Hosea 6:1 Come, and let us return to the LORD: for he has torn, and he will heal us; he has smitten, and he will bind us up. The graciousness of God is seen in nothing more conspicuously than in his willingness to receive those who come to him under the influence of sorrow. In all ages he has condescended to use afflictions to bring men and nations to an acknowledgment of their need of him. This was always a feature of his dealings with Israel. The growing tyranny of the taskmasters in Egypt aroused the cry of the Israelites for Divine interposition, without which they never could have become a separated and theocratic nation. In the wilderness, the scarcity of water, the defeat at Ai, etc., brought these who had forgotten God to a confession of sin. So was it in the subsequent history of that people, who constituted an abiding exemplification of God's method of dealing with other nations. From the lives of individuals also, illustrations of the same principle may be drawn. Hagar found that God was more to her when she and her child were dying in the wilderness than he bad ever been in Abraham's tent. Jacob was smitten with sorrow, homesick, fearful, destitute, when he saw the ladder the top of which reached to heaven. In the New Testament we find crowds around the Savior, and of whom did they consist? Chiefly of those whose sadness made them yearn for him. Blind men groped their way, lepers ventured near, the palsied besought their friends to lay them at his feet, the bereaved sent to tell him of their grief, and the broken-hearted sinner washed his feet with her tears. During his ministry it was as if our text had. sounded over the world, "Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, anti he will bind us up." Three considerations should lead to obedience to this exhortation. I. THE WICKEDNESS OF SOUL-WANDERING. The exhortation to "return" implies previous estrangement. 1. To whom were these words spoken? Not to the heathen, but to those who considered themselves the people of God. They knew and could recite the requirements of the Law; they took part in religious observances; they boasted of a pious ancestry. Now, therefore, the words may fairly be applied to those wire belong to a Christian nation, who are familiar with Divine truth, but who know that they have not personally returned unto the Lord. 2. How does this wandering reveal itself? There is an estrangement from God which is easily recognized. One wanders from holiness into corrupt imaginations, evil associations, gross habits, till all manly virtue or womanly grace is gone, and parents' tears or kindly worth avail nothing. Another wanders from truth and righteousness, turning his back on these, because they seem opposed to present interests, and so he gets entangled in crooked policy and tortuous expedients. Another wanders from love, till there is discord in the home, suspicion and enmity in the heart. All would admit that as God is holy and true and loving, those who turn from these virtues show that they are turning from him, and in the woes that follow such sins a voice is heard, saying, "Come, and let us return," etc. 3. Is there no soul-wandering which does not outwardly reveal itself'? We are more concerned about some who are guilty of sin, but not of crime; who are irreligious, but not immoral. Their condition is more perilous, because less likely to cause them alarm; yet what more lamentable in God's sight than a prayerless, godless man? Illustrate it by the relation between father and child in a human home. Imagine your son being to you what the godless man is to God. You watched over his infancy, sacrificed yourself for his comfort, etc. You expect to reap the fruit of all this in his love, to be glad in his success, to live over again in him. But he becomes a man, and has no thought or care for you. Cheerful in the society of others, he never gives his father a look or a smile. Is there no wrong in that, even though he may fulfill his duties to his neighbors and his country? But by-and-by he breaks down in his schemes; his brilliant course is run, his friends forsake him; then, poor and broken, he comes back to you, and in your pardon and kindness he feels and knows what you are, and how true all along your love has been. On his past negligence all the world would cry "Shame!" Yet what has he done that the moral, respected, yet godless man is not doing every day of his life? To such the message is sent, "Come, and let us return unto the Lord." II. THE PURPOSE OF SOUL-CHASTENING. God is spoken of here as the Wounder of men. This would be a strange declaration if all life was limited to this world by the abyss of the grave. Then it would seem as if we were created for suffering, and that the assurance, "God is love," was a mockery. But we are destined to dwell near God eternally, to do in his presence a service for which we are here being prepared; and anything which reminds us of that and fits us! or it is to be received thankfully. A schoolboy does not see the good of his lessons. Some will be of' no practical value, but they serve the purpose of mental discipline; and he is wise who learns them all, for he is not fit to discriminate for himself. "We know not what we shall be, "but we do know that" all things work together for good." If we see an artist beginning his work on the canvas, we can make nothing of' the first streaks of color; but a glance at the fair scene before him helps us to know what he is aiming at. So are we to look off from our troubles to our Lord, who "learned obedience by the things that he suffered," and there find God's ideal for us. The cross of Calvary is the interpretation of the mystery of suffering. If we were told that griefs and joys were distributed promiscuously, that we must merely brace ourselves to bear" the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune," we should gain no moral good from obedience. If we believed that sorrow was to avenge sin, that it was the beginning of punishment from a vindictive God, we should have no hope. But we are assured that the griefs and losses of life come to us from him who "so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son" to redeem it from sin; and so we believe that their design is in harmony with that great purpose. This which is true of the Christian life in its course is true of Christian life in its commencement. The misery of shame, the agony of penitence, constitute the broken heart and contrite spirit which is the pledge of God's love, the creation of God's Spirit. "He hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us tip." III. THE PROMISE OF SOUL-HEALING. (Text.) When Telephus was defending his country against the Greeks, he was wounded by the spear of Achilles. The Delphic oracle declared that the hurt could only be cured by a touch of the weapon which caused it. The oracle was obeyed. Telephus humbled himself to his foe, and by the spear's touch he was healed. To those stricken-hearted by the thought of sin, this text comes with a message more worthy of trust than any from Delphi; declaring that the wound was made, not in wrath, but in love; urging return, not to a foe, but to a Friend - even to "Jehovah Rophi," the Lord that heateth. Let us turn to no one else, lest we perish. If a surgeon were obliged to operate, his patient might flinch, and bid him hold his hand; but true wisdom teaches him to trust, for he says to himself," He has wounded, and he alone can heal." The troubled Christian comes to God in prayer, and has the deep, sweet assurance that his Father is doing all things well, and straightway the bitterness goes out of his grief. The sorrowing sinner goes to Jesus' feet, and there is made glad by the declaration, "Thy sins are forgiven thee." Adduce other examples. CONCLUSION. In conclusion, let us lay stress on the exhortation, "Return unto the Lord." This must be a personal and deliberate resolve on the part of cash. Trouble has no magical effect. It only gives opportunity and inclination for thought and prayer. It does not of necessity turn us to God. The sun melts the wax, but it hardens the clay. The rain blesses some things, but destroys others. A child may be chastised, and yet be made stubborn, not penitent, by the discipline. So with God-sent griefs, inward or outward. You may forget them in gaiety, in work, in companionship, and never turn to God at all. You may be influenced lot' a time, but, like Ephraim, your goodness may vanish like the morning dew or the passing cloud. Think, therefore, of your present and pressing responsibility, lest your sorrow lead to the despair of Judas, and not to the penitence of Peter. Your outward sorrows, your inward griefs, are from him who loves you. "Come," then, "and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up." - A.R. Parallel Verses KJV: Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. |
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