Oséias 2:6,7

DISCOURSE: 1142
GOD CORRECTS AND RECLAIMS HIS PEOPLE

Oséias 2:6. Behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths. And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them; then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.

THE generality of mankind are very incompetent judges of the dispensations of Providence. Indeed, for the most part, they quite mistake their nature and tendency; and draw conclusions from them which the Scripture will by no means justify. They suppose that prosperity is a token of Divine love and approbation; and that affliction, on the contrary, is a mark of God’s displeasure. But an inspired writer assures us, that “we cannot know good or evil by all that is before us.” Considering, however, that we are prone to forget God in our abundance, and that the rod of correction is the means whereby thousands are turned to God, we have reason rather to esteem affliction, at least as the more needful, if not the richer, blessing of the two. Certain it is that there are multitudes now in heaven, who owed their first serious impressions to some heavy chastisement; and who must for ever say with the Psalmist,“It is good for me that I have been afflicted.” Nor can we doubt but that the good of mankind is one principal end for which God puts the cup of sorrow into their hands.
A remarkable proof of this we have in the passage before us The Jews were continually provoking God to jealousy, by depending on alliances with heathens, and worshipping their idols God, ever slow to anger, and delighting in mercy, used all possible methods to reclaim them He had tried what kindness would effect, and had found no success He now determined to take the rod; and sent them word by the prophet, that he would punish them for their offences; but that the end of their punishment should be to reduce them to a happier and better state: “Therefore,” says he, (because you are so bent to follow your own evil ways) “behold, I will hedge up,” &c
In these words we see,

I. What means God uses to reclaim his people—

Though God could effect his purposes instantly, by a mere act of his will, yet he is pleased in general to accomplish them by means suited to the end In reclaiming his people,

1. He obstructs their ways—

[In their unregenerate state they run on, like others, in the ways of sin But when his time is come, he instructs them either by temporal calamities or by spiritual convictions

In the common course of events he deprives them of health, fortune, friends;or perhaps by their own imprudence brings disorders or distress upon them.
These trials, however, of themselves have only a momentary effect; and therefore he accompanies them with the secret energy of his Spirit, convincing them of their guilt and danger, and making them tremble through fear of his eternal judgments He “meets them as an armed man,” so that they dare no longer to “rush on upon the thick bosses of his buckler.”
Thus he “hedges up their way with thorns,” and makes their progress in sin very difficult and painful.]

2. He disappoints their endeavours—

[God saw the Jews bent on forming alliances with Egypt and Assyria notwithstanding all his warnings to renounce them He therefore sent them into captivity in Babylon, where they could have no communications with Egypt or Assyria; and thus “built up a wall, that they could not find their former lovers.”
Thus we have our idols which we are prone to follow, notwithstanding all the troubles or convictions that are sent to wean us from them. Perhaps the world is the object of our affections; and we weary ourselves in the pursuit of its honours or emoluments. God therefore secretly blasts our endeavours, as he did those of his people of old [Note: Ageu 1:6; Ageu 1:9.]; and thus shuts us up as it were, unto himself, that we may seek him as our portion. Perhaps our great idol is self-righteousness: we desire to “establish a righteousness of our own,” instead of relying simply on the righteousness of Christ. God therefore leaves us to our own feeble efforts, that, by our repeated violations of our own vows and covenants, we may be constrained to look from ourselves unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, if we persist in breaking through “the hedge,” he will interpose “a wall;” that “when we follow after our lovers, we may not overtake them, and when we seek them, we may not be able to find them.” If smaller difficulties will not answer his end, he will send greater, till he has accomplished his whole will concerning us.]

These interpositions, however, operate in a rational way; as will be seen by considering,

II.

What effects he produces on their minds—

Where calamities are sent without grace to sanctify them, they only harden those whom they ought to reclaim. But when the grace of God co-operates with his providence, it works in his people,

1. A sense of their guilt in having departed from him—

[They could once sin without any fear or remorse: at most, they only viewed sin as an opposition to God’s will: but, when the Spirit of God has opened their eyes, they see it as an act of spiritual adultery; and they begin to feel as a woman would, who, after having departed from a kind and loving “husband,” was just returning to a sense of her duty. How would she blush at the remembrance of her conduct! how would she be ready to doubt whether her husband would ever receive her again, and whether it were possible for her ever again to be the object of his affections! Thus a soul rendered truly sensible of its obligations to God the “husband” of his people, feels a proportionate degree of shame in having departed from him, of shame mixed with self-lothing and self-abhorrence [Note: Jeremias 3:25.]

2. A consciousness of their folly in having lost his favour—

[It once appeared folly to serve God: but now this sentiment is reversed. Even in the days of their unregeneracy they had a secret thought, that the godly, whom they despised, were happier than themselves. But, when divinely instructed, they see that they have been “feeding upon ashes, and that a deceived heart has turned them aside [Note: Isaías 44:20.]. If ever they have “tasted that the Lord is gracious,” they cannot fail of looking back with grief on the blessedness they have lost [Note: Gálatas 4:15.]. They confess that “once it was better with them than now;” that, in departing from God, they “forsook the fountain of living waters;” and that, in seeking happiness in the creature, they “hewed out to themselves broken cisterns that could hold no water [Note: Jeremias 2:13.].”]

3. A determination of heart to return to him—

[They no longer say, “We will follow after other lovers [Note: ver. 5.];” but, “We will return to our first husband.” They view God as their rightful Lord, to whom they are bound by every tie; and, with indignation against themselves for their past conduct, they say, “Other lords besides thee have had dominion over us; but by thee only will we make mention of thy name [Note: Isaías 26:13.].”]

The whole of this effect is strongly exemplified in the prodigal son—
[The prodigal departed from his father, and spent his substance in riotous living. God, intending to reclaim him, sent a famine into the country where he had taken up his residence. (However casual this might appear, it was ordained of God for his good.) He would not regard this “hedge,” or return to his father while he could get any other support. He therefore hired himself to a citizen of that place to feed his swine; and when almost famished, preferred the husks which the swine ate of, to the bread he might obtain by returning home. God seeing this obstinate reluctance in him, so ordered it, that, notwithstanding he had spent all his fortune there, no man should have pity enough to relieve his wants. At last, constrained by necessity, and stopped as by “a wall,” the prodigal is induced to return to his father’s house, where he finds a reception beyond all expectation kind and gracious. Thus misfortune upon misfortune, or conviction upon conviction, are sent to us, till, distressed on every side, and disappointed in every attempt to extricate ourselves, we are “made willing” to return to God.]

We may learn from this subject,
1.

The depravity of man—

[We never seek God, till we are constrained by his providence and grace to do so: and, to the latest hour of our lives, we need hedges and walls to keep us in the way of duty. What an astonishing proof is this of our utter alienation from God, yea, of our enmity against him! Let us blush and be confounded before him.]

2. The end of trials—

[They “spring not from the dust,” but are sent for our good. They are like the angel that met Balaam [Note: Números 22:22.]: and our obstinacy in breaking through these obstructions would have repeatedly subjected us to the sword of vengeance, if our God had not still exercised mercy and forbearance towards us. Let us then “hear the rod, and him that hath appointed it [Note: Miquéias 6:9.].”]

3. The happiness of a religious life—

[No one ever gave himself up truly to God without finding that “his ways were ways of pleasantness and peace.” No one ever declined from him, that did not suffer loss in respect of present happiness, as well as of his future reward. Let all professors then “be sober and watch unto prayer;” that instead of saying, “It was once better with me than now,” they may “make their profiting to appear unto all,” and be enabled to say on every succeeding day, “It never was so well with me as at this present time.”]