He is working to gain our attention so we will turn to Him.
We see this illustrated in Hosea’s life.
God has him marry a prostitute and have illegitimate children. This all illustrates how Israel has treated God, both in giving their worship to idols and trusting their security from other nations, along with all the detestable practices, including temple prostitution and more.
Yet, God has Hosea go and buy back his wife from prostitution and her unfaithfulness.
He tells Israel they will have a long season of suffering, and He wants to restore them. He longs for them to admit their guilt and turn to Him.
Hosea 7:13-14
Woe to them,
because they have strayed from me!
Destruction to them,
because they have rebelled against me!
I long to redeem them
but they speak lies against me.
14 They do not cry out to me from their hearts
but wail upon their beds.
We see that Israel is wailing on their beds, but they are not crying out to God.
Wow! God has given us all things. He loves and cares for us. He desires a relationship with us. But we can often give ourselves or others credit for His provision and care. We can run after other things and make them our priority over Him. We can seek other solutions and neglect seeking God or putting Him first.
One of my Philisms is: “God likes to keep us dependent on Him.”
And the kicker: “And He is good at it!”
Living in reality means that all things are from Him, and He should be who we seek and desire. But we are prone to think we can do life without Him.
I am reminded of Matthew 6:33.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
What are the difficulties in our lives today? Is God trying to get our attention? Are we acknowledging our sin? Are we turning to Him? Are we putting Him first in our lives?
Or are we looking elsewhere for help and crying in our beds?
Let’s seek Him first. Let’s worship Him, depend on Him, and trust Him alone. He loves us and desires a relationship with us.
