God’s Broken Heart

Well, it’s happened again.  I read a passage this morning for the umpteenth time, and on the umpteenth and first time, it hit me.

I have decided (felt led?) to re-read the minor prophets; you know, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Jonah…those guys. Why are they called minor prophets?  The consensus seems to be that their books are short — not unimportant, not at all.  They range from one to 14 chapters.  They were also regular guys holding down regular jobs, and were told to prophecy in God’s name.  

Hosea gets us started when he was commanded by God to take a prostitute named Gomer as his wife. Under ordinary circumstances this would have been unheard of.  The point was to display Israel’s unfaithfulness to God and God’s continued search to bring his people back.

The thing that struck me this morning was in chapter 11, where I detected the hurt and broken heart that God experienced during this time of dismal failure.  The first verse starts off poignantly with, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.”  Later God reminds Hosea that He taught Israel to walk (verse 3), that he, “bent down to feed them.” (Verse 4). I picture a mother tenderly caring for her baby. What a scene!

Later in the same chapter, God asks how he could possibly give up on them, that his heart recoils within and his compassion grows warm and tender toward his beloved.  Then he says he will not display his burning anger toward them.

Amazing?  Absolutely. In my own mind, I am reminded of what Christ cried from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34, KJV). We cannot imagine a love and compassion this profound.

It also caused me to be stirred in my own heart to realize that God is, at the very least, disappointed at our failures, and broken hearted at our unfaithfulness.  We all failed at times, and it could be helpful to remember God’s response to that failure.

So, what is the answer?  One, it would help to recall that we have hurt the one closest to our hearts, the Father who knows us better than we know ourselves.  Two, realizing that he is calling us back to repentance and faith, accept His call.  

Also remember Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal son. The father would go out daily and gaze into the distance, looking for a sign…any sign of the return of his beloved son. Then, he finally saw it. His son, broken, dirty, defeated, was returning.  The father ran…something you would never see in those days…a wealthy nobleman hiking up his robes and RUNNING toward his lost son. He did not execute judgement and accept his son as a hired hand, like his son asked, but he shouted back to the other servants to get the party to end all parties ready for a celebration of the return of his son. He had a ring placed on the boy’s hand restoring him to a place of prominence in the family.

This is what he does with us. He restores us as sons and daughters as members of his heavenly family. He declares our citizenship to be in heaven and we await his final restoration of all things.

Grace has been written about a lot recently, and in my opinion it needs to continue.  Grace is his favor extended to us who do not deserve it.

Let us all search our hearts and accept his unmerited favor, remembering that he is disappointed and even hurt at our failures and eager to run toward us, restoring our place in his kingdom.

Read this powerful passage, Hosea chapter 11 and connect with the heart of God.

Thanks be to God!