Lessons from Hosea 1-3
MINOR PROPHETS: HOSEA
My friends and I are doing a study on the book of Hosea right now and the readings from this study have left me shook. Just wanted to document what stood out to me.
My friends and I are doing a study on the book of Hosea right now and the readings from this study have left me shook. Just wanted to document what stood out to me.
“When the Lord began to speak by Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea: ‘Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, For the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the Lord.’”
Observation #1: God commanded Hosea to find a promiscuous woman and have kids with her.
This is interesting to me because God intentionally wanted Hosea to experience something so that he could write from a perspective and properly communicate a message to His people that He wanted.
That's just like our personal lives. I believe sometimes God wants us to experience things specifically and for the sole purpose of being able to talk to a certain people group.
It's also interesting to me that God wanted Hosea to have kids with her and the meaning of those kid's names were:
Jezreel - "I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel."
Lo-Ruhamah - "For I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel."
Lo-Ammi - "For you are not My people."
What this all means to me is that the fruit of idolatry is bloodshed, no mercy, and loss of identity.
Also, we forget that Hosea had kids. What did they think and how did they feel when they asked about their mother and she wasn't there? I imagine they constantly felt like they weren't enough...that what Mommy wanted was everywhere else but where they were.
“Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the Lord for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans.’”
Observation #2: God tells Hosea to love his wife over and over and over and over again. Even though her actions were proving that she didn’t love Him.
God is amazing. He set Hosea up. He knew what was going to happen with his wife. God constantly tells Hosea, "Listen dude. I know you're feeling unloved, unvalued, unwanted...just like Me. But let your love drive you to find a way to buy her back. Search for her, find her, and buy her back."
This is the love of God. This is how God loves us when we go after other things and forget about our God. When we get distracted and make everything and everybody else a priority except Him. Or, when we give our love, attention, and affection to other things instead of Him...God always finds a way to win us back.
His love is great for us and He'll go to great lengths to win our attention and our affection...back. Every. Single. Time.