It was a hot day. The kind of day which starts out sunny, but the clouds soon encase the heat and the city becomes mother nature’s oven. It was so hot that we decided to eat outside; the house was too stuffy. The sweat of my legs caused me to stick to our patio furniture so I tried not to move. It was too hot to move anyway. So I listened. I watched.
David and Meredith are in town. I like being around them. There is something special about their marriage that is unfathomable for words, so I will put it the only way I know how. They exude Christ when they are together. Their love for each other lifts you up. It is really beautiful to watch.
A breeze now began to comb my hair and cool the sweat on my face. David was playing fetch with Annie, our lab, as Meredith and I sat in the shade of the porch. I glanced at my sweet sister-in-law and caught her gazing at David as he threw that tennis ball with such masculine force. “Meredith…” I could tell I almost jolted her out of the adoration coma. “Meredith, when you imagined being married…like when you were younger and you thought about a husband, is this what you imagined.” Mere’s eyes were fixated on me as I spoke, but as I finished I could see her eyes begin to sort through the files inside her mind. She was as quiet as a painting. Her meek voice gently interrupted the only noise of the tennis ball bouncing off the ground and four legs pattered to retrieve. “I never knew what good of friends we would be,” she said. “I guess at the end of the day, I truly wanted and longed to be friends with my husband…but I never imagined it to be like this.” Her eyes then slowly drifted back to my brother like a boat taken by the current. “I never could have imagined this,” she said softly as if it were a secret.
I closed my eyes as the breeze again kissed my face. God kisses me sometimes. I am not even going to try to explain it and if you think that is odd, too bad. He does. He kisses me. In that moment, He kissed me. Hosea 2:16 came to my mind "And in that day, declares the LORD, you will call me 'My Husband,' and no longer will you call me 'My Baal [My Master].’ “Baal” is the Hebrew word for master or lord over. I like how John Piper puts it in his essay, “Call Me Husband, Not Baal.” I will only show snippets of it, but you can read the full thing online if you so desire:
“I see in Hosea 2:14-23 at least three things God does for us, his rebellious wife, to win us back; and I see one overriding thing that he wants from us. The first thing he does is woo us tenderly. Verse 14: "Behold, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her." We are all guilty of harlotry. We have loved other lovers more than God. We have gotten our kicks elsewhere. He has been at times an annoying deity. We, like Gomer, were enslaved to a paramour, the world, pleasure, ambition. But God has not cast us off. He promises to take us into the wilderness. He wants to be alone with us. Why? So that he can speak tenderly to us. Literally, the Hebrew says, so that he can speak "to her heart." And when he speaks he will allure you. He will entice you and woo you. He will say what a lover says to his lady when they walk away from the party into the garden. God wants to talk that way with you. Go with him into the wilderness and listen with your heart. Do not think you are too ugly or too rotten. He knows that his wife is a harlot. That's the meaning of mercy: God is wooing a wife of harlotry.
This is the gospel story in the Old Testament. This is the meaning of Christmas interpreted seven centuries before Christ. God comes to woo us tenderly to himself; he promises us fullest hope and safety; he starts over with any who will come, and offers us the most intimate and pleasure-filled relationship possible.
And what must we do to qualify? What does he want from us? Verse 16: "In that day, says the Lord, you will call me, 'My husband,' and no longer will you call me, "My Baal."' I think the word Baal here has a double meaning. As the next verse shows, it means one of the false gods of Israel's idolatry. So verse 16 means: "You will no longer include me as one of many gods, or many lovers; you will talk to me as your only true God and husband."
But there is another sense of the word Baal. Fifteen times in the Old Testament it simply means "husband," but husband in the sense of owner and lord. The Baals were Israel's hard masters as well as her lovers. In 7:14, for example, the people gashed themselves to try to get benefits from the Baals (just like the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel in 1 Kings 18:28). When Israel chose a Baal for her "significant other" she chose a cruel and merciless lord. So the other (and I think primary) meaning of Hosea 2:16 is: "Relate to me as a loving husband, not as a harsh master or owner. In that day, says the Lord, you will call me 'My husband' and you will no longer call me 'My Baal."'
I like the part where Piper says, “He will say what a lover says to his lady when they walk away from the party into the garden.” It has been awhile since my Husband has taken me into the garden and kissed me. This kiss was a stolen one; it was quick. Oh, but He was there. Maybe He has been wanting to exit the party and talk with me and kiss me in the garden for awhile, but I am allured by the party. He has put his hand on the crest of my back, come close, and whispered into my ear, “Come away, my lover… (Song of Solomon 8:14). Yet, I as the fickle wife I am to Him, reply, “Not now,” and head for the platter of cheese.
Forgive me, Husband. “Against you, and you alone, have I sinned” Psalm 51:4. So often I seek creation over the Creator. I am currently reading Counterfeit Gods by Tim Keller. I have many both known and unknown. I need to decipher what my “party” is…what is charming me away from my time in the garden with My Beloved? Right now I do not know. I feel like this is going to be the beginning of a beautifully painful process. King David and I cry out together, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!” Psalm 139:23.
I want to be Your friend.
I want You to not be my Baal.
I want You to be My Husband.
I want to walk with You in the garden.
David and Meredith are in town. I like being around them. There is something special about their marriage that is unfathomable for words, so I will put it the only way I know how. They exude Christ when they are together. Their love for each other lifts you up. It is really beautiful to watch.
A breeze now began to comb my hair and cool the sweat on my face. David was playing fetch with Annie, our lab, as Meredith and I sat in the shade of the porch. I glanced at my sweet sister-in-law and caught her gazing at David as he threw that tennis ball with such masculine force. “Meredith…” I could tell I almost jolted her out of the adoration coma. “Meredith, when you imagined being married…like when you were younger and you thought about a husband, is this what you imagined.” Mere’s eyes were fixated on me as I spoke, but as I finished I could see her eyes begin to sort through the files inside her mind. She was as quiet as a painting. Her meek voice gently interrupted the only noise of the tennis ball bouncing off the ground and four legs pattered to retrieve. “I never knew what good of friends we would be,” she said. “I guess at the end of the day, I truly wanted and longed to be friends with my husband…but I never imagined it to be like this.” Her eyes then slowly drifted back to my brother like a boat taken by the current. “I never could have imagined this,” she said softly as if it were a secret.
I closed my eyes as the breeze again kissed my face. God kisses me sometimes. I am not even going to try to explain it and if you think that is odd, too bad. He does. He kisses me. In that moment, He kissed me. Hosea 2:16 came to my mind "And in that day, declares the LORD, you will call me 'My Husband,' and no longer will you call me 'My Baal [My Master].’ “Baal” is the Hebrew word for master or lord over. I like how John Piper puts it in his essay, “Call Me Husband, Not Baal.” I will only show snippets of it, but you can read the full thing online if you so desire:
“I see in Hosea 2:14-23 at least three things God does for us, his rebellious wife, to win us back; and I see one overriding thing that he wants from us. The first thing he does is woo us tenderly. Verse 14: "Behold, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her." We are all guilty of harlotry. We have loved other lovers more than God. We have gotten our kicks elsewhere. He has been at times an annoying deity. We, like Gomer, were enslaved to a paramour, the world, pleasure, ambition. But God has not cast us off. He promises to take us into the wilderness. He wants to be alone with us. Why? So that he can speak tenderly to us. Literally, the Hebrew says, so that he can speak "to her heart." And when he speaks he will allure you. He will entice you and woo you. He will say what a lover says to his lady when they walk away from the party into the garden. God wants to talk that way with you. Go with him into the wilderness and listen with your heart. Do not think you are too ugly or too rotten. He knows that his wife is a harlot. That's the meaning of mercy: God is wooing a wife of harlotry.
This is the gospel story in the Old Testament. This is the meaning of Christmas interpreted seven centuries before Christ. God comes to woo us tenderly to himself; he promises us fullest hope and safety; he starts over with any who will come, and offers us the most intimate and pleasure-filled relationship possible.
And what must we do to qualify? What does he want from us? Verse 16: "In that day, says the Lord, you will call me, 'My husband,' and no longer will you call me, "My Baal."' I think the word Baal here has a double meaning. As the next verse shows, it means one of the false gods of Israel's idolatry. So verse 16 means: "You will no longer include me as one of many gods, or many lovers; you will talk to me as your only true God and husband."
But there is another sense of the word Baal. Fifteen times in the Old Testament it simply means "husband," but husband in the sense of owner and lord. The Baals were Israel's hard masters as well as her lovers. In 7:14, for example, the people gashed themselves to try to get benefits from the Baals (just like the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel in 1 Kings 18:28). When Israel chose a Baal for her "significant other" she chose a cruel and merciless lord. So the other (and I think primary) meaning of Hosea 2:16 is: "Relate to me as a loving husband, not as a harsh master or owner. In that day, says the Lord, you will call me 'My husband' and you will no longer call me 'My Baal."'
I like the part where Piper says, “He will say what a lover says to his lady when they walk away from the party into the garden.” It has been awhile since my Husband has taken me into the garden and kissed me. This kiss was a stolen one; it was quick. Oh, but He was there. Maybe He has been wanting to exit the party and talk with me and kiss me in the garden for awhile, but I am allured by the party. He has put his hand on the crest of my back, come close, and whispered into my ear, “Come away, my lover… (Song of Solomon 8:14). Yet, I as the fickle wife I am to Him, reply, “Not now,” and head for the platter of cheese.
Forgive me, Husband. “Against you, and you alone, have I sinned” Psalm 51:4. So often I seek creation over the Creator. I am currently reading Counterfeit Gods by Tim Keller. I have many both known and unknown. I need to decipher what my “party” is…what is charming me away from my time in the garden with My Beloved? Right now I do not know. I feel like this is going to be the beginning of a beautifully painful process. King David and I cry out together, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!” Psalm 139:23.
I want to be Your friend.
I want You to not be my Baal.
I want You to be My Husband.
I want to walk with You in the garden.
“Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth
for your love is more delightful than wine.”
Song of Solomon 1:2
