Hosea doesn’t just speak that the orphan heart will find mercy in the climatic ending of Hosea 14… he speaks into the orphan heart and SEES the past pain, present surrender and future healing. Hosea has just walked out a marriage that was a mirror of Israel and if we are honest it’s a reflection of how our hearts can stray.
Understandably. His wife Gomer had been abused at minimum in the worst way-sexually-which strikes at the very core of who you are. It touches every part of you. She struggled to understand real love because she had never known real love. And the word had probably been put out there a hundred times attached to abusive and warped ways. She ran. She fought. She fully went back to the very thing that hurt her simply because it was familiar. Her identity and struggle to accept real love as Hosea repeatedly forgave her, pursued her and attempted to bring her into a real home was realistic for what she had endured probably for a lifetime. Yet Hosea, armed with the radical grace of God, walked out this simile between the picture of our fractured selves and YHWH's relentless unfathomable love for us.
At the heart of this word, I feel the abandonment Gomer must have wrestled with. Undoubtedly unprotected, unvalued and in the strength of her will to survive, internally declared to herself she would have to live by taking care of herself. God had failed. Parents appeared to have failed. Men had failed. And everyone took from her what they wanted. She took advantage of what she could take back just to live. How could she know trust in any relationship? Hosea 14:3 says, “We will say no more, ‘Our God,’ to the work of our hands.” Here’s the heart of the orphan’s struggle-the abandonment and erroneously stewarded heart- I have to be my own god (or make someone else my god) because YHWH has failed, people have failed and I must be self sufficient. But it’s not sustainable long term. It’s too heavy for anyone to carry. You either become bitter and add more addictions, more coping strategies, more denial of the pain or you become broken, letting the Father into all the painful places with His ability and willingness to heal. To be enough for you. “In You the orphan finds mercy.” (Vs3) Mercy. It also means favor. It is sometimes translated His "steadfast love". This isn’t from a God who’s distant or a harsh judge. He saw her life struggle and His heart towards her is the antidote. He was there all along. There was no one to frame His character in light of her circumstances. (And that becomes a whole other discussion.) His promises are real.
These promises are born out of fresh perspective and the path of healing:
He will heal the "backsliding" (vs4, definition of apostasy). (I think He understands the straying due to the hurt and His compassion is towards those who have courage to turn back- to learn to trust Him freely.)
He will love FREELY. (vs4)
He is like the dew-and causes the orphan-now unorphaned- to blossom, take root, to be found beautiful, to be a sweet fragrance, to dwell in His shadow and to FLOURISH. (vs5-7)
The antidote to the orphan heart is the greatest risk and makes the least amount of sense to that guarded heart. It is a call to brokenness, vulnerability, to take a chance on letting YHWH be God, surrendering completely, letting go and finding...favor...and life...the exceedingly abundantly more kind.
Selah.
Danielle
HOSEA 14
1 Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God,
for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
2 Take with you words
and return to the LORD;
say to him,
“Take away all iniquity;
accept what is good,
and we will pay with bulls
the vows1 of our lips.
3 Assyria shall not save us;
swe will not ride on horses;
and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’
to the work of our hands.
In you the orphan finds mercy.”
4 I vwill heal their apostasy;
I will love them freely,
for my anger has turned from them.
5 I will be like the dew to Israel;
he shall blossom like the lily;
he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon;
6 his shoots shall spread out;
his beauty shall be like the olive,
and his fragrance like Lebanon.
7 They shall return and bdwell beneath my shadow;
they shall flourish like the grain;
they shall blossom like the vine;
their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
8 O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?
It is I who answer and look after you.
I am like an evergreen cypress;
from me comes your fruit.
9 Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;
whoever is discerning, let him know them;
for the ways of the LORD are right,
and the upright walk in them,
but transgressors stumble in them.
See also:
2 Kings 19:30
Psalms 92
Song of Solomon
Romans 12
John 12:3
Ephesians 5"2
Psalms 91
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