Renewing Vows

“Therefore I will block her path with thorn bushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way. She will chase after her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them…Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make a Valley of Anchor a door of hope… In that day, declares the LORD, you will call me ‘my husband’; you will no longer call me ‘my master’… I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion…in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the LORD.’” Hosea 2:6-7; 14-16; 19-20.

God considered Himself in a marriage with Israel, His chosen people. Many times in the Bible the unfaithfulness of Israel towards God is compared with a wife becoming an adulteress to her husband. Israel had chosen to follow the many gods of the land instead of the one God of Creation. She (Israel) had found herself chasing the gods to satisfy her greed, emptiness, loneliness and discontent.

When we have departed from our vows with God we will never find contentment and satisfaction in life. We, too, will chase after things demanding their faithfulness to us and their responsibility in making us happy. We will come against broken wall after broken wall and will experience a life of ‘thorn bushes instead of rose bushes.’ God will only allow us to chase after the things of this world for so long. ‘But God, ever loving, is determined to frustrate Israel’s wicked passions: When she reaches a point of despair, she will then go back to God, her husband…Here the purpose of God’s punishment is revealed; its purpose is not to destroy but to deliver, not to drive away but to draw back…God will give her a new chance, a new start.’ The Applied Old Testament Commentary, p. 1221.

When we turn our hearts back to God, instead of feeling like we are trapped in a ‘bad spiritual marriage,’ we will rediscover our true love in Christ. We will go from being mastered by religion to being intimate in our spiritual fellowship with God. We will go from slave to bride once God has reminded us of His love through His tenderness in the wilderness. We will renew our wedding vows with the source of the only true Love of our lives.

‘Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready…Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’ Rev. 19:7, 9.

We are all invited…