Ties Of Love (Hosea 11:4)

 


Saturday, August 10, 2024


Psalms 92, 93

Hosea 11:1-11

Romans 8:28-39


Observance: Laurence, deacon and martyr at Rome (d. 258)


Ties Of Love (Hosea 11:4)


Let’s have a quick moment of honesty: I am not very good at handiwork. And I am even worse at self-defence sport. So when we speak about a sword and a trowel, I don’t rely on any innate skill of my own. This great building-project of the kingdom of heaven is overwhelming, and it calls for all sorts of people, many of us who are not very good at it.


If God were the type of God who, like a grumpy old man in the sky, looked down upon our feeble and amateur efforts and was upset, then none of us would have any hope.


Fortunately for all of us, God is not like that at all. “I am God, and not a man – the Holy One among you. I will not come in wrath.” God is our gentle Father, leading us by the hand. It is he who teaches us to walk, taking us by the arms. He is the one who heals us. God leads us with cords of human kindness, with ties of love; he lifts the yoke from our neck and bends down to feed us.


When we turn astray, the Lord will roar from Zion. In today’s reading from Hosea, this is less a roar of anger, but more like the loud roar of Aslan, the lion of Narnia. We hear God’s voice, the loud roar of the Lion of Judah, the call of our Lord Jesus, and we return to him – the one who has always treated us with loving forgiveness.


So when we forget to keep our sword clean and sharp, or do a dodgy job of the brickwork with our trowel, we must remember whose work we are doing. We are doing the work of the One who always forgives, who always supports us, who will love us forever: for there is nothing in heaven or on earth or under the earth that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.


Lord Jesus, Lion of Judah, my Overseer and my Friend: keep me safe from the buffets of doubt and sin, protected by the mighty strength of your love for me.

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