…Let her remove the adulterous look from her face and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts. Hosea 2:2b (NIV)
There’s this interesting phenomenon in child rearing that has attracted my attention: Ever notice Mom's carrying little Jr, she's ready to put him down so he can walk by himself and what does he do? His landing gear goes up...DENIED! Now, instead of Mom holding Jr, Jr is holding Mom. And as much as Mom tries to wiggle little Jr. loose she can’t seem to shake him free. He's hanging on for dear life. Why? He's refusing to walk by himself.
There are things in life we pick up that we try to put down only to find out they’re gripping us. We can’t drop them; shake them loose, we can’t scrape them off. We don’t have them they have us. Sin is one of those things. When we put something in our lives ahead of God it’s not easy to shake off. It grips our heart and it has us.
God says that His people need to remove the adulterous look from their face. The face is the place of modesty, shame, or shamelessness. It’s the reason Jeremiah says: “…you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to blush with shame.” (Jeremiah 3:3) Also, in Jeremiah God says to Judah: “Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush.” (Jeremiah 6:15) And also consider: “Death has climbed in through our windows and has entered our fortresses” (Jeremiah 9:21). That means that death, or lawless desire, climbs in through the eyes (windows) and enters our soul (fortresses), and takes it captive. You don’t have it, it has you.
God’s people also need to remove unfaithfulness from between her breasts. That is where the heart is. This all may mean that we should no longer gaze with pleasure on the objects of our sin, nor allow our heart to dwell on the things that we love sinfully. This is adultery. Why? These things take the place that only God should have. Finally consider: “A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me, That lies all night between my breasts (heart).” Song of Solomon 1:13 (NKJV) And as Song of Solomon 8:6 says we are to set God as a “seal upon our heart.” God should be the main love of our heart.
Question:
What in your life tries to take the main heart place that God alone should have?
How do we deal with this sin issue? How do we shake it free?
How do we guard ourselves from sin entering our lives in the first place?
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