TEXT TO REFLECT ON
What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?
What shall I do with you, O Judah?
Your love is like a morning cloud,
like the dew that goes early away.
Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets;
I have slain them by the words of my mouth,
and my judgment goes forth as the light.
For I desire steadfast love[a] and not sacrifice,
the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
HOSEA 6: 4-6
REFLECT
A fleeting love, that was God’s problem with Israel and Judah. Here one moment and gone the next. It wasn’t that the people did not love God. They did. But their love was intense one moment, and dissipated the next moment. God likened it to dew that fell on the ground early in the morning and had evaporated when the sun came up.
And that isn’t the kind of love God desires. Neither does God desire strict religious rigour, or fervour, nor even offerings. What God desires is a steadfast love, faithful and stable, and a quest to know Him.
RELATE
Here we deal with two issues:
1) An intense but short-lived love – “Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away.”
2) A strict, legalistic adherence to a set of rules or disciplines and associated with pride in being able to keep to those rigours. – “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”
1) An intense but short-lived love. Being touched by God is an exhilarating feeling. Those touched by the Holy Spirit often receive a feeling of peace and calm, or of warmth or love coming at them in waves. Some fall backwards into a kind of peaceful rest, others fall on their knees in repentance, many others weep uncontrollably either in contrition or with joy. And some begin to speak in unknown or foreign tongues. Such events are also often accompanied by spiritual breakthroughs such as being set free from oppressive forces and temptations. When this phenomenon takes place in large numbers, we call it a revival. It is exciting for church leaders and members as well to observe this happening in our churches.
But as exciting as this phenomenon may be, it is only the start of a life-long love relationship with God. That initial spurt of love for God must be nurtured gradually and steadfastly to a steady relationship with God. Those who experience such exciting spurts of God’s love must be helped to see that like the initial love of two infatuated lovers, such feelings of love will likely fade, unless a deeper and more steadfast love is nurtured. The initial spurt must be followed up with disciplines such as prayer and reading the Word of God, as well as obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit and dependence on God. Otherwise, this short-lived love will fizzle out soon after, and one may end up living from one spiritual high to the next. This is exactly what God does not want from us.
2) A Proud and legalistic adherence to Spiritual Disciplines – Like a lover who is more interested in showing off his efforts than he is in the relationship, a legalistic observance of rules and disciplines does not help build our relationship with God. While the disciplines are important in building our relationship with God, they are not to be adhered to for their own sake. We read the Bible, pray, tithe, worship because in doing so, we get to know God better. But if we did these things only to show how disciplined or determined we are, then the relationship is not built. This is why Jesus taught that those who pray should hide in the closet and pray in secret, those who give alms must be so secretive about their giving that, figuratively speaking, even their left hand would not know what their right hand has given. And those who fast must look like they are having a party. What Jesus meant by this is that the disciplines we do are only for the purpose of drawing close to God, and not for showing off or for judging those who did not do these things.
REST
Being in a love relationship with God is a lifelong adventure. Sometimes it is exhilarating, other times it is calm and quiet. And while the relationship needs to be nurtured with some discipline, we need never feel guilty when we miss a day of Bible reading, or prayer, or giving. What is important is that we keep growing in love with God our beloved Father.
Chiu Ming Li
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