Therefore I will take away her grain when it ripens, and my new wine when it is ready. I will take back my wool and linen, intended to cover her nakedness. So now I will expose her lewdness before the eyes of her lovers; no one will take her out of my hands. I will stop her celebrations: her yearly festivals, her new moons, her Sabbath days - all her appointed feasts. I will ruin her vines and her fig trees, which she said were her pay from her lovers; I will make them a thicket, and wild animals will devour them. I will punish her for the days she burned incense to the Baals; she decked herself with jewelry, and went after lovers, but me she forgot.
(Hosea 2:9-13 NIV)
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You know what I don't think is fair? I know people who are living in sin, and they seem to have fun doing it. It just doesn't seem right. I can think back to a time when I was in willful spiritual rebellion to God. You would never have guessed looking at me. I was still going through all the motions that would let other people think I was doing great. But I wasn't. I was living in sin. I'm not talking about making a mistake or slipping up here or there. No, I was caught in a lifestyle of perpetual sin. It went on for about three or four months.
The thing is, I was miserable. Like I said, I've seen other people who weren't just living wrong, they were flaunting it. And they were having the time of their lives doing it. At least it sure appeared that way to me. But when I was in rebellion, there's no getting around it, I was miserable. Why is it that I can do the exact same things someone else might be doing, but while they seem to enjoy it, I am dying both on the inside and on the outside.
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I remember watching a fight as a kid. One of the students was always getting in fights. He was a trouble maker. It just seemed to follow him around. I even went fist to cuffs with him a time or two myself. I think everyone did. The other student, I think he
looks back at that as the only fight he got in his entire life. We're talking honor roll student. Always knew the answers. He was always very courteous. He was the type of student every parent and teacher dreams of having. In other words, he was a geek.
Anyways, this kid got his butt handed to him. I can't really say it was much of a fight, it was a beating. It didn't take long before teachers were right in there separating everybody. But how they all reacted is what really got me. Here's poor Jimmy with blood coming from somewhere (probably his nose) and an eye that is already starting to swell and he's being dragged down the hall by a teacher holding his elbow over his head and giving him a stern tongue lashing all the way. On the other hand, Ryan is practically strutting down the hall proud as a rooster with another teacher is walking behind him letting him have hi space his strut.
It is exactly the opposite of what I would have expected. After all, not only was this Jimmy's only fight, but by the way he handled himself, it is quite clear he will do everything in his power to avoid any more in the future. On the other hand, Ryan s always in trouble. He's the one who deserves a good beating. I just didn't see the justice in the situation. It just seemed that the sinner and the saint were not handled the same way.
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The sinner and the saint are not handled the same way. It all has to do with
expectations and potential. Jimmy knew better. He had no business being in that fight to begin with. I know better. There is absolutely no reason for me to live in sin. Gomer knew better. She'd lived with Hosea for a while. She had already had plenty of time to compare what life was like with him verses before him. Israel knew better. They had been given the law of God. They knew the difference between God's way and the way the nations around them were living. While those nations could claim ignorance, Israel could not.
That is why my punishment, why my state of being seems to be so much worse than those around me who are doing the same things, or even worse. I have tasted the goodness of God. What business do I have eating that slop? God expected more of Israel. Hosea expected more from Gomer. Those teachers expected more from Jimmy. And God expects more of me.
That one makes me laugh. I feel the same way. Papi (daddy) doesn't let me get away with much. He's always on me about every little thing, it seems. Yet, someone else, very spiritual, does the same thing all the time and he or she looks happy and proud of his or herself. But when I think about it, I have my own weaknesses and faults. Maybe not the biggy sins like backbiting, getting plastered, or sleeping around, but I know the good to do and don't do it plenty of times. So while we all sin, maybe God is just making sure we don't accumulate new ones. (grin)
You spoke of the reasons why YOU feel so bad when you sin and yet when others live in sin they do not feel the way you do nor do they seem to care about their wrongs while you remind yourself of the downfalls. GOD has changed your heart even when you were in that "slipping" period you STILL knew God and God was still in you. Most of those who do wrong do not have any relationship with God to help guide their steps. The story of Jimmy and Ryan remind me alot of Jesus and Satan... Jesus was treated very poorly and it seemed like Satan was proud even those who put Jesus on the cross were celebrating and "seemed" happy. I think it is just a reminder that we are on Satans territory and our home is in heaven not here. Satan can have his time now to flaunt and make those who are evil feel proud but the victory is won. What we inherit is far greater than any pain or unfairness we may feel now. Just keep in mind the day will come when the proud will fall and "the meek will inherit the earth"
