Perhaps no writer in the Bible expresses the grief that comes to God because of sin more than the prophet Hosea. At chapter 4 verse 10 and at 13:3 there is a lamentation over the want and waste of the people because of their empty lives. Their lives were empty and meaningless; they had squandered them on matters that usurped God and as a result he was heartbroken.
All of us have certain little goals in life. As these are reached - graduation from high school; college; marriage; establishment of a career; children; home; retirement and so-called “golden years” - there comes a terrif feeling that these don’t really mean anything. This lonely, empty feeling often comes because we are separated from God and that comes because of sin.
I read once of a luxury liner which was making its way to Europe. On board were hundreds of people on vacation and every kind of diversion had been provided for them. One night the ship was raided by pirates and the captain killed. When the passengers learned the captain was dead and unknown people were sailing the ship to an unknown destination, there was no longer an interest in entertainment. They were seized with anxiety. So it is with us when we lose touch with God.
When the prodigal son was separated from his father, he had both an empty stomach and an empty soul. Think what pain our empty lives must bring to God. He yearned over Israel. Hosea said, “My heart recoils within me, my compassion grows warm and tender.” lie yearns over us as the father of the prodigal yearned over his younger son. He has so much for us that we have rejected. He would pour his love into our vacant lives, but we have embraced futility.
God’s yearning reached the ultimate breaking point at Calvary.. The pain Jesus endured was intensely physical, but even more deeply, he suffered because he was rejected by those he loved. His heart apparently was literally broken (John 19:34). But his heartbreak began as he wept over a careless city. It still breaks as he views his church with its empty pews and empty people. It is not pleasant to think we cause God grief, but it can be redeeming in that it may prompt us to return to him.
Only one thing can heal the heart of God and that is the repentance of his people. Repentance, deep and real, is urgently needed within the church. Let us fill our heads with God’s word, file our pews with God’s people, fill our hands with offerings and the lost, and fill our lives with the love and Spirit of Jesus Christ. When we do this the heartbreak of heaven will be soothed.
Hosea closes his prophecy with this gracious invitation, “Return unto the Lord.. . turn to the Lord
and say unto him, take away all iniquity and receive us graciously...” (14:1-2).
---Leon Cole