Christmas and Hosea
So Christmas at our house was pretty dang great. Mom, Dad, and I all got sick because Matthew and Jeremiah were sick but it still was an enjoyable day. Watching little kids open presents is a lot of fun. They get so easily excited about everything. After Jeremiah opened one of his presents he wanted to put it together but had to be reminded he still had more to open. Some of the best parts of the day for me had to do with those two crazy kids. If you haven't seen the family Christmas picture you are missing out. First when I was setting up the camera Jeremiah kept mooning me and the camera. So of course I have pictures of that. Then when we had the whole family in the picture we took 15 photos. Only three of them ended up being serious. The rest are all silly. Matthew's face in some of them are pretty great. He's a riot.
I know this is the time of year when people begin to reflect on the previous year. I might post about that next week or during the week. I'm on big on new years resolutions or anything though so I might not post anything. We will see what happens.
This week I was reading through my favorite book in the Bible, Hosea. I have posted in the past about what Hosea 2:14-15 means to me. This week something else struck me. This week it was the end that struck me. Hosea 14:4 says "I will heal this waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them." The Message puts it this way - "I heal their waywardness. I will love them lavishly. My anger is played out." I had a version once that said "my anger is all used up."
I don't know about you but I can be really hard on myself. I see all the faults. All the ways that I fail day after day. And so at times I feel like I come timidly to God focused on the bad I see. And I forget that he wants to love me lavishly, freely, endlessly.
This book is all about how Israel is like a prostitute and how God is saying "You married me stopping whoring yourself off to others who can't give you what I have already given you." Through out the book he is saying, "This is what will happen when you turn from me. You spell your own destruction." But the end, it's so beautiful.
It is what JRR Tolkien would call a Eucatastrophe. This happens in stories when all hope seems lost and yet there is a beautiful often unforeseen turn of events where the happy ending comes. This turn happens often in his books. Think of Frodo putting on the ring in Mordor and then Gollum falling in the lava with the ring in his hands. Tolkien said the best example of a Eucatastrope is the story of Christ, his death and resurrection. All hope seems lost for us, and yet the tomb is opened and the grave is empty.
In Hosea I see the Eucatastrophe. God has turned away from Israel because they sell themselves off cheaply to others not seeing how good God is. They become miserable and lose hope...and yet. He says the answer is simple, "Turn to me and I won't be angry anymore. I love you all your days."
Time and time again God's dealings with us are surprising and beautiful. The love he continues to pour out when love is the last thing we deserve. It is a turn of events that I don't deserve but one I am endlessly thankful for.
I know this is the time of year when people begin to reflect on the previous year. I might post about that next week or during the week. I'm on big on new years resolutions or anything though so I might not post anything. We will see what happens.
This week I was reading through my favorite book in the Bible, Hosea. I have posted in the past about what Hosea 2:14-15 means to me. This week something else struck me. This week it was the end that struck me. Hosea 14:4 says "I will heal this waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them." The Message puts it this way - "I heal their waywardness. I will love them lavishly. My anger is played out." I had a version once that said "my anger is all used up."
I don't know about you but I can be really hard on myself. I see all the faults. All the ways that I fail day after day. And so at times I feel like I come timidly to God focused on the bad I see. And I forget that he wants to love me lavishly, freely, endlessly.
This book is all about how Israel is like a prostitute and how God is saying "You married me stopping whoring yourself off to others who can't give you what I have already given you." Through out the book he is saying, "This is what will happen when you turn from me. You spell your own destruction." But the end, it's so beautiful.
It is what JRR Tolkien would call a Eucatastrophe. This happens in stories when all hope seems lost and yet there is a beautiful often unforeseen turn of events where the happy ending comes. This turn happens often in his books. Think of Frodo putting on the ring in Mordor and then Gollum falling in the lava with the ring in his hands. Tolkien said the best example of a Eucatastrope is the story of Christ, his death and resurrection. All hope seems lost for us, and yet the tomb is opened and the grave is empty.
In Hosea I see the Eucatastrophe. God has turned away from Israel because they sell themselves off cheaply to others not seeing how good God is. They become miserable and lose hope...and yet. He says the answer is simple, "Turn to me and I won't be angry anymore. I love you all your days."
Time and time again God's dealings with us are surprising and beautiful. The love he continues to pour out when love is the last thing we deserve. It is a turn of events that I don't deserve but one I am endlessly thankful for.
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