What message do you have to give to someone who is struggling with their circumstances in the world, in their lives?
What have you got which will appeal to their heart? What can you bring to their doorstep that they will acknowledge and say “come on in, I need this”?
Will you tell them how wonderful it has already been for you? Will you let them know how your bills are paid and your prayers are answered? Will they admire your new car or your relationship with your spouse or how mightily you are being used in the church?
Because I want to tell you that as soon as you say those things, as soon as they see your life in all of its goodness, there is going to be a voice in their ear. And that voice is going to be saying “yes, that’s right. You go ahead and admire them. Sure they have got it together; Because God loves them. And IF God loved you, your life would be as good as theirs. BUT, you know who you are and why He can’t love you.”
And they will slowly close the door and believe the lie. Because the lie is all they have heard and known for a very long time. There may have been a time in their life when they reached out to respond to God. There may have even been a time when they sang His praise and served His Church.
But that was then and this is now and the truth for them is that the lie was what was and reality is that they are unlovable. You can tell them that Jesus loves them and paid the price for their sin against Him and that He sent you to give them the opportunity to be saved. And you will probably see a longing in their eyes as they tell you they did that once. And they may even try to come to a few services or read a few chapters in the Bible. They may get down on their knees a few times. But eventually they will quit. The voice will be there again, “It didn’t work back then. It didn’t work the last time and it won’t work now.” They will listen to the voice. And they will turn again. Back to the same mire they have been wallowing in.
So what do you need? What can you carry to them that will win them and bring them in and secure them so they will never again stray? Nothing. There is not any power on earth which you can employ that will absolutely positively secure their soul for all eternity and cause them to love the God who created them and gave His life as a perfect man on the Cross of Calvary to pay His holy demand for the penalty of their transgression against His law. Nothing. You have nothing but your stories and your wonderful life and your deep sincere wishes for them. But in the end you’ve got nothing.
In Hosea chapter two God gives a shortened version of the entire fourteen chapters of that book. He first calls the relationship that is between Hosea and his wife for what it is, a sham, a farce, even a lie.
In the first five verses He declares He knew her from the beginning that she was going to be that way. Yet even though he loved her and she responded to Him, He knew. Even though He provided all she should ever have needed or wanted, still she turned to worship and love someone else. Many someone elses.
The next eight verses He berates and chastises her for her wickedness, He condemns her and her unrighteous relationships and every result of them. Until finally, dispossessed of all contempt for what she in truth is, He calls her back to Himself to make her into what He desired in the beginning. The time didn’t matter. The failings and consequences didn’t matter. Even the time it took to arrive at this point did not matter. The fact that she is still His is all that matters. And the Bible says He allures her back to himself. When He does, she responds as she sees all she has had and been through as nothing compared to who He wishes her to be “and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth”. She is told “God wants you back”.
That is your message. That is your appeal. That is your invitation at their door to come in and stay a while. God wants you back. You, even though He knows you and even though you turned your back on Him and even though you misused the gifts and talents and blessings He provided. God wants you back. He allowed you to go through all you have in order that you might be prepared to hear these loving words: God wants you back. You don’t have to change, He will change you. You only need to be willing to be changed. He says “And I will betroth you unto me for ever; yes, I will betroth you unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in mercies”.
You only need to say Yes Lord. Still, your choice, hell is still waiting. But God wants you back. No other message will do. There is not time for any other story. He has prepared you your whole life to hear this invitation and God wants you back, now.
When they say “yes it is time” then’ God swells His Holy Spirit in them like a new blossom sending forth its beauty in one tremendous burst for all to see the glory of being His. Then God finishes out the book of Hosea by saying “and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to not my people, you are my people; and they shall say, my God.”
God wants you back.