When GOD walls us in

Hosea 2:6-7 "But I will fence her in with thornbushes. I will block the road to make her lose her way. When she runs after her lovers, she won't be able to catch up with them. She will search for them but not find them. Then she will think, 'I might as well return to my husband because I was better off with him than I am now.'

Have you ever felt this was? This is a passage from one of my favorite books. In fact, in the girl's small group we are going through the book of Hosea, and it is amazing!! Each week GOD blows us away with how much He loves us by speaking through this book.

If you've never read it, I would challenge you to take a look at it. It is in the Old Testament right after Daniel.

This particular passage that is so beautiful to me. Now it may not seem like it at first, but when it is in the whole context of the book, you see the process that GOD is taking Gomer through. He is also taking us through it. So often we find our self n this cycle.We are close to GOD, but then slowly we let something get in the way. We hear Him calling to us and wooing us to come back to Him, but we don't answer. And the more we resist him, the harder it is to hear.

Until we find a place where our hearts are so surrounded by callouses that we no longer hear Him. Then comes the time when He blocks our paths. Where He leads us into the desert as verse 3 says of this same chapter. And this is such a loving attribute of GOD that we forget about. And when we are in the midst of it, it doesn't feel very loving. In fact, often we think that He is punishing us out of anger or disappointment. But He is getting us to a place where we will have to look up.

A practical way this may happen is with a friendship. This is an easy one we have all had to deal with. We meet someone, I'm not necessarily talking about someone of the opposite sex. But we meet this person, and we have a blast with them. But after a few days we realize that they may not be the best influence on us. In fact they struggle with the same things we do. And while at first we say that we will help each other stay strong, inevitably they become an enabler. Instead of talking about how good GOD is, being around this person helps us be comfortable in our pride, rebellion, apathy, gossip, lust. . . Whatever the case is, we find ourselves in a place where we can't hear GOD as well, or He feels so stinkin far from us we wonder if He is there or even loves us.

But then something happens. It s usually very tragic and full of drama. We wonder why GOD is allowing this to happen and scorn the very thing GOD is doing for us. Then after a while in the desert and surrounded by the thorn bushes, we hear Him wooing us and calling to us. And that is where the healing happens.

And it doesn't just happen in relationship. It could be your school, your job, how you're spending your money or your time. There are as many possibilities as there are people for the things that we are tempted to and do put in front of GOD.

So my question is, when was the last time GOD walled you in, did you realize what was happening? Are you walled in now and desperately fighting Him? Are you in the place where you are slowing hearing less and less of GOD? We all do this.

I heard something once: "true education takes away anxiety". That so applies here. The more we are educated in this, the easier we see it. When the time comes where we feel we are farther from our father than we would like, we can look at it and ask, "what's going on. DADDY, search my heart and show me what needs to change."

It is such a beautiful thing when GOD walls us in.