The God who can’t be moved
We held an acoustic cafe night with the Christian Union in college yesterday. I ran the technical side of things (which gave me the chance to wear my brand new tech stash) but the talent came from our talented musical acts. Tom has his reflection (and even a photo!) on his blog.
The evening was that rare thing – a Christian event which did exactly what it said on the tin. It was a chilled night where people could drop in and out, listen to some quality acoustic music, and hear a little about what the songs people were singing meant to their Christian faith. Dave sang The Man Who Can’t Be Moved by The Script, and introduced it in a way I had never considered before: God might well sing this song about us.
We rarely mention it, but the Bible often depicts God as a jilted lover – indeed, as the ultimate lover. But instead of being bitter against his wayward people, he still loves them and longs for them to come home. “I’m not moving”.
The prophet Hosea had a pretty bizarre word from God: “When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD.”" (Hosea 1:2). He had children by his wife of ill repute, and God gave them names which spoke of their status, and of the status of his people Israel: Lo-Ruhamah, which means not loved, and Lo-Ammi, which means not my people.
But Hosea’s life was to become a picture of God’s faithfulness and Israel’s unfaithfulness. While we would act without mercy towards those of questionable sexual ethics, God is eternally loving and longs to redeem those who turn away from him. So although his people made themselves prostitutes by selling themselves out to other gods, the Lord never gave up on them. Instead, he acted in love to make a striking promise of redemptive love:
I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy.
…
And I will have mercy on No Mercy,
and I will say to Not My People,’You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”
(Hosea 2:19; 23)
In their song, The Script write of a lover who waits for his Ex to return. Come rain or snow, for a day, a month, a year, he stands waiting for her to come back. This is counter-intuitive, even counter-cultural, love. It is patient, kind, generous, selfless love which keeps no record of wrongs. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. It never fails. It is God’s love. The love of the broken-hearted man waiting for his bride to come back; waiting to forgive.
Posted in Christianity