Help! I need somebody! (Hosea 5)

When I was younger, so much younger than today,

I never needed anybody's help in any way

But now these days are gone, I'm not so self assured

Now I find I've changed my mind and opened up the doors

We’ll continue with our Beatles theme from last week. They first sung these well-known words 50 years ago; and they remain popular today, not only because the music is great (which it is), but also because they reflect a universal experience that many of us can identify with - an experience that goes back a long way, even to the time of Hosea, over 2,500 years ago.

At the beginning of this chapter Hosea pictures Israel as a beautiful young woman who turns to prostitution, not because she is desperate (as is the case for so many tragic women today, especially in the developing world), but for the sheer thrill of it (verses 3-4). She becomes arrogant (verse 5), gives birth to illegitimate children (verse 7) and has what she thinks is a good time. But finally the years catch up on her. She ends up sick, covered with sores (verse 13) as a result of her dissolute lifestyle and multiple sexual partners. What will she do? Now those days have gone, she’s not so self-assured; who will she turn to and open up the doors?

She does what is totally natural and normal: she turns to the strongest person that she can see around her - and that is the king of Assyria, the ruler of the dominant empire of the time. But the problem is, “He is not able to cure you, not able to heal your sores” (verse 13).

When I worked in the European Commission one of the most tense times was when the annual promotion list was being published. The competition to get on the list and so rise up a grade was intense. Some people would devote enormous time and effort to lobbying their superiors to make sure that their work over the previous year received its just reward (as they saw it). The problem was, the criteria for being on the promotion list were not always very transparent. So inevitably when the list was published, there were many disappointed people.

The challenge to me was always, who was I going to put my trust in? Yes, it was fine to lobby and present my case to my superiors, though not in an obsessive manner. But, having done this, could I really trust God that he could influence my superiors and would work things out as he wanted? Or did I really believe that promotion was only in the hands of my Director-General, or Director, or …? The words of Jeremiah 17:5 came uncomfortably to me: Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings, who depends on flesh for his strength, and whose heart turns away from the Lord.

Most people in our societies in Western Europe no longer trust in God. So, when they need help, like Israel in Hosea’s time, they turn to rulers and governments. But like Israel, they find that these rulers and governments are not able to give them what they are looking for. Often they cannot even deliver what they promised in their election manifestos. And so people become disillusioned with politics and opt out of the democratic process, leaving a dangerous void.

We Christians are inevitably influenced by the attitudes of those around us. When a problem arises, we so often look to ourselves, to other people, to organisations, to those in positions of power, for a solution. Only when all else fails do we turn to God. Have you noticed that when a Christian is diagnosed with a serious illness, so often this is the cue for an intensity of prayer (and requested prayer) that has not previously been present in his/her life?

The good news is: even if, like Israel in Hosea’s time, we have wandered a long way from God, there is always a way back, if only we will humble ourselves and turn to him (as in verse 15). For if we continue to trust only in other people, as Jeremiah says, our heart may turn away from the Lord and we may find that he has turned against us (verse 14). That is a fearful position to be in. Far better to say, “Now I find I’ve changed my mind (the theological word for this is ‘repent’) and opened up the doors - to the living God”.