Well my friends, I am sitting here pondering over what we can go over next on this blog. It just hit me… For the next only God knows how long, He always somehow diverts us off of our agendas to teach us something He wants us to know, we’ll be going through the books of the Minor Prophets… you know, Hosea through Malachi. It should be a fun journey with many insights.
Let’s just jump in and start with a little introduction to the book of Hosea. This book is a love story between God and His people, Israel. It’s a story that mirrors the tale of a young man and his wife, telling us about God’s love for his “bride” (Israel), and her response. The book opens with God giving marriage instructions to Hosea; his marriage to an unfaithful woman would tell the story of God’s relationship to the unfaithful nation of Israel. To sum it up, the Book of Hosea dramatically portrays God’s constant and persistent love. We will watch Hosea willfully submit himself to God’s plan, and then grieve with him over the unfaithfulness of his wife and people; and we will also hear the clear warning of judgment…
When the Lord first began speaking to Israel through Hosea, he said to him, “Go and marry a prostitute, so that some of her children will be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning against the Lord and worshiping other gods.”
We’ll stop here today. God tells Hosea to marry a prostitute. Can you imagine Hosea’s feelings about that? He knew she would be unfaithful to him, but he did it anyway out of obedience. God often required extraordinary obedience from His prophets who were faced with extraordinary times. Think about this…
Someday God may ask you to do something difficult and extraordinary, too. If He does, how will you respond? Will you obey Him, trusting that He who knows everything has a special purpose for His request? Will you be able to accept the fact that the pain involved in obedience may benefit those you serve and not you personally?
