Years ago, Justin Bieber was everywhere. No matter what station I found on the radio, they were playing something by him. Usually when he came on the radio, I would start scanning the dial for anything that wasn’t Justin Bieber. It didn’t matter what the song was or what it was about, I was not going to listen to it because I was sick of hearing about, looking at, or seeing pictures of Justin Bieber in various states of undress around the internet. So when I first heard the song Sorry, I hoped it was by someone else who sounded a lot like him. No such luck. It was by him. Not only is it sung by him, he is listed as one of the writers of the song. Imagine my surprise when the lyrics made me start thinking about our relationship with God, specifically about forgiveness.
No matter how much I might have wanted to protest against all Justin Bieber music, I can’t argue the content of the song. It has a very important message, especially if we believe in forgiveness and honesty…but too often, we don’t abide by it. When it’s our turn, we want to be easily forgiven. When someone comes to us, just like in the song, we hesitate to extend what God freely gives to us.
Scriptures on forgiveness
When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.” So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call him Jezreel, because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. In that day I will break Israel’s bow in the Valley of Jezreel.” Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call her Lo-Ruhamah (which means “not loved”), for I will no longer show love to Israel, that I should at all forgive them.” (Hosea 1:2-6, NIV)
The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.” (Hosea 3:1, NIV)
But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. (Matthew 6:15, NIV)
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (Ephesians 4:31-32, NIV)
A lesson from Hosea
The book of Hosea is an important Bible study. It’s an interesting read because God reveals much of His nature in Hosea. Here we have the story of a prophet who is asked to, of all things, take a wife who defies every single law on the books in Old Testament times: a prostitute. Not only is she a prostitute, she is an active prostitute, which means the children are born to the couple have a paternity question. After they separate, God tells Hosea to go and get Gomer, bring her back, pay the marital price for her again, and love her, despite the way she lived.
Nowhere in the book do we see Hosea’s personal feelings about what God asked him to do. I am sure it was hard for him. They had child after child, all of whose names referenced Israel’s situation. Every time Hosea called one of his children, every time he called his wayward wife, and every time he looked around at his home surroundings, he was constantly reminded of the unfaithful prophecy he was called to live out in his own life.
The grace and power of forgiveness
Hosea reveals something else to us, however, that we easily overshadow if we only look at what Hosea did from an earthly perspective. Hosea lived out the grace and power of forgiveness in his own calling, through the steps he took as directed by God. He got to experience, if only for a little while, what it was like to forgive as God forgives.
We often talk about God as being the God of second chances. This is true, plus some. He doesn’t just stop at the second chance. He is the God of the third chance, the fourth chance, the fifth, and beyond. Just like Hosea didn’t treat Gomer or his children in the way that the coldness of the law might have dictated, neither does God treat us that way. When we come to Him, He knows that when we reflect on our mistakes and them “not being that bad,” we’ve done the same thing a couple of hundred times, or we’ve done the wrong thing time and time again, we need just one more shot at forgiveness.
Applying this to our lives
Our earthly relationships aren’t much different. If we want to be people of God who walk in His power, we must transform through forgiveness. What we receive, we have to give. It’s perfectly fine to establish boundaries and limits in your life that ensure you don’t fall into the same traps or snares of other people. Upholding boundaries is essential. It’s not fine to harbor resentment toward people, especially if they come forward and ask for forgiveness. If we want to go somewhere with the Lord and grow in our faith, then we need to take a lesson from God – and Hosea – (and, as much as it pains me to say it – Justin Bieber)…and give that one more shot at forgiveness.
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