Admitting Guilt
Hosea 5:13–15
I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt. Hosea 5:15

What happens when we do not turn to God even after he sends trouble to get our attention? In that case, says God, he reluctantly pours out on us the greatest judgment of all: He leaves us. He turns away from us. He abandons us to precisely what we want: “I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me.” I can think of no more horrible judgment than to be abandoned by God in the very depths of our wretchedness and misery.

Yet that is our hope, for even at this point God is being good to those who are his. He will hide his face. We will grope in our darkness. But even this, dreadful as it is, exists only “until” we admit our guilt and turn to him. Thus it is that even in the darkest hour there is a glimmer of hope and love in God’s judgments.

What happens when we do turn to him? We feared his omniscience because it meant exposure of ourselves as we truly are. We have done everything possible to avoid admitting our guilt. But when we finally come to God and allow him to remove the robes of our self-righteousness, to which we have clung so desperately, we find that he is waiting with the blood of Christ to cleanse our sin, the oil of his Spirit to anoint our wounded bodies, and the robes of his own righteousness to clothe us. When Adam and Eve sinned, they ran from God when they heard his voice in the garden. But God sought them out, confronted them in their sin, and then clothed them with skins of animals that he himself killed. When Hosea found Gomer, she was exposed on the auction block of Samaria, naked in the sight of all the people. But Hosea purchased her for himself and clothed her again. So it is with us. We have hidden from God. But in Christ we can now stand before him. We can be known and yet clothed at the same time. Indeed, we can cry with Isaiah: “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. . . . The Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations” (Isa. 61:10–11).

Taken from Come to the Waters by James Boice ISBN 9798887790954 used with permission from P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ 08865

Scripture quotations are from the ESV (the Holy Bible English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.