Origins (Hosea 12)

Maybe only a few of you reading this will, like me, be able to remember Peter Sarstedt’s 1969 hit song, Where do you go to my lovely? He spent the rest of his life making music, but this is the one and only song that he is remembered for. It is a beautiful, plaintive ballad, a brother asking his jet-setting sister to reflect on their origins together in the slums of Naples. He concludes the song:

So look into my face Marie-Claire

And remember just who you are

Then go and forget me forever

But I know you still bear

the scar, deep inside, yes you do

I know where you go to my lovely

When you're alone in your bed

I know the thoughts that surround you

'Cause I can look inside your head.

I bet Peter Sarstedt never imagined that the theme of his song had been taken up by the prophet Hosea 3,000 years earlier, in relation to the people of Israel! In verse 8 of this 12th chapter, Hosea says, Ephraim [one of the principal tribes of Israel] boasts, I am very rich; I have become wealthy. With all my wealth they will not find in me any iniquity or sin. Oh yes, they - like Marie-Claire in the song - were enjoying the good things of life; and they were confident that they would never end.

But the Lord reminds them that it was not always like that: In the womb Jacob [Israel’s ancestor] grasped his brother’s heel; as a man he struggled with God. He struggled with the angel and overcame him; he wept and begged for his favour. He was willing to take the lowly job of a shepherd in order to get a wife (verses 3, 4 and 12 - the narrative of this is in Genesis 29-32).

The man who had been so desperate to get to grips with God, to gain his favour, the man who was willing to take any job, however lowly, now has descendants who are boasting about their luxury and are ignoring the Lord.

Again, Hosea reminds Israel that, in their youth as a nation, it was by means of a prophet (appointed  by the Lord) that they escaped from slavery in Egypt (verse 13). Yet now that they are confident; they have no time for listening to prophets (verse 10-14). Yes, like Marie-Claire’s brother in the song, the Lord could look inside their heads - and he can look inside ours.

Some of you reading this will have achieved a measure of what is regarded as success in life - money, possessions, good job, status, home, family, an important role in the church - and some of you are on the way to this. How do you, or how will you react to it? Will you, like Israel in Hosea's time, become increasingly confident in what you have gained? Or will you remember your origins, where you have come from, and so keep yourself humble before your God?

And what about the origins of your life with Jesus? I remember how white-hot with zeal I was when I first got to know him. I would probably have burned myself up if I had continued like that.

Looking back, I see what a struggle it has often been to maintain my ardour for the Lord - first in the excitement of establishing a home and family, then with increasing responsibility and possessions in middle age, and now in retirement. People say to me, Michael, you worked for 40 years, just take it easy now. You’ve earned it.

But again and again I hear those words of Jesus to the church in Ephesus. That was a wonderful church, doing so many good things. But he has this to say to them: I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first (Revelation 2:4-5).

So I refuse to retire from serving my Lord Jesus. And I look back at my first love for him and ask that he renew it again in me. And I pray that, wherever you are in life, he may renew that first love in you.