Answers here, there and everywhere

“Ephraim is like a dove, silly and without sense, calling to Egypt, going to Assyria.” Hosea 7:11

Anyone who has ever been dove hunting knows that a dove is like a fighter jet in the sky. With their wings swept back into a distinct, aerodynamic point, they are quick, agile, and able to accelerate or turn on a dime. By comparison, their heavier cousin, the pigeon, lumbers along with its massive weight like a transport plane. All the while their lighter relatives, like sparrows, just sort of sputter from one place to the next.

In our generation the dove is many times presented as symbol of love or peace and some religious traditions hold it in high esteem as a symbol of their faith. But Hosea is speaking of the dove negatively in this context; calling its actions silly.

In the field, their distinctive form and speed make them easily recognizable by hunters. Their keen eyesight is the bane of many a hunter if he moves at the wrong time; move just a little too quick, or too soon in a dove hunt you’ll make your shot more challenging every time because the dove will go into “fighter jet” mode. At the first sign of movement it will accelerate and begin to pitch up and down and bank left and right in moves that would make an acrobat queasy; all in an effort to seek safety and security.

So why does Hosea speak of these characteristics negatively? In context, Hosea is writing about a nation that has abandoned God. Among other things, he likens them to an unfaithful spouse; a nation that has abandoned its first love and looked elsewhere for safety and security.

Forsaking God, they begin to look a bit silly, like a dove seeking safety over a hunter’s field, bouncing around and vacillating between decisions seeking safety and security at every turn. Our passage suggests that Ephraim had sought pacts with opposing nations in an effort to secure peace and safety.

How often, I wonder, do we look like Ephraim; silly like a dove? How often do we seek answers to life’s problems from those around us? How often do we seek safety and security at every turn while at the same time ignoring God? As a nation I’d venture to guess that we look a lot like Ephraim did in Hosea; like an unfaithful spouse; like a silly dove.

The peace that God grants surpasses all understanding. So, in our daily search for understanding, safety, and security, we don’t need to turn to seers that abound on every corner. No, we need only to turn (or return) to God. The Psalmist describes it this way: “Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till the has mercy on us.” (Psalm 123:2)

Look expectantly to the Lord and you won’t be disappointed.