God Knows The Real You
We looked at Hosea 4 last week in our community groups. We’ve already seen that the main problem that the people had was that they weren’t acknowledging God in their lives. Just like Gomer, they ran from the good and gracious God who loved them. But we saw something incredible in chapter 4:3, “I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me.” Even through the people were running from knowing God, God knew His people. This is either encouraging, or frightening. Many of us are terrified that God might know everything about us, because we all have something to hide.
Our God knows us deeply. Even when we try to cover up our ugliness, our sin, our guilt, God knows who we really are. He’s not like the people who are connected to us on social media. Those people only know what we let them know. They can’t know more than what we post or share, unless we reach out and give them more information. The version of us that they know is a much better version of ourselves. God knows the dark recesses of your heart, and still he pursues you.
Hosea 4:13 says, “But I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like dry rot to the house of Judah.” Why would God say that he’s like a moth to these people who are rejecting him? Imaging that you are out on your lanai one evening hanging out, and as the sun starts to set you turn on the lights. What’s going to happen? If you live near a tree, moths are going to start to fly over toward the light. They’ll start to land on your face, fly into your ears, and be a nuisance. Moth distract and bother us, but they’re pretty harmless. God is being gracious to Israel by distracting them from pursuing sin. Moths can also be a bit destructive (like dry rot). God is being gracious by making it hard to run away from him. But what if we don’t turn to God when he plays the moth?
Hosea 4:14 says, “For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear and go away; I will carry off, and no one shall rescue.” If we’re not effected by the moth, God will treat us like a lion. A lion is much more intense; much more shocking. God is now coming to us as a ferocious lion, doing all that he can so that we will turn to him. Even though we’ve done everything possible to hide our sin and run from God, he’s coming at us with all he’s got. We have a God who sees us as we really are, and pursues us nonetheless. What a gracious and merciful God.