Rekindled Love

Introduction:

Think of every love song you’ve ever heard or tried to sing. Chad Swiatowicz, a sociology researcher at UF, determined 60% of all songs in America relate to love. Consider every poem written about love. Think about every story written about love. List every play or movie that has a love story as its central plot. None of them compare to the Bible and few are as compelling as the story of Hosea and Gomer.

Hosea closes his prophetical writing with a final appeal from God as an extreme overture of love, begging for the love between He and Israel to be rekindled.

Israel’s sin was their spiritual adultery with Baal, the Canaanite god of fertility. Baal was the God of fertility in crops, livestock and childbirth. Although the prophets and a few Godly kings had continually called the people to put away these Gods, the enticement of sex, power and money was too appealing to the children of Israel for them to resist. The same holds true today. It took only one day to get Israel out of Egypt, but they were never able to get Egypt out of the people.

I. Return to Love (14:1-3)

“What’s one thing you can’t give up?” the radio host asked. Listeners called in with some interesting answers. Some mentioned their families, including a husband who shared memories of a deceased wife. Others shared they can’t give up on their dreams, such as making a living in music or becoming a mother. All of us have something we treasure dearly—a person, a passion, a possession—something we can’t give up.

Return Contritely (14:1-2) - “1 Israel, return to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled in your sin. 2 Take words [of repentance] with you and return to the Lord. Say to Him: "Forgive all [our] sin and accept what is good, so that we may repay You with praise from our lips.

1 If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him to marry another, can he ever return to her? Wouldn’t such land become totally defiled? But you! You have played the prostitute with many partners -- can you return to Me? - Jeremiah 3:1 (HCSB)

‘Lord please accept my willing offerings of praise, and teach me Your judgments.” - Psalm 119:108 (HCSB)

Return Completely (14:3) - 3 Assyria will not save us, we will not ride on horses, and we will no longer proclaim: Our gods! to the work of our hands. For the fatherless receives compassion in You."

“I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. 2 My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.” - Psalm 121:1-2 (KJV)

II. Restored by Love (14:4-8)

Marc Connelly’s 1930 Pulitzer Prize winner for Drama play, The Green Pastures, adapted from Ol' Man Adam an' His Chillun (1928), At the play’s end old Hezdrel says he’s not afraid to die because he believes in the God of Hosea. The Lord then speaks to him and asks if he didn’t mean to say the God of Moses. Hezdrel says no, and explains that he saw the Lord of Hosea as being full of mercy and not fearsome anymore.

Restored Flourishingly (14:4-7) - 4 I will heal their apostasy; I will freely love them, for My anger will have turned from him...

“1 Come, let us return to the Lord. For He has torn [us], and He will heal us; He has wounded [us], and He will bind up our wounds.” - Hosea 6:1 (HCSB)

“The Lord your God is among you, a warrior who saves. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will bring [you] quietness with His love. He will delight in you with shouts of joy." - Psalm 100:5

Restored Fully (14:8) - 8 Ephraim, why should I have anything more to do with idols? It is I who answer and watch over him. I am like a flourishing pine tree; your fruit comes from Me.

“The Lord your God is among you, a warrior who saves. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will bring [you] quietness with His love. He will delight in you with shouts of joy.” - Zephaniah 3:17 (HCSB)

III. Remember These Lessons (14:9)

Recognize His Righteousness (14:9a) - Let whoever is wise understand these things, and whoever is insightful recognize them.

“Let whoever is wise pay attention to these things and consider the Lord’s acts of faithful love.” - Psalm 107:43 (HCSB)

Remember Unless You Forget (14:9b) - For the ways of the Lord are right, and the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.

“And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.” - 1 John 4:16 (HCSB)

During the 17th century, Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, sentenced a soldier to be shot for his crimes. The execution was to take place at the ringing of the evening curfew bell. However, the bell did not sound. The soldier's fiancé had climbed into the belfry and clung to the great clapper of the bell to prevent it from striking. When she was summoned by Cromwell to account for her actions, she wept as she showed him her bruised and bleeding hands. Cromwell's heart was touched and he said, "Your lover shall live because of your sacrifice. Curfew shall not ring tonight!"

The soldier and his fiancee ultimately married. Her hands were forever bruised by the deep gashes created by that night she clung to the bell, saving her love. She often wore gloves or hid her hands in her coat due to embarrassment. One day the soldier inquired of his wife why she felt such shame. She responded to him that her hands were ugly, bruised and unattractive. He then gently kissed both hands and said, “These are the most beautiful hands in the world to me. Because they are a constant reminder of the wondrous love you have for me.”

What Wondrous Love is This

What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul,

What wondrous love is this, O my soul!

What wondrous love is this

that caused the Lord of bliss

to bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,

To bear the dreadful curse for my soul.