We picked out the brown velvet curtains at Ikea not long after we got married, and hemmed them with the iron-on adhesive strip that came in the package. They hung in our first home and then in our second, even though they were about a foot too short with the higher ceilings and taller windows. I always meant to get around to changing them, or at least mending the falling-out hem, but come 2009, I decided I didn’t mind.
She was two years old that year, with wild, thin hair that stuck straight up and a smile so bright it could knock you out. Those too-short curtains were the perfect hiding place for her new favorite game: hide and seek.
I have a few precious minutes of video of the usual scene: our little girl hiding conspicuously behind the brown dining room curtains, her pink sneakers poking out at the bottom and her giggle audible from the other side of the room. Her papa would sneak up slowly and the giggles would get louder, and she would squeal with delight as he threw back the curtain. Hiding was fun, but the true joy was in being found.
Hosea 5 is a painful read. Israel was playing hide and seek with her God, but this was no game. The people’s very lives were at stake, yet they kept turning to idols, a choice that reaped only destruction and desolation.
God warned them through the prophet. His tone, gentle and wooing in the first chapters, became booming, insistent, and firm. The call from the Lord was clear: Return. In running, only disaster and sure destruction awaited.
Yet Israel was “determined to follow what is worthless” (v.11). The sin did not disqualify them from returning and repenting; it kept them from returning and repenting. God’s warning to Israel was His mercy to them; so was His discipline. God turned away so that they might turn back to Him (v.15).
The priests and the people of Israel hid in their idolatry and their sacrifices, hoping their rituals might hide their hearts. But there is no hiding from God. He sees all; and, even more, He knows all (v.3). But as we often do, Israel hid anyway, their tell-tale sneakers sticking out from under the curtains of their sin. We hide, believing we know better, believing we and our “little-g” gods can outsmart the one true God.
We hide, but He seeks us out. He seeks us out so that we will seek Him.
Israel’s attempts at deceiving God resulted in devastation, just as He said it would. But God prowled in guard of her heart, doing whatever it took to frustrate her desires for lesser loves, to thwart her attempts to run and hide (v.14).
Are you hiding today? I am. I feel the Holy Spirit calling my heart to return from places where I’ve gone to hide from my sin, to hide from my own brokenness. Hear our God speak words of hard, merciful truth to us, His children:
I know you, He says. You are not hidden from me.
You turn to false loves, but they cannot cure you. They cannot heal your wounds.
Seek me. Return and repent (vv.3,14–15, my paraphrase).
Dear friend, there is joy in having the darkest parts of our hearts uncovered by our merciful Father. Surrender to the truth that you are known. You’ve been found out, you’ve been found, and you are still loved.
Praying for you right now K Swenson
I am still loved. And that’s all I need to know and “hear”today. 
Amanda caught my attention with “But there is no hiding from God. He sees all; and, even more, He knows all (v.3).” The Lord knows every move I make and every breath I take. The Lord is with me through the good and the bad and I need to remember this. I need to not stray. I need to remind myself God will give me what I NEED.
Sisters be blessed and happy first day of autumn (fall).
It was a hard reading today! I did thoroughly enjoy listening to the podcast for this week through. Francine Rivers and the SRT ladies did a great job(in my opinion) of explaining God’s heart in the text. If you wouldn’t mind, I would love your prayers! I’m still praying for healing from PTSD and battling every day. Currently, I’m looking into other therapy options and need discernment and provision. Thank you for your prayers and I pray that you would know the love and acceptance of the Father today!
I agree Barb. I have been reading through the Bible this year and have been slogging through the major and minor prophets for some time. One thing that stood out to me is that God sent these warnings to Israel for over a hundred years! He was so patient giving them a chance to repent even though he knew they wouldn’t as a nation. Hard to read but in that context still full of love.
I hadn’t noticed that time amount before. Really interesting.
Arina what a good thought! I have also felt the same way. Foster Mama praying for you in this situation.
“Loving raisin cakes may seem like a weirdly specific—and harmless—thing to condemn, but we need to look past the dried fruit itself and think about what it signifies: distraction, complacency, self-centeredness, pride, and a willful rejection of the providing hand. The Israelites are guilty of all that. And yet they are the people whom the Lord loves.” by Katy Morgan on CoreChristianity.
I didn’t get to comment on the mention of raisin cakes in Chapter 3, so forgive me for mentioning it late. When I read the verses in chapter 3, I was intrigued by the mention of raisin cakes so this morning I finally had the time and looked it up. This quote came from a very enlightening article and I encourage you to check it out. I don’t recall using that site before, but really learned a lot from the piece.
It’s easy to forget that a reprimand comes from someone who loves you when you’re on the receiving end of it. If God didn’t care for the Israelites or for us, he would just ignore us. Because he loves us and hurts to see us destroyed by our sin, he corrects us and leads us to a place of healing and restoration.