When God loves the Unfaithful
With these earlier prophets, the Word of the LORD came to them, and they verbalized it to the people, but with Hosea and many prophets after Him, God tells them to go beyond just speaking the Word of the LORD. He gives them specific instructions on how to illustrate the things that God is wanting them to know. Sometimes going to some extreme measures to make sure that the people grasp the significance and severity of what the LORD was trying to say. While God used prophets like Elijah and Elisha to communicate his messages to the people, in later times it took extreme measures to get their attention.
These were not just strange things that these men chose to do, but they were strange things that God told His prophets to do in order to communicate “The Word of the LORD”. They were to not just to speak the Word of the LORD but live it out in front of the people. Living parables, that would get people’s attention in such a way that they might better receive the Word of the LORD.
And this is the framework for the prophet Hosea’s story. In order to better communicate the hurt behind the unfaithfulness of God’s people, God led Hosea into a marriage that displayed a similar unfaithfulness. It is unclear how or when Hosea knew that his wife would be unfaithful to him, but just that this part of his story would work to prophetically communicate the Word of the LORD to God’s people.
Hosea knew this simply because God showed it to him, or if there were already things in Gomer’s life that pointed to her being prone to unfaithfulness. when they got married Included in this list of disruptive messages was the message that God sent through his command to Hosea to take a wife, with full knowledge that she will one day be unfaithful to him.
Hosea 1
The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoash[a] king of Israel:
Hosea’s Wife and Children
2 When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.” 3 So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
4 Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call him Jezreel, because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. 5 In that day I will break Israel’s bow in the Valley of Jezreel.”
6 Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call her Lo-Ruhamah (which means “not loved”), for I will no longer show love to Israel, that I should at all forgive them. 7 Yet I will show love to Judah; and I will save them—not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but I, the Lord their God, will save them.”
8 After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, Gomer had another son. 9 Then the Lord said, “Call him Lo-Ammi (which means “not my people”), for you are not my people, and I am not your God.[b]
10 “Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘children of the living God.’ 11 The people of Judah and the people of Israel will come together; they will appoint one leader and will come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel.
[c]
Background
During the time of Hosea, the Israelites were influenced heavily by the worship and ways of the Canaanites. The sophistication of the city-based Canaanite farmers who surrounded them, the fertility of their flocks and fields (apparently elicited from the gods and goddesses of fertility) attracted the Israelite farmers. The rites by which the people supplicated the gods of fertility were lewd, licentious, and immoral. Even though Israel had covenanted at Sinai to become a kingdom of priests and a holy nation unto God, by the time of Hosea, God’s people had become deeply involved in the practices of their neighbors, whose way of life should have repelled them.
Using the imagery of a marriage, the Lord, through Hosea, taught His people that though they had been unfaithful to Him, ye He would still not divorce them (cast them off) if they would but turn back to Him. Though Hosea speaks of a nation, the same principle holds true for individuals. Even those who have been grossly unfaithful to God can re-establish their relationship with Him if they will but turn back to Him with full purpose of heart.
This is a type and shadow of Israel’s and our unfaithfulness to God. Over and over again, Hosea would go looking for his wife to bring her home to show her how much he loves her.
The standards with which we measure unfaithfulness is very different from the standards that God has. God is unable to see even a small patch of sin. Examples of our unfaithfulness would be, not taking the side of the truth, not doing good when I can, I choose my physical benefit over my spiritual benefit. We are all genuinely praying, reading our bible but when it comes to practicing those truths, we wonder whether it will really make a difference in this age and era.
We have our own checklist of yes tick, I have done this, yes tick, I have done this for God, but God desires our heart. Where is my heart? What am I constantly thinking? What I have understood is that, we cannot hide anything from God. What we do from Monday to Saturday is watched by God and He knows where we stand. We cannot cheat Him. The only thing He desires is that we come back to Him. Desire Him and acknowledge His presence in our life. He desires genuine relationship with us. If we look at the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery, Jesus doesn’t condemn her, but he addresses the issue of sin and unfaithfulness with everyone. All of us have hurt God by replacing him with other things. We have been unfaithful.
- Only God can rescue us from our sin.
vs 7 Yet I will show love to Judah; and I will save them—not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but I, the Lord their God, will save them.”
Many times we try and then we fail. Our flesh is weak but our spirit is willing. The fact that every New year we make a resolution is because we know that what we are doing is not quite right and we need to change from a certain habit or a certain behaviour, but we fall.
When we go to Jesus, with our weaknesses, stubborn habits, we get help from the Holy Spirit, that is, His Spirit to transform us and secondly God gives us a community that channelizes our stubborn behaviour. Accountability to God and the people God has placed us with, help us to keep in check.
- God’s plan for Rescue was always the cross
vs 10b In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘children of the living God.’ 11 The people of Judah and the people of Israel will come together; they will appoint one leader and will come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel.
Hosea’s relationship with Gomer reminds us of God’s relationship with the people of Israel and with us. Even though God’s people are unfaithful and love other things more than they love God, God still loves us. God sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sin and bring us back to Him.
An Illustration
On 5th August, the San Jose copper mine, in the Atacama Desert in Chile collapsed. 33 men were trapped in darkness. The world and their relatives feared that there was no hope. The depth of the mine, the lack of food and water, and the absence of any signs of life all pointed to a terribly sad end.
But after signs of life were detected, an audacious rescue attempt was launched. Starting from the surface of the desert during bright daylight, drills began to bore a narrow hole down into darkness.
After meticulous planning, but recognising many risks, a rescue capsule called Phoenix was sent down into the depths to rescue the 33 men. One by one the men stepped into their rescue capsule and they were delivered to the surface to shouts of jubilation and joy. They had been feared dead, but every man that stepped into the capsule was saved, alive and well.
After meticulous planning, and very aware of the risks, God launched an audacious rescue attempt. For many people life can seem dark and without hope – a bit like being trapped in a mine; so the message is that God came down from above into the depths of this world to rescue us. Jesus is the rescue capsule; and when we place ourselves into his care he lifts us up, inch by inch, moment by moment, in order to save us.
A rescue plan always involves risk to the rescuer. If we see someone in danger of something, my first instinct would be to call for help or get a professional to get the person rescued. However, if you notice that if it is someone close to us, like our children or spouse or any other beloved family member, we will jump into rescuing them. We don’t care. We just go into it. Jesus did that to rescue us. He continues to do that. He doesn’t mind what people will think but goes intentionally for the rescue.
Now, interestingly, the second part of this rescue is that the person should be willing to be rescued. There is enough damage done.
- Unwilling to be rescued because of guilt and shame.
- Unwilling to be rescued because of pride, or attitude.
- Unwilling to be rescued because of trust issues.
- Unwilling to be rescued because we are unable to see that we are in danger.
When we overcome these barriers, we will have a new life. We will be rescued.
- God is interested in changed hearts, not modified behavior.
If there’s anything that needs to be changed, it is our heart. It is very difficult to change ourselves if we are not convinced of something. God wants a heart change because if I am not convinced in my heart then the change would be temporary. It will not last. The impact should be from within.
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Romans 8:13
Conclusion:
Hosea never stopped loving his unfaithful prostitute wife and God will never stop loving us when we are unfaithful. His love and mercy reveal to our hearts a truth that overcomes sin and brings us back into harmony with His life in us.
But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’[a] For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matthew 9:13
Sandra wife of Virjil .The New Hope Community is situated in the heart of the city between Old and New Panvel. We can confidently share that New Hope Community is a Church in Kamothe, Church in Khandeshwar, Church in Khanda Colony, Church in Karanjade, Church in Panvel, Church in New Panvel because we are centrally located and these places surround our church Venue.
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