Let me begin by saying that as I am “talking” (or typing, rather) to you, I am talking to myself. I was watching a video of a pastor talking about the history of Israel and he talked about the prophet, Hosea. In the first chapter of the book of Hosea, we read that God says to Hosea (verse 2-3), “Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord”. So, he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
Gomer went on to bear three children-two sons and a daughter-to Hosea. Verse five says,
“For their mother has played the whore; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink”.
I want to land here for a moment. God did not have Hosea marry Gomer because He thought they made a cute couple. He had a purpose for Hosea and Gomer’s marriage. It was to be an illustration of God’s relationship with Israel. It does not say that Hosea prayed about God’s direction or had a Bible Study before he obeyed. God said, “Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom…” and the next sentence said, “So he went and took Gomer…” I am moved by his immediate obedience. While the letter to the Ephesians was written by the Apostle Paul later about A.D. 61, I believe the heart of God, since the beginning of time, has desired for husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her (Ephesians 5:25). In the spirit of obedience, I believe that is exactly how Hosea loved Gomer. He loved her like God loved His Chosen People, Israel. Which means, he did everything to demonstrate his love for her. He was physically and emotionally invested in her. If we think in terms of modern equivalents, he probably told her he loved her and brought her flowers every chance he got. He probably gifted her beautiful jewelry. I’m confident he made sure she (and the children) was well fed, well-dressed, and overall, well taken care of so that she would not need to go anywhere else. And yet, she did go elsewhere, and the kicker is that he knew (from the beginning) that she would go elsewhere.
I can only imagine how hard that must have been for him. He knew that God told him to do this, but I have to believe that he was still heartbroken by her actions. It reminds me of how Jesus, in His humanity was in agony, sweating in what became like great drops of blood falling, asking God, the Father, if He was willing to remove “the cup” of dying on the cross for our sins. He knew that God’s will was for Him to do that and to be forsaken by His Father, but He did it anyway.
And what about the kids? Were they wondering where their “ima” (mother) was? Was Hosea’s crew gathering around him in support of his steadfast obedience to God? Or were they saying, “Man, you might need to let her go. I can introduce you to somebody else that’s going to be faithful”? And what about the people of the town…were they rallying around Hosea and the children offering free babysitting, holding prayer meetings in hope of Gomer’s return, and providing meals? Or were Hosea and his children ostracized for Gomer’s behavior? We don’t know the answers to these questions because the Bible does not tell us, but I think we can assume that Gomer’s behavior brought immense shame upon Hosea and his children.
With that said, though, what was Hosea’s response? Hosea 3:1-3 says, And the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, thought they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins. So, I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another; so, will I also be to you.” He bought his wife back. How humiliating that must have been! But he did that in faithful obedience to God. God had a higher purpose for Hosea’s suffering, his shame, his humiliation. Understanding this, Hosea went on to prophesy in verses 4, 5 saying this…For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar without ephod or household gods. Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.
God's purpose for Hosea's marriage to Gomer was so that Israel would be convicted of their sin, seek and return to the Lord their God, and to know Him. It is the same for us.
This post is not about adultery, but you may indeed be dealing with an adulterous spouse. Perhaps, your marriage is going through a hard season. Maybe your marriage is great, but you are in poor health. Maybe your kids have lost their way. Maybe you are dealing with severe financial difficulty. Maybe you are grieving a loss or many losses. Maybe you are dealing with a combination of all these things. You want your marriage to be restored. You want healing for your physical or mental illness. You want your kids back on the right track. You want your bank account to be in the black. You want your heart to be mended. I believe that God desires this for us as death, disease, pain, and trouble was not a part of God’s original plan for us.
While we are in this fallen world, God has a higher purpose for our hard seasons. This post about how more than healing and for things to be better, God wants us to obey Him (Genesis 12:1-4), to seek Him (Jeremiah 29:13, 14), to thank Him (Psalm 107:1), to praise Him (Psalm 146-150), to shine for Him (Matthew 5:16), to love Him (Deuteronomy 6:5, Mark 12:30), to return to Him (Hosea 3:5, Malachi 3:7), to tell others about Him (Matthew 28:18-20), to follow Him (Luke 9:23), to know Him (John 17:3), to live for Him (Philippians 1:21), to stand with Him (Ephesians 6:10-12), to place our faith in Him (Hebrews 11:6), to watch for Him (I Thessalonians 4:16-18), so that we can reign with Him (Revelation 22:1-5)…forever. After all, it’s all about Him.
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