Chasing After What Your Heart Loves | Hosea
From Hosea Chapter 2:2-13
2:2 “Rebuke your mother, rebuke her, for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove the adulterous look from her face and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts. 3 Otherwise I will strip her naked and make her as bare as on the day she was born; I will make her like a desert, turn her into a parched land, and slay her with thirst. 4 I will not show my love to her children, because they are the children of adultery. 5 Their mother has been unfaithful and has conceived them in disgrace. She said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my food and my water, my wool and my linen, my olive oil and my drink.’ 6 Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way. 7 She will chase after her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go back to my husband as at first, for then I was better off than now.’ 8 She has not acknowledged that I was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil, who lavished on her the silver and gold— which they used for Baal. 9 “Therefore I will take away my grain when it ripens, and my new wine when it is ready. I will take back my wool and my linen, intended to cover her naked body. 10 So now I will expose her lewdness before the eyes of her lovers; no one will take her out of my hands. 11 I will stop all her celebrations: her yearly festivals, her New Moons, her Sabbath days—all her appointed festivals. 12 I will ruin her vines and her fig trees, which she said were her pay from her lovers; I will make them a thicket, and wild animals will devour them. 13 I will punish her for the days she burned incense to the Baals; she decked herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers, but me she forgot,” declares the Lord.
In the Old Testament, God often referred to Himself as a husband to the nation of Israel and individual Israelites as His children. But Israel, just like an unfaithful wife, had worshipped idols again and again. The Bible calls this spiritual adultery. Through His prophet, the Lord rebuked the Israelites. The Lord pronounced that He would no longer have mercy on them, He would no longer take Israel as his wife nor continue to be her husband because the people repeatedly went after what their hearts loved. In this passage, the phrase “go after her lovers” appears again and again. It’s not just in our nature to run after what our hearts love, we definitely run after what our hearts love. The Lord Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.”
God allowed the Israelites to go after what they love, for it is the only way they can be awakened. Verse 7 says, “She will chase after her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go back to my husband as at first, for then I was better off than now.’” She will long to go back to her husband. The Lord is the husband of the nation of Israel. When the Israelites served other gods, they realized quickly that the foreign gods are all false and useless. And with that realization comes regret for everything they had done.
Israel’s history of repeated unfaithfulness to the Lord led to the Lord allowing the Assyrians and Babylonians to destroy the northern and southern kingdoms in succession. The Israelites were exiled to the Gentile nations. In the end, they realized that only the Lord is the true God. When they returned from their exile, they acknowledged that the Lord is the only true God, that there was no other god besides Him. Now once more a nation, Israel no longer worshipped idols. Instead, they worshipped the one and only true God, the Lord.
Church, what does your heart love and chase after?
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跟隨心裡所愛的 | 何西亞書
張國強牧師
何西亞書 2:2-13
2:2你們要與你們的母親大大爭辯, 因為她不是我的妻子, 我也不是她的丈夫, 叫她除掉臉上的淫像和胸間的淫態; 3免得我剝她的衣服, 使她赤體與纔生的時候一樣, 使她如曠野, 如乾旱之地, 因渴而死。4我必不憐憫她的兒女, 因為他們是從淫亂而生的。5他們的母親行了淫亂, 懷他們的母作了可羞恥的事, 因為她說: 我要隨從所愛的, 我的餅、水、羊毛、麻、油、酒都是他們給的。6因此, 我必用荊棘堵塞她的道, 築牆擋住她, 使她找不著路。7她必追隨所愛的, 卻追不上, 她必尋找他們, 卻尋不見, 便說: 我要歸回前夫, 因我那時的光景比如今還好。8她不知道是我給她五榖新酒, 和油, 又加增她的金銀, 她卻以此供奉巴力。9因此到了收割的日子, 出酒的時候, 我必將我的五榖新酒收回, 也必將她應當遮體的羊毛和麻, 奪回來。10如今我必在他所愛的眼前, 顯露她的醜態, 必無人能救她脫離我的手。11我也必使她的宴樂、節期、月朔、安息日, 並她的一切大會都止息了。12我也必毀壞她的葡萄樹和無花果樹, 就是他說: 這是 我所愛的給我為賞賜的,我必使這些樹變為荒林, 為田野的走獸所喫。13我必追討他素日給諸巴力燒香的罪, 那時她佩帶耳環和別樣妝飾, 隨從她所愛的, 卻忘記我, 這是耶和華說的。
在舊約裡面, 神常常以丈夫的身份出玩, 以色列全國就是祂的妻子, 個別的以色列人就是神的兒女; 但以色列一次又一次去敬拜偶像, 就好像一個妻子背著她的丈夫去找別的男人, 聖經稱這為屬靈的淫亂; 神藉著先知責罵以色列人, 神不再憐憫他們, 神不以以色列為妻子, 也不作他們的丈夫, 因為他們又一次又一次隨從心裡所愛的, 隨從心圳所愛的, 在這段經文一次又一次的出現, 我們心裡所愛的, 我們的心自然會跟隨, 或是我們心裡所愛的, 我們的心也必會跟隨。主耶穌說: 你財寶在那裡, 你的心也會在那裡。
神任憑以色列人隨著他們心所愛的, 這個時候他們才會靈悟過來, 第七節: 她必追隨所愛的, 卻追不上, 她必尋找他們, 卻尋不見, 便說: 我要歸回前夫, 因我那時的光景比如今還好。她要歸回前夫, 前夫就是神, 當他們事奉別神的時候, 他們才明白外邦的神都是虛假, 沒有用的, 這個時候他們才是後悔以前所作的一切。
在以色列人的歷史中, 他們因為一次又一次背叛神, 神先後藉著亞述人與巴比倫人將北國與南國滅亡, 使以色列人被擄到外邦中; 在經過一次又一次審判, 最後他們真的認識耶和華是獨一的真神, 當他們被擄歸回的時候, 他們才知道耶和華是獨一的真神, 除祂以外, 沒有別的神。所以猶太人被擄回後, 他們再不敬拜偶像, 唯獨敬拜獨一的真神, 耶和華神。
教會, 你心裡所隨的所愛的又是什麼呢？