“Come, let us return to Yahweh. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has struck us, but He will bandage us.…What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your lovingkindness is like a morning cloud and like the dew which goes away early.” (Hosea 6:1, 4, LSB)

There is a type of emotional response that happens when one is caught in the consequences of one’s sin. The prospect of facing jail time or an imminent divorce will often bring the guilty to their knees. I was surprised to see a young man at the door of my office that I hadn’t seen in many years. His father came to our church, and as a younger teen, he had accompanied him. This man expressed to me that he knew that his life needed to change and that we would begin once again attending church services. His words seemed to be genuine, but I could sense there was more to this sudden devotion that appeared out of thin air.

Following that morning’s service, the young man came with his father to my office gain and once again spoke of the changes he was feeling regarding his desire to “get right with God.” After a few moments of this, the real motivation for his return emerged. He had been caught printing and using counterfeit US bills and was soon going to be facing a judge for his crimes. He and his father wanted to know if I would be willing to write a character letter that stated that this man had frequently attended church (which he had not in many years) and that he had good moral character (which he did not have). After listening to his appeal, I shared with him that if his return to Christ was true and sincere, then he should speak truthfully at this court hearing about his guilt, entrusting himself to the mercy of God. If he was imprisoned, then God would be with him. If God showed mercy and he was given a lesser penalty for his crime, then God’s grace was the source of this reprieve from the consequences he deserved. Whatever the case, if he was sincere, he needed to continue in his profession of faith and walk with the Lord since he claimed his faith was genuine and not simply a ploy to escape the consequences of his sin. I then shared that I would not write the letter he asked for since to do so would be lying. I never saw that man again, and his father soon left our church, angry that I refused to help his son escape prison time for counterfeiting money.

In the above passage from the book of Hosea, God’s people are acting similarly. They are feigning an attitude of repentance from their sin, but there is not much below the surface. Hosea 6:1 says, “Come, let us return to Yahweh. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has struck us, but He will bandage us.” Notice that the people never say what they are guilty of doing. They speak about the consequences of God’s hand upon them, but they do not address their own sin. Like Cain’s response to murdering his brother Abel (Gen 4:13-14), nothing is said about guilt, only the desire to remove the burden of the consequences.

Did God see through their plot and refusal to truly deal with the source of God’s displeasure? Absolutely! In Hosea 6:4, God responded with these words: “What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your lovingkindness is like a morning cloud and like the dew which goes away early.” Like dew that vanishes with the rising sun, so too did the love of Judah. Once the consequences were lifted, the Lord knew that the people would return to their sinful ways.

So what is the solution? True repentance and faith. The words that are spoken by Judah are true. God will heal and bandage what he has torn and damaged, but he will not bring about that restoration if we still conceal our deception and sin. We might be able to play games with people, hiding our intentions and true heart attitudes behind emotional appeals, but God knows the heart (2Chron 6:30; Acts 1:24).