The Waiting Mother
Well into her thirties, a family friend of ours decided to seek out her biological mother. Adopted into a loving family she was not doing this for any other reason but the urge we all have to know who we are.
When she finally made the call her birth mother burst into tears and told her, "I have been waiting every day for this phone call."
There is a tiny detail in the Story of the Prodigal (Luke 15) easily overlooked. We read in verse 15 that "While he was still a long way off, his father saw him...." Every day the prodigal's father scanned the horizon hoping - and no doubt praying - for his son to return, longing for the prodigal to come home.
Yesterday we began to explore Hosea 14, one of the most beautiful restoration chapters in all of Scripture.
We learn from both Hosea 14 and Luke 15 that the Lord longs for his people to return. He longs for backsliders to come home. He longs for those whose hearts have grown cold - for whatever reason - to be restored once more. He never throws us on the scrapheap.
It's one of the greatest encouragements to a wandering son or daughter: your Father in heaven wants you to return. He will not reject you, despise you or condemn you.
Yesterday we saw what the prodigal is called to do: own up, confess and repent. Today we learn what God promises to do, and this is simply wonderful.
God Promises to heal Waywardness
"I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned against them." (verse 4)
God promises by his mighty power, to supernaturally heal the malaise of wandering hearts. He will love them without strings attached because his anger has turned away from them.
God says to the wanderer "If you return, I will do the rest." We cannot heal our hearts, but God Almighty promises to do that.
God Promises to restore Life
Secondly, he promises to restore spiritual life:
"I will be like the dew to Israel: he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of Lebanon he will send down his roots; his young shoots will grow." (verse 5)
Where there was spiritual death, now spiritual life. Dew gave the water of life to plants parched of rain. Hosea sees this restored believer flourishing once more.
God Promises to restore Grace
Backslidders lose the spiritual graces that once marked them out from the world! With the Spirit of God grieved, His fruits dry up and wither. But God promises to restore the beauty of Jesus to their characters:
"He splendour will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon." (verse 6)
Like my rose bush coming back to life with a burst of flowers, so the Lord promises to restore the backslider and bring beauty out of ashes.
Earlier this year on one of our walks, I said to my wife about one tree along the way: "That tree is dead," but last time we passed it, the tree had burst into life.
God Promises to restore Usefulness
And finally, God promises to restore usefulness:
"Men will dwell in his shade. He will flourish like the corn. He will blossom like a vine, and his fame will be like the wine from Lebanon." (verse 7)
What a beautiful picture of restored usefulness! Shade where once there was no protection from the burning sun; food, where fruitlessness; and wide reknown, where once anonymity.
Summing it All Up
We know from the story of the prodigal son that it is just as easy to backside in the pew as the alehouse. The condition of the older son is far more perilous than the younger one.
The older one never "leaves church". Not on the outside. But inside he's left the God he loves many a year past. He judges his younger brother and his father, he is filled with fearsome jealousy and his heart is as cold as antartic ice.
The preacher in me asks, "How is your heart and how is mine?" We sorrow over the younger son, but he returns. Luke 15 ends without us knowing the fate of the older son.
Hosea 14 encourages all backslidden still-at-church older sons to return. Tenderly, patiently and graciously, God says, "Return O Israel to the Lord your God."
A Song for the Day
Back in 1986, the veteran songwriter Graham Kendrick wrote this beautiful song about the grace of Jesus among his people. Each verse is a prayer.
May the fragrance of Jesus fill this place. (Men)
May the fragrance of Jesus fill this place. (Women)
May the fragrance of Jesus fill this place. (Men)
Lovely fragrance of Jesus, (Women)
Rising from the sacrifice (All)
Of lives laid down in adoration.
May the glory of Jesus fill His church. (Men)
May the glory of Jesus fill His church. (Women)
May the glory of Jesus fill His church. (Men)
Radiant glory of Jesus, (Women)
Shining from our faces (All)
As we gaze in adoration.
May the beauty of Jesus fill my life. (Men)
May the beauty of Jesus fill my life. (Women)
May the beauty of Jesus fill my life. (Men)
Perfect beauty of Jesus, (Women)
Fill my thoughts, my words, my deeds, (All)
My all I give in adoration.
Why not sing along right HERE.
A Prayer for the Day
Our loving Father,
We glorify your holy name.
We thankyou for your astounding grace and graciousness. Instead of rejecting those who walk out on you, disobey you, and bring your name into disrepute, you call them back.
We pray for all backsliders, those who have left you openly, and even more for those who have never left the church, but whose hearts are far from you.
Speak to them through your word, call them home, and restore in their hearts the grace they once bore and the fruitfulness they once exhibited.
We ask this in the precious name of our Good Shepherd,
Amen.
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