Hosea

Tonite I was reading from the book of Hosea. It's quite a sad story. Basically, he was a prophet and the Lord spoke to him and told him to marry a prostitute. So he does. But then she leaves him and goes back to prostituting. They have 3 kids, and she goes back to selling herself to men on the street.

Hosea seems to me like a tender man, although he's probably a huge, burly guy. Who knows? Maybe I think too much about these stories. Anyway, later the Lord tells him to go back and get his wife. So he buys her and tells her that she is to stop prostituting. I know lots of men that wouldn't bother with paying money, they'd just get their wife.

Now, I understand the meaning of the story, but I don't like the emotional messyness of it. The Lord has Hosea do this because His bride, the people of Israel, have done the same thing. It's an allegory and a powerful message when its lived out rather than just preached.

But my question to the Lord was, why did you have Hosea marry someone who couldn't love him properly? I just think that is so horrible.

And you know what He said? (Yes, He answered me, I asked so He answered. You should try it sometime.)

He told me that, Hosea was secure in the Lord's love. I realized that Hosea, knowing the Lord so well, really knew God's heart for him. That's why he was willing to be with someone who could really tear his heart out. His heart belonged to the Lord already.

I'm not saying it didn't hurt. But she wasn't his whole life, God was. And now that I think of it, the Lord went through His share of pain, with his people turning away from Him. So I guess He knew what He was asking Hosea to do.

I had heard that the Lord want's to marry us and all. I've read Song of Songs and how that is a love story between a man and a woman but also between the Lord and His bride (some say His people Israel, some the church). But it was when I read Hosea I really saw it so clear. He really does want to marry us. Even after we've rejected Him and broken His heart. This is what the Lord said about his Israel after He expresses His grief of her being with other lovers and forgeting Him.

"Therefore, I am going to allure her..." (Hosea 2:14)
"In that day," declares the Lord,
"you will call me 'my husband';
you will no longer call me master... (Hosea 2:16)
I will betroth you to me forever;
I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,
in love and compassion.
I will betroth you in faithfulness
and you will acknowledge the Lord." (Hosea 2:19-20)

He wants to win her back. He wants to still love her. Course the rest of Hosea goes back and forth, on how He's mad and then how he wants to love His bride. But that's pretty normal if you ever talked to someone who has been heart broken.

I wonder if I could be as secure as Hosea in the Lord's love for me to do whatever crazy thing He tells me to do? As I write this my new favorite song by Sara Groves, "Fly," comes on. Hmmm.