Fruit and... Hosea?

One of my favorite, favorite things about summer is the fruit. When I think of summer I think of being barefoot, the smell of Coppertone, an old t-shirt, with a sunburned nose, a wet tangled pony-tail, eating bowls upon bowls of fruit. (My sister and I devoured about a cantaloupe a night last summer...it was awesome. )

Upon, eating and cutting all of this fruit-- I was taught about fruit in scripture. There are obviously thousands of places in scripture that Jesus, prophets, apostles and Kings make references to fruit, but being in this stage of thinking about my new ministry and life.... I've thought a lot about Hosea. Bare with me as I make a few reference points and TRY to wind it back up. It makes sense in my head.

Hosea, long story short is a prophet from about the middle of the 8th century beginning a little bit after the prophet Amos. The first few chapters of the book narrates the family life of Hosea-- and uses his family as a symbol to convey a message to people from God. Anyway, Hosea ended up marrying a prostitute named Gomer (because God told Hosea to -- so he did. Obedience at it's finest.) This unconditional and exhausting relationship is symbolic of the relationship that God has with Israel. Gomer again and again seeks attention of other men and Hosea repeatedly takes her back and continues to love her. Hosea is forgiving and is always welcoming Gomer back home. This relationship is symbolic of how the Israelites at the time, were worshiping crazy and bizarre gods and giving these gods praise for the source for all of their abundance and fruit. Hosea issues a call to turn away from these crazy gods, and return to the Lord. But, not before God addresses Israel's unfaithfulness....

I'm thinking that in the 8th century your fruit, your crops, your farm was your life. How people lived and produced on their land was how they made a living- it's how you were known! If I had to guess-- they were probably very self sufficient, especially in the north where the land is very lush ( Ephraim) .

So, as the fruit increased in Israel, the people began to build altars and crazy monuments to praise gods that they thought were making the land fertile.( The imagery of these idols is witty when God addresses the people in chapter 4 when He says  " They consult a wooden idol, but are answered by a stick. " ) In response to God being abandoned by the people of Israel, God was obviously angry, He had every right.  God tells them that He has control of their land, their harvests and their lives and that Yahweh is the one true Lord. So people get scared. I would as well if God threatened my fields, my crops, and my juicy cantaloupe.

But, the people of Israel STILL do not have a change of heart.. they say in chapter 6-- "Let us acknowledge the Lord let us press on to acknowledge Him. As surely as the sun rises he will appear, he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth"

Acknowledge?!  It's frustrating reading this seeing the attitude of the Israelites. But, I think we are all the exact same. We go day to day simply acknowledging God's presence, and being dependent upon grace, forgiveness and mercy. But, there has to be some kind of heart change on our behalf. We can't simply respect and recognize God without some sort of action of the heart. I find myself guilty of this a lot. I wake up and I simply acknowledge that God gave me today, and I always expect God to water my crops-- or allow me to produce fruit-- or allow me to be in relationships with others. That's  not the way it works.

I love that verse in chapter 6 about acknowledging the Lord, but in this circumstance I think just "acknowledging" the Lord is lazy. I picture this type of acknowledgment like when you bump into someone in a crowded store. You wouldn't normally acknowledge the person but because you physically cannot get around them,  you have to acknowledge that person.  You don't even have a conversation with them, usually you don't even look them in the eye. You probably just say "Oh, sorry" and you continue on your way.

Nourishment, fruit and healthy relationships are received and given because of grace and because of the Lord's love. They are fruits that I definitely don't deserve-- but yet, I'm always expectant of them and I'm unhappy when I don't receive them. God certainly doesn't owe me anything. But, I owe God more than just affirming Him. God is worth more than me saying His name and me getting rewarded immediately with lush, over growing, fruitful crops. I don't understand grace at all. I don't understand how or why I deserve it-- and at the same time I don't understand why in the world I take advantage of it daily. Unbelievable.

 I'm actually nothing more than Gomer. I run from God and he is repeatedly showing me mercy, kindness and favor even though ALL I do is acknowledge Him. I don't even look God in the eye. I don't even stop to have a conversation. I just pass God in a crowded place sometimes, without even the acknowledgement.  I expect luscious summer time fruit and still expect to achieve my very own agenda. I'll never understand why God is so faithful to me, while I'm so unfaithful to Him.