What a frustrating and reassuring love story! (Hosea 1-6; 10-14; Joel)

Hosea is a sad but important love story. It is essentially a love story between God and Israel that is represented by a story of Hosea and his unfaithful wife. Gomer was her name and she was unfaithful from the beginning. After bearing children (probably of other men), she leaves Hosea. "I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink." (Hosea 2:5) She thinks that these other men will fulfill her needs. Hosea takes her back in chapter 3. She leaves him again in chapter 4. After all of that, he will take her back.

Imagine being Hosea in this story - where your wife deserts you for other others...repeatedly. Consider the deep, abiding love that a man would have to possess to forgive and welcome his unfaithful wife. He is very committed...even though she didn't deserve it.

This story is great because it allows us to step into the position of God. We are able to empathize and get a sense for how devoted he is to us. He is faithful to us as we are unfaithful to him. We willfully rebel and go after other gods. However, he always takes us back. This relationship that we have with him is everything to him. He is determined to save us even when we don't deserve saving.

1:7

What does it mean to save? For much of my life, my prayers for Heavenly Father to save me is as a result of a:

• Health problem.

• Family issue.

• Financial crisis.

• Career derailment.

For the people of Judah, who were threatened by enemies on every side, saving meant military protection or liberation.

The Lord says this: "But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen." I realize that this is referencing the deaths of 185,000 Assyrians overnight. But I think it applies to our current day.

God's work isn't about saving us from all of the temporal challenges of this mortal life. His work is to bring about the immortality and eternal life of man. He will do everything that he can to help us receive eternal life.

2:7

Israel is compared to a harlot who is searching after past lovers to provide for her. "For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink."

Where are we looking to have our needs fulfilled? Are we looking towards our careers? Are we looking for pleasure? Are we looking for wealth? Are we looking for power and prominence? "And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them."

These are fake sources of fulfillment. They don't provide true joy. President Nelson said, "But here is the grand truth: while the world insists that power, possessions, popularity, and pleasures of the flesh bring happiness, they do not! They cannot! What they do produce is nothing but a hollow substitute for the blessed and happy state of those [who] keep the commandments of God. The truth is that it is much more exhausting to seek happiness where you can never find it!"

2:13-14

Sometimes, we are determined to chase after the things of this world. "And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the Lord." We get caught up in the distractions of the world. This is especially hard if we are successful. If we are good at earning money, it makes earning money more alluring. If we are good at attracting lovers, we chase that.

Sometimes, God has to pull us out of our current environment. "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her." We sometimes need to lose everything to be in a position to turn towards God. We need to suddenly lose our wealth or health to humble us. In Ezekiel, we read: "And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face." (Ezekiel 20:35) Being in a society and the pressures connected with it - distracts us enough to keep us off of any known, righteous path. There truly is a "wilderness of people."

Some life events isolate us and encourage us to look heavenward for strength. To get our attention, God sometimes needs to knock pretty loud.

2:23

God is very forgiving and merciful. He is always standing with open arms. If we turn towards him, he's always there waiting. The Old Testament has many examples of how forgiving the Lord is. "And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God." How comforting is this?!

4:2-3

There are consequences to sin. "By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood. Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away." I believe that the majority of consequences are simply natural - they happen independent of God's involvement.

There is also heavenly involvement in the dispensing of consequences. We know that God has sent famine and plague and drought as a direct consequence to bad behavior.

This happens on a nation-wide scale but can also happen to a household. Obviously, there are 'successful' wicked people and 'unsuccessful' righteous people. However, there are promised blessings to those who choose the right.

We perhaps can identify the negative mortal consequences of sin more easily than the positive mortal consequences of good choices. I suspect that they are equal because that is how opposition works.

In eternity, the consequences continue.

4:7

"As they were increased (as the priests grew in number), so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame." We are influenced by those around us. When we are around those who reinforce our bad behavior, we become more bold in our wickedness.

This underscores the importance of being around those who are good influences. If we think we can surround ourselves with those who are wicked and not be affected by that, we are naive. We will always be drawn to that which we associate with.

Our wicked group can become an echo-chamber of false doctrine. We hear our own misguided beliefs spoken back to our ears. It will reinforce apostasy.

If we have doubts about the Church and choose to join various Facebook groups or read blogs or listen to podcasts where others share our same beliefs, we can get off track very quickly.

The opposite is true. If we surround ourselves with people who have the qualities of righteousness that we are seeking, their influence will rub off on us and we will be better people.

4:11

"Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart." When we give into the natural man, our spiritual strength seeps away. Our inner strength is diminished. We lose heart.

5:10

"The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound: therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water." Those who are moving the boundaries of what is acceptable are increasing the wickedness of the world.

Consider how morality has changed in the last twenty years. What is acceptable and what is not has completely transformed. In the next twenty years, all things will be okay. The list of morally wrong things will be very small. I believe the last remaining boundary will be 'do no harm to others.' Whatever we choose, that doesn't directly harm another, will be okay.

We cannot look to the world with its changing boundaries as a source for what is right or wrong. The mob will always be shifting the boundaries. If we are looking for a public consensus of what is good, we won't find it.

5:15

When we face affliction, especially when it is overwhelming us, we turn to God. "I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early." The goal is to build our relationship with Heavenly Father so that we seek him in good times also.

If we wait for affliction to come before we seek the Lord, chances are, the affliction will come. If we can remain humble and teachable, we may avoid some affliction we would have otherwise faced.

In D&C 101:8, we read, "In the day of their peace they esteemed lightly my counsel; but, in the day of their ​​​trouble​, of necessity they ​​​feel​ after me." Again, the goal is to esteem his counsel in days of peace. For some reason, we humans struggle with this.

6:4

"O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away." We don't want our righteousness to be fleeting.

Our righteousness can not be a product of willpower. Willpower often fades quickly. Our testimonies need to be built on many, many small acts of worship. Repeated, consistent actions are far better than quick bursts of effort.

As we do these frequent, consistent acts, our righteousness is sure to follow. This type of righteousness isn't fleeting. It is built on a foundation of a million points of light.

11:7

"And my people are bent to backsliding from me." We all backslide. The goal is to make more progress than backslide. Our 'bent' should be towards righteousness. We should be working to be better. We should be striving and making mistakes along the way.

If our 'bent' is towards backsliding, that means we are intent on being wicked. We are rebelling. We are consciously turned towards sin. Perhaps occasionally with stints of righteousness mixed in. If we are this way, we are headed towards destruction.

12:1

"Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind: he daily increaseth lies and desolation." Feeding on wind... That doesn't sound satisfying. Wind is something that exists but has no substance. Israel was attempting to satisfy itself with vanity and emptiness.

As someone denies the true Church - who should know better - they have to tell increasing lies to themselves. Their self-talk can't be that they are playing the villain. They want to be the hero. So, they have to find, repeat and embellish negative things about the Church. They must fixate on some point of doctrine or church history that makes them feel better about their choices. If the Church is the villain, then they are automatically the hero.

These lies have to increase. As someone leaves the church and then attacks it, nothing good comes of it. Truly, they face spiritual desolation.

12:8

Part of the rationalization may be connected to how they are doing temporally. "And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out substance: in all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin." Wealth does not equal righteousness. It is possible to become rich AND wicked.

For those who view financial success as a measure of righteousness, you're wrong. Being successful in this fallen world could be a result of luck, cleverness, industry, corruption, etc. Again, wealth isn't connected to righteousness.

13:5-8

In these verses, it is a description of the cycle that humans tend to go through as nations - and as individuals.

• See prosperity. "I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought. According to their pasture, so were they filled"

• Become prideful. "They were filled, and their heart was exalted."

• Forget God. "Therefore have they forgotten me."

• Are punished. "Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe them: I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them."

• Become humble.

THE CYCLE REPEATS.

I don't know why we are like this. We obviously struggle with learning from history and give in to the natural man frequently. It's almost like we are all children. If we can simply maintain our righteousness even when prospering, this life would be more pleasant.

14:4

Hosea offers encouragement and hope. "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him." God loves us. The moment we turn to him and repent, he heals us. He isn't going to hold a grudge. He will not exact revenge on anyone who has turned towards him.

Joel

2:10,13, 28

This chapter speaks about the coming destruction and desolation. "The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining."

What can we do? Part of the answer is in verse 13. "And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil." Rending your heart and not your garments suggests that our effort should be focused on what is inside of us. It will not be about what we do publicly. It will be about a change of heart. Changing our heart is much harder than changing our behavior. Rending our heart is what's required.

The Lord will save his people. It will be a time of great miracles. "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit." This reminds me of what President Nelson has said lately about 'expecting miracles.' He has said that we will experience miracles and wonders greater than at any other time in the history of the world. I am looking forward to this aspect of the latter days.