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2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, "Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord." 3 So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. 4 And the Lord said to him, "Name him Jezreel; for in a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel." 6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. Then the Lord said to him, "Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have pity on the house of Israel or forgive them. 7 But I will have pity on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God; I will not save them by bow, or by sword, or by war, or by horses, or by horsemen." 8 When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. 9 Then the Lord said, "Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not my people and I am not your God." 10 Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered; and in the place where it was said to them, "You are not my people," it shall be said to them, "Children of the living God." (Hosea 1:2-10 NRSV)
The Bible is such an honest book that sometimes it makes you blush. And this passage makes one blush, but it is rooted in truth and in life. We can try to hide things from God, but God doesn't hide things from us, especially if we're the ones who are in the wrong. Here's the story: Hosea, whose name means "salvation," is called to be God's prophet. Hosea has been appointed to First Jerusalem. I'm going to guess he's fresh out of seminary and he's still single. The pulpit committee is eager to find him a bride among the church's finest daughters, and worship services see an increase in families from outside the church with marriage age daughters. Hmm. Hosea gets a lot of invitations to go and have supper at people's homes, all of which had somehow nieces and cousins who were looking for a nice man. But God had other ideas about Hosea's marriage. Here's the blushing part; God wants Hosea to marry a woman of ill repute, and God wanted Hosea and his bride to have children, whose names would mean something to the unfaithfulness of Israel. The woman he married was named Gomer, whose name means "complete." They had two children, a son named for the upcoming judgement of loss on the battlefield, and the daughter whose name carried the message that God would no longer have pity nor forgiveness from Israel. Gomer later had another son whose name meant that Israel was no longer the people of God, and God was no longer their God. However, as God continues speaking He does say that the children of Israel would be innumerable like the sand of the sea, and would one day be called "Children of the living God."
Besides blushing there is sadness in this reality. One can only imagine the sadness God felt from the unfaithfulness of His people. You who are parents know the sadness that comes from a failure of a child; worse the sadness when a child disowns the parent. If we multiply that by the number of Israelites led astray by their kings, you can see the sadness that grew to anger in God's heart. God chose Hosea to live out his life as a sermon complete with a sermon family. We may not be able to completely comprehend such an action, but we know that God wanted not only the attention of Israel but their affection and devotion. You and I are in that situation as well on a personal level; we love God's affection, but we should show our affection and appreciation to God in return. God expects our faithfulness.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, guide me to faithful obedience. Let my life be a positive sermon for You. In Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! May your name today be Faithful Servant!
Blessings of Love,
Pastor Eradio Valverde
