Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up in my arms; but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love …My people are bent on turning away from me. Hosea 1: 3-4, 7
It is impossible for children to remember all of what their parents have done for them. It is impossible for any of us to recall each time someone nudged us in the right direction or picked up our baby or toddler bodies each time we crashed in our first attempts to crawl and then walk. But even later in life, when we are adolescents, we often cannot see that what seems harsh from our parents in the moment is actually something for our good.
Probably what complicates all this for us mentally is that our mothers and fathers are fallible, something we seem to realize most when they also seem to be in the way of our wants. Thus their mistakes get all mixed up with their good intentions and clash with our desires, and the latter fogs our vision so much, we have difficulty seeing our parents as anything but enemies.
The sentence “My people are bent on turning away from me” hits me hard as a father, because there were many times I thought my kids had no interest except to work against me, and usually against what was in their own best interest. But as a Christian, the sentence pummels me as I realize not only how often and in how many ways I have turned away from God, but how that turning away sometimes came when I was doing what I thought was what was best for me, when I was satisfied with nothing but my own council.
Turning away from God makes grace not only difficult to seek grace, but also to see. God puts “cords of human kindness” and “bands of love” all around, and the more we seek our own path, the more invisible goodness is to us. We are assured, however, that no matter how far we stray or how far off we miss the mark, the strong but gentle Lord who made us, will help us to stand, and then to cross that next room.
Holy God, who created us and knows every cell in our bodies and the intentions of every thought, bring us always back to You. Open us to your Holy Spirit we ask in Jesus’ blessed name. Amen.
