Impressed

I have gained a whole new level of respect for someone in the Bible recently. Wonder who? He's really not talked about all that much...at least not in the circles I grew up in. But I think his story represents God's unfailing, unconditional covenant love for His Bride better than any other story in the Bible.
Any guesses??


Hosea!
And why do I respect him so much? Well think about it! From what it seems, the very first words that Hosea hears from God are "Go and marry a prostitute." I don't know about you, but if I though I heard those words from God, I'd sure be questioning if I heard right. A prostitute? But why?

The Lord goes on to say "This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning against the Lord and worshiping other gods." So okay, God explains His command clear enough to Hosea. At that point, I would probably believe that what I was hearing was really from the Lord. But now the question is:
would I actually obey??

Seriously, what a command! I'm sure it would already be terribly painful to marry someone and then they commit adultery against you. But think about going into the marriage knowing it's just a matter of time until your spouse cheats on you! And more so than that, this Gomer was a prostitute even before they got married. The social stigma to go along with someone marrying a prostitute now-a-days is pretty bad, but I can just imagine how degrading it would have been back in Hosea's day. I can only imagine that his family would disown him, his friends would have left him, and he'd be the talk of the town.

But he does it. He obeys the Lord and marries a prostitute. Then to make matters more painful, the children Gomer bears are given horrible prophetic names. Can you imagine having to call your child "Not Loved" or "Not Mine"? How sweet...

I can just imagine how terribly broken Hosea's heart must have been. I wonder if there was ever a time that He questioned why the Lord would ask such a terribly hard thing of him? Why would He put him through so much pain and heartache? Why would his calling be to marry a prostitute and have children of unfaithfulness?

I think it's all in how you look at it. Sure, he could say his calling is to marry a prostitute. Or he could say that his calling is to illustrate the Lord's own heartache and love for His Bride. When you put it that way--is there really any better calling from God? To help the Lord's people understand how crazy much He loves them. Sure, the calling is still just as painful, but it sounds a lot more beautiful & redemption filled than "marrying a whore."

And sorry, I can't help but compare parts of Hosea's story to my own. Recently I've been thinking, What if God had told me before starting my relationship with Matt that we were going to have a great relationship, get engaged, and then he was going to break it off? I'd definitely question if I was hearing things right. Then what if He explained that it would illustrate how much Jesus longs to marry His Bride, and She doesn't want Him; She's not prepared. Would I have still done it? Uh...

If I had known all along that this is how things would end, I can't imagine actually being able to love Matt very well. I feel like I would be regretting the day we get engaged knowing that it would only be a matter of time until he decided to break things off. Maybe I wouldn't even say yes to his proposal! And I feel like as much as I would try to put those thoughts out of my mind, I wouldn't be able to help but be kind of resentful towards him for what he was going to do in the future. Or maybe I would try to do anything in my power to keep him from breaking up.

I can really only guess what I would have done. And I'm not saying that I know for sure that the Lord actually wanted to use this whole relationship and the ending result to illustrate anything specific about His love or whatever....

All I'm saying is that I'm very, very impressed with Hosea. He obeyed a super hard command. And I definitely understand now more than ever how hard that command really was. So thanks, Hosea, for your remarkable obedience. For helping the Israelites and the Church alike better understand God's amazing, unconditional love that never ever, ever gives up on His Bride.

And now to end with the beautiful words from Hosea 2:19-20
I will make you My wife forever,
  showing you righteousness and justice,
  unfailing love and compassion.
I will be faithful to you and make you Mine,
  and you will finally know Me as the Lord.