Fast Day 30: God’s Response

There are many ways we can call out to God: we can pray as Jesus taught us, be persistent in our prayer, pray out loud and keep our hearts prepared to pray through fasting. We know what we want and now we know how to approach Him! Let’s take our relationship with our gracious Lord and go another step deeper into His side of the story.

God says:

I am now going to woo her. I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. And on that day, I will say to her, “You will call Me Husband and no longer Master.” I will betroth you to Me forever. I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness. Then you will know the LORD. And on that day I will respond. I will respond to the heavens. They will respond to the earth. The earth will respond with the fruit of the earth. I will plant you for Myself in the land. I will have compassion on you who had not obtained compassion. I will say to you who were not My people, “You are My people!” And you will say, “You are my God!” From Hosea 2: 14-23

In the first chapter of Hosea, God demanded that His prophet marry a woman inclined to infidelity to illustrate Israel’s infidelity to God. So Hosea married Gomer. And they had at least three children. But then Gomer wasn’t happy with that life and took off to chase her former lovers, saying, “They give me the best of everything!” God did not want to destroy her, but because she was acting like she had forgotten Him, He prevented her from finding that easy and opulent life she craved. God’s hope was for her to remember that life with Hosea (and the Lord) was far better!

Redeeming Love, the movie of Francine Rivers’ story, set in the early American West, was inspired by Hosea and Gomer. Unfortunately, we can probably all relate to it emotionally, whether in our life, the lives of our close friends, or our family. We can see how personal devastation trickles down and pulls others down. This journey is felt by all. And makes us long for those seemingly trivial obstacles in the latest Hallmark movie!

God is the jilted husband, but His response shows the height and the depth of His love that so overwhelmingly conquers (Rom 8:37-39). He commits to woo us with tenderness and to treat us as a groom would his bride. No matter our past, He promises to step out and betroth Himself to us with righteousness, justice, love, compassion and faithfulness. And this response not only sets into motion a restored relationship, but a renewed covenant that will be fruitful for the whole earth. This is how He loves all of us. He will claim us as His people. And we will claim Him as our God.

Take what you have learned in your time of fasting and, going forward, let it change the way you reach for God in prayer and the way you see Him as you pray. I pray you learn to experience fasting like this:

NOT, Fast until you feel your hurt!

BUT, Fast until you truly feel your Lord’s love!

Whether your own life is a Hosea or a Hallmark movie, take some time to slowly read through Hosea 1 and 2. Ask God to speak to you about His love for you and those He has placed in your life. Mark the phrases that stand out. Pray them back to Him. For example (“I will speak tenderly to her.”):

Lord, I deserve Your anger. I deserve destruction. But You, my Husband, respond to me with such tenderness. You are my God! Thank You! Amen.