Never Give Up, Never Surrender

Hosea 11:1-11

Today is the first day of school for teachers and assisting staff. I'm one of the assisting staff so today I go back to school. It's been a great summer and I've enjoyed each moment spent with family, friends, colleagues, and whoever I happened to be with.

I missed being with the kids at the high school I work. I won't see them until next week as that's when school begins for students. So, until then we'll do whatever it is a school staff does to get ready for their students.

One of the things I miss is the continuous positive guidance I share with the students. More to the point, I miss the struggle throughout the school year to get and keep the students on a track towards success. It's a constant challenge and there are times I feel like giving up, but I keep in mind that there are always other things besides school which hinder their school life and it's in the place they are that I really need to be.

Sometimes I threaten to stop being there for them. Sometimes I get so upset I literally can't look at them. Sometimes they get so agitated with me that they do everything in their power to avoid me. In the process, though, our relationship grows and somehow we become better friends.

Maybe that's the message Hosea has for us today. God has tried and tried and tried and tried (one more) and tried and still God's people don't do what they're supposed to do. They live by rules which only separate them from one another and from God, instead of doing the things which will bring them closer together. God is frustrated and is in a place where God says, "That's it. I'm done."

However, God is not done. God just needs a break before God really gets angry and does things God may regret later. Through Hosea, God is saying "I am so irritated by your behavior right now that I have to step away before I do something I really don't want to. So, I'm going to put you in time out while I go into another room. When I've calmed down, and when you're ready to listen, I'll be back and we can go forward from there."

I can't tell you how many times I've said those exact things to the kids I work with at school.