Day 28 - Hosea

When I was in college, I read a book by Francine Rivers called "Redeeming Love."  It's a version of the book of Hosea staged in a wild west, with Michael Hosea as the main character.  It's a riveting read, and if you like an old romantic novel, it's worth a look.  That book got me interested in the real story of Hosea.  It's got to be one of the most fascinating books in the Bible.  God asked this man of God, Hosea, to marry a prostitute as an example of His love for his people.  And, though she continues down the road of prostitution and adultery, Hosea is called again and again to go back to her.

1 The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes. ”


2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. 3 Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.” -Hosea 3:1-3

There are two really powerful lessons here:

1. God love his people, no matter what.  Over and over, God used the word 'adulterous' to describe the actions of His people.  That's how personal it was to God.  It was real and painful.  Our sins literally make God feel like a jilted lover.  And, yet, He forgives.  People often think that they've simply sinned too much for God to forgive them.  Or, they think that some big huge sin in their life was simply too large for grace to overcome.  In Hosea, God teaches us that there is grace upon grace available.  I love what He says to Hosea, "Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites."  The Lord loves His people unconditional, and you are His people.
2. Those who are forgiven are expected to forgive.  Hosea has been wronged and hurt in ways that few of us can imagine, yet God calls him to forgive.  Unforgiveness never works the way we intend it to.  It only hurts us, and it's not the way of God.  The fact is that God asks us to forgive others the way we have been forgiven.  Just think if God held all your sins against you.  I know I'd be in deep trouble.  He doesn't.  We shouldn't either.  When we forgive others, we begin to feel a little more like God.  And that just feels right.