimes the unanswered prayer is mercy. Sometimes the failed plan is mercy.

The wilderness teaches us dependence. A few weeks back, we paused our regularly scheduled message to remember that we NEED God’s presence more than anything else, but we may not realize just how true that is until we are back in a place where we have to be totally dependent on God. And that, friends, is God’s mercy to us.

Return to the God who is pursuing you

Do you hear His call today? Whatever He awakens in our hearts…whatever disruption that we find frustrating and hard to walk through…this is where He is calling us back to Himself. He’s reminding us that His love is fiercer and more satisfying than all the other things we’ve given our hearts to.

His kindness leads us to repentance.

His salvation brings joy.

He pursues us with a relentless love. The question is, will we return?

He is gracious to call us back to Himself. So if God is exposing something in your heart today, don't run from Him. Don't defend it. Don't rationalize it. Don't hide it. Come home.

Rebuild your life around knowing God

Notice the latter part of vs. 20: “And you shall know the Lord.” There was a line at the end of Job in our Sunday school lesson last week: Job 42:5 “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you;” Hosea will repeat a similar idea in chapter 6 (Hosea 6:3a “Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord;)

I wonder how many of us know about God, but really struggle to actually KNOW the Lord? We know the stories, the verses, the theology, maybe even the right answers—but God is calling us beyond information into relationship. Don't just build your life around knowing about Him; rebuild your life around knowing Him.

Hosea 2:14–15 ESV

“Therefore, behold, I will allure her,

Hosea 2:14–15 ESV

and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.

Hosea 2:14–15 ESV

And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.

Hosea 2:14–15 ESV

And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.