The LORD:
For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, like a great lion to Judah. I will tear them to pieces and go away; I will carry them off, with no one to rescue them. Then I will go back to my place until they admit their guilt. And they will seek my face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek me. (Hosea 5:14-15)
Israel’s response:
Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. (Hosea 6:1-3a)
The picture of God as a lion caught my attention this morning. I have heard the analogy before–Jesus is called the Lion of Judah in Revelation 5–but I have never thought through the implication of that analogy. God is a lion who tears us to pieces! In Hosea 6:5, we see how God tears us to pieces–I cut you to pieces with my prophets, I killed you with the words of my mouth, my judgments flashed like lightning upon you.
God speaks harshly at times, directly at our sin. He also at times brings difficulty and suffering into our lives. Then, He steps back and waits. He waits for us to see our sin and seek His face. It is in our affliction, and often only in our affliction, that we “earnestly seek Him.”
I wish it were not true. My desire is that I would earnestly seek the Lord at all times, that I would be humble before Him at all times. But in my comfort and prosperity it is too easy to drift away from the Lord, to grow lax in my devotion, to become a spiritual couch potato. Affliction and struggle draws me back. The lion’s roar awakens my spiritual senses and gets me back on track.
I remember reading C.S. Lewis’ Narnia series in which Christ is pictured as Aslan, the great Lion. In the Horse and His Boy (one of the best in the series), one of the characters is chased by a lion. She is terrified and thinks the lion is out to destroy her. The lion in fact almost catches her as she races away and he leaves claw marks on her back. Later she meets Aslan and realizes that he was the one chasing her, the one who wounded her. She is confused until Aslan relates the whole picture to her. He chased her to prevent a further tragedy had she lingered behind where she was. And he wounded her to remind her of her own sins in wounding others. The wounds, though they hurt physically, were ultimately meant to heal her spiritually.
I wonder if Lewis read Hosea when he wrote those words. Come, let us return to the LORD, He has torn us to pieces but He will heal us; He has injured us but He will bind up our wounds. God wounds us physically (temporary) to heal us spiritually (eternal). And God chases us as a lion so that we will wake up to life and press on to know Him. …Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge Him.
Lord, let me never forget that You are a lion. You are not a “tame God.” Rather You pursue me and often wound me so that I will seek Your face and find Your healing.