The Anguish of God
“O Ephraim, what shall I do to you? O Judah, what shall I do to you? For your goodness is like the morning cloud, and it goes away like the early dew.” Hosea 6:4
What Shall I Do? – “The question of man’s position before God is the question of existence. Everything else depends on it.”[1] Amazingly, God cares about the answer to this question. In fact, even when we don’t pay attention to the single most important question of life, God still does. God’s message to the people of Israel is all about the answer to this question. But the message is terrifying!
“Ma e’ese – What shall I do?” Can you imagine God asking such a question over us? “What shall I do to you? What will it take for you to come to your senses and see the truth of your disobedience?” Of course, we are quick to answer. “Why, Lord, we have repented. We have come to the altar to ask forgiveness. We have prayed. We have tithed. We are being very good now.”
We need to step back a few verses to capture the agony of God’s question. The people of Israel offer the same solutions. “Come, let’s return to YHWH. He has afflicted us, but He’s such a loving God that He will fix everything if we but ask. We will repent for a few days and then things will be back to normal.”
“What shall I do?” How do you break through the arrogance of religious doctrine? How do you crack the shell of dogmatic confidence? How do you make people see the insult, the slander, the defamation incorporated in treading on the compassion of the Holy One?
“All you have to do is confess it. God will forgive. Everything will be good. It’s no-big-deal.”
“What shall I do to you, O Ephraim?”
Do you think we really understand the immensity of our sin? I don’t mean our sins. Yes, we can recount them. We can weep over them. We can confess each act of unrighteousness. But do you think we have ever come face-to-face with the essence of our rebellion? Have we truly tasted the spilled blood of our indifference to holiness? Aren’t we much more like Ephraim than we want to admit? The deeper we look, the more we find a well-spring of hatred for God’s claim upon us. There are layers of libel held close to our hearts. Genesis was not far from reality. Even in our religious moments, we still want control.
“What shall I do?”
It is a very hard thing to strip away the façade of pretense and see ourselves as we are. God often shields us from such a devastating view. But the day must come when we answer the only question in life that must be answered. How can I stand before you, my Lord and my God?
Topical Index: ma e’ese, what shall I do, Hosea 6:4
[1] Wurthwein, TDNT, Vol. IV, p. 985.
Hosea 6:6 For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
Hi Skip,
Hosea seems to be saying that rituals/symbolic acts are useful reminders, but that Yahweh really was two things from us:
– loyalty (obedient actions)
– knowledge of God (Torah study and prayer/meditation)
I am reminded of when I stand beofre my children asking them the same question, “What am I suppose to do to help you understand and stop doing wrong?” It is usually when I am at my witts end. I have reprimanded them, explained it to them, given them examples, shown them how it hurts us (their mother and I), punished them, screamed at them, and evertything else and they STILL full right back into disobedience. They have said they were sorry, asked for forgiveness, cried over it and I see it really does bother them. They long to make their mother and I happy…but they always fall back. And I lament, “What do we have to do to make you understand?”
I now see my heavenly Fathers hurt and tears when He asks me the same question and I have the same answer my kids have, “I don’t know?” and I’m suppose to me the “smarter” one.
Make me know YOUR ways, Oh Lord; Teach me YOUR paths. Lead me in YOUR truth and teach me. For you are the God of my salvation; for YOU I wait all the day.” Psalm 25:4-5
Lord make me know.