We Don't Care Where You've Been, We Care Where You're GoingSample

I don’t know when it happened, but sometimes in my lifetime, divorce is no longer a big deal. When I was growing up, nobody dared to ask for a divorce. A spouse could lose their job, gamble away their inheritance, and spill their dirty secrets to half the neighborhood, but their spouse would choose to stay unhappily together instead of suing for divorce. Divorce was so scandalous that people would endure almost humiliation and distress as a married couple.

But there was a line that married couples should never cross. Once a spouse has committed adultery, then there is no turning back. Many spouses prefer to end their marriage rather than be with an adulterer. Divorce is humiliating, but it’s nothing compared to the shame of living with an unfaithful spouse. Nobody likes to be cuckolded.

This is why it was not easy for Hosea to obey God’s command to take Gomer back. Hosea had married Gomer in the first place only because God had told him to. He did not want to be with a promiscuous woman like Gomer. He knew that she would not stay faithful to him. And now God wants him to take her back? After everyone knows what she did with other men behind his back?

Yes. God wanted Hosea to take Gomer back to show his people how much he loved them. God was furious that Israel had been unfaithful to him. God knew that the Israelites had forgotten what he had done for them and prostituted themselves to foreign nations and their foreign gods. And yet, just like Hosea had forgiven Gomer, God would again call Israel back to him.

Listen to me. God wants you back. He still wants you back no matter what you’ve done or how far you’ve gone. God does not want a divorce, even though you have been unfaithful to him. After everything we have done in our lives, God has every right to leave us, but he chooses to stay instead.

The only thing he’s asking you to do is to be faithful this time around. Follow him with all of your hearts and allow the Holy Spirit to transform you into becoming like his Son, Jesus Christ. Remember: God doesn’t care where you’ve been. He only cares about where you’re going.