“When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, ‘Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.’” (Hosea 1:2)
Today, we go back in time (Hosea, about 760–710 BC, and Daniel, about 605–530 BC). Hosea was a prophet to the Northern Kingdom before it fell to Assyria.
You know things may get crazy when God tells you to take a wife who is a harlot as an object lesson. In addition to the wife he was commanded to take, God told Hosea what to name his kids. Again, as an object lesson to his nation.
In this, we see that God involves himself into the fine details of life on earth. And when he does that, it isn’t always comfortable. In fact, these occasions may be quite painful or trying. We will read of Gomer’s unfaithfulness and God’s command for Hosea to restore her over and over. Why does God work this way? To teach a lesson to a greater crowd.
I’m reminded of the man who was born blind in John 9. When the Pharisees suggested that his blindness was due to his parents being sinners or he himself being a sinner, “Jesus answered, ‘It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
Imagine the difficulty of having a child who was blind from birth. I have had the chance to do that recently. I have twin brothers in my class in Boston. While I am amazed to see how much they can do, my mind continually goes back to how challenging it had to be to have two blind babies, then toddlers, then kids, then teens, then adults. Jesus said the man in Jn 9 was born blind for a reason … that the works of God might be displayed in him. The same is true for Hosea.
Father, help me to respond to challenges in my life in a way that honors you and instructs others. Amen.
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