“I will go [and] return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.” (Ho 5:15 AV)
What puzzles me is why we think that our relationship with the LORD; at least in principle; works differently than any other relationship. If we deeply offend someone we love, they are not bound to remain as though nothing happened. There is an offense that needs to be acknowledged and forsaken. There needs to be forgiveness and reconciliation sought. For the LORD to put up with our rebellion, disrespect, and lack of faith as though they are nothing is unrealistic. Quite frankly, it is insulting to God. Asking Him to open to abuse without and reaction on His part is not right. The affliction spoken of is the affliction of the absence of God’s presence. Israel and Judah are left to themselves. God removes His hand of protection and provision. They are on their own. This loneliness will drive the child of God back to His presence.
There are two things that make this relationship an extra challenge. First, it is the perfection of God. In any other relationship, two parties have equal ability to offend the other. A husband and wife have equal ability to wrong the other. A parent and child relationship is the same. Two siblings, friends, or classmates can hurt the other as much as they are hurt themselves. So, there is equal expectation of humility and conformity. What makes human relationships easier than one with the Divine is that if we wrong our loved one, we know that eventually, they will wrong us. Not as retribution or vengeance. Rather, it is part of being human. So, we can seek forgiveness because we know that eventually, we will have the privilege of granting it right back. This is not so with God. Confessing and forsaking are one-way actions. God is perfect. He cannot offend. If we are offended as something God caused or allowed, then that is on us. This means that we are constantly humbled before God, and He is never humbled before us. That is the way it should be! Yet if we are not careful, pride will stop this in its tracks. Pride will get sick of apologizing when there is no apology ever, coming from God.
Second, there is a false idea that God possesses infinite tolerance. This idea that God accepts us just the way we are is a lie from hell! He loves us in spite of what we are. Jesus died because of what we are and intends to change us from what we are to what He wants us to be. Theology like this cannot see a God who walks away. All they see is a gracious God who will always put up with our sin. This is not the God of the Bible. The opposite side of the coin is just as dangerous. I came from a tradition that taught an angry God. There was nothing we could ever do right. Purgatory was the best we could do. We had to be perfect in all our ways just for God to acknowledge us. That is also wrong. The truth is somewhere in the middle. God put up with a lot of evil from His chosen people. He corrected them time and again. But when they replaced Him with idols of gold and silver, that was it. God didn’t stick around. Why would He? He had been replaced.
The hope and promise of this verse are found in the latter part of it. For the LORD to make that heavy of an emphatic statement is encouraging. With complete absolutism, the Father states His children will return quickly once the affliction of their choices catches up with them. It is not a possibility. It is not a probability. It is an absolute certainty. Praise God! Once an intimate relationship with God is established, and the goodness of God is experienced, no matter how far the child of God may wander, he will return. If he does not, there is a real possibility that he was never saved to begin with. I don’t know about you, but this is the best news I have heard in a long time! No matter how far from God I get, I’ll always come back. I have also noticed that the longer the saint walks with God, the less and less those times away become. Praise be to God for our rubber band relationship with the LORD!
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