Father

Passage: Hosea 11:1-4

By and large the prophetic books of the Old Testament are pretty harsh. Without exception they indict God’s people of infidelity and predict the dire consequences thereof. Hosea provides his own variation on this riff, using his personal life as a metaphor for the relationship between God and his wayward people. In Hosea God talks about Israel as a cheating spouse; in Hosea we get this juxtaposition between God’s anger and God’s heartbreak. God reacts to his people’s betrayal with, as Jars of Clay put it, “a rage of a jealous kind.” He loves them, and vows to win them back.

In Hosea 11 the prophet introduces a new metaphor that sheds a more tender light on the love of God. Here God talks about nursing his people to health, reaching for them, and lifting them to his cheek. God says, “I raised you from infancy. But it was so long ago that you’ve forgotten the look of my face and the sound of my voice. Don’t you realize? It was me! I protected you. I fed you. I held you close and rocked you to sleep. It was me.”

God has been with you from the beginning. The psalmist says, “You knit me together in my mother’s womb.” He is the one who breathed life into you; imprinted you with his DNA. He’s the one watching over you and guiding you. Stop wondering. Stop pretending he’s not there. Hear his voice and be caught in his embrace.