When God Leaves

From the Pastor: Dr. M. J. Seymour, Sr.

“I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early. … Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.” (Hosea 5:15, 6:1)

At the onset, let us understand that 5:15 is not in reference to the extraction of the Holy Spirit out of the redeemed, because it is clear in the Scripture that He is given permanently as the earnest of our inheritance whereby we are sealed until the day of redemption. (Eph. 1:14; 4:30) The idea is that God removes Himself as the Divine Preserver in the temporal affairs of His children because of the overwhelming presence of sin in their lives. It is much like what the church does in I Cor. 5:5 – “To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” It is not the loss of salvation, but it is the loss of divine preservation over the temporal flesh. The impenitent one is turned over to Satan to do as he wills with the believer, yet, Satan is limited to the flesh for the spirit is sealed up in the Holy Spirit.

God is not obligated to preserve one’s course of earthly life if he chooses to wallow in sin and ungodly wickedness. The Father will and must withdraw Himself from the darkness and stench of sin. They that would fellowship with God must walk in the light and live in godliness. As it is written: “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.” (I Jn. 1:6) Walking on the dark side leaves one with the absence of light. Satan’s afflictions begin to engulf and torment those who have presumed they could flirt with sin and come away unscathed. Sin is as quicksand that relentlessly sucks down its wayward victims.

However, every believer will find the Lord’s hand ready to rescue when they have had their fill of Satan’s treacherous fangs and claws. The scares will always remain for reminders, but the loving care of the Good Shepherd will hoist them upon the strength of His shoulders and heal the wounds of their ungodly rebellion. Their cry will be: “Come, and let us return unto the LORD.” The term “they will seek me early” carries the thought that they will in diligent prayer and worship cry out in their afflictions. Oh wretched rebel, will you not seek the face of your Father and cry out for His hand?