“Go, take to yourself
a wife of harlotry, and have children of harlotry; for the land commits
flagrant harlotry, forsaking the Lord” (Hosea 1:2).
~ You
never know the richness of love until you see it in the depths. ~
This was a woman who had been deeply
affected by the moral laxity of her society, and God intended to use the
prophet’s personal relationship with her as a penetrating object lesson of His
own relationship with His unfaithful people, Israel. Whatever her past, there
may have been some evidence of genuine repentance and faith in Jehovah. Maybe
she had responded to the Spirit-filled ministry of Hosea himself, and he found
his heart drawn to her in deep and unselfish love. God directed him to take her
as his wife, and so it was that Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, became the
unlikely wife of the budding young preacher.
The early days of their marriage
were beautiful as their love began to blossom. And God blessed their union with
a son. How Hosea’s heart must have swelled with joy! He was convinced that his
marriage would be better than ever with this little one to brighten their home.
God named the baby, for his name was to have prophetic significance to the
nation. He called him Jezreel, because it was at Jezreel that King Jeroboam’s
great grandfather Jehu had first come to the throne by ambitious crimes of
bloodshed and violence. While his dynasty was prospering at the moment, its
destruction was on the horizon and it would happen in the valley of Jezreel
(Hos. 1:4, 5).
It was after the birth of Jezreel
that Hosea seems to have noticed a change in Gomer. She became restless and
unhappy, like a bird trapped in a cage. He went on preaching, encouraging the
wayward nation to turn from its sin and trust God for deliverance from the
threat of surrounding nations. “Return unto the Lord!” was the theme of his
message, and he preached it repeatedly with power (Hos. 6:1; 14:1). But Gomer
seemed less and less interested in his ministry. In fact, she may have grown to
resent it. She probably even accused Hosea of thinking more about his preaching
than he did of her. She began to find other interests to occupy herself, and
spent more and more time away from home.
Scripture does not give us the
details of what happened, but what it does say would permit us some speculation
concerning the progressive trend that led to the tragic situation we eventually
discover. Gomer’s absences from home probably grew more frequent and prolonged
and soon Hosea was feeling pangs of suspicion about her faithfulness to him. He
lay awake at night and wrestled with his fears. He preached with a heavy heart
during the day. And his suspicions were confirmed when Gomer got pregnant
again. It was a girl this time, and Hosea was convinced that the child was not
his. At God’s direction, he called her Loruhamah, which means “unpitied” or “unloved,”
implying that she would not enjoy her true father’s love. Again the name was
symbolic of Israel’s wandering from God’s love and the discipline she would
soon experience. But even that spiritual message could not soothe the prophet’s
troubled soul.
No sooner had little Loruhamah been
weaned than Gomer conceived again. It was another boy. God told Hosea to call
him Lo-ammi, which meant “not my people,” or “no kin of mine.” It symbolized
Israel’s alienation from Jehovah, but it also exposed Gomer’s sinful escapades.
That child born in Hosea’s house was not his.
These
are issues that the young preacher Hosea had to wrestle with when God placed
the command on his life to marry a known prostitute as an example of his
relationship with Israel. Just imagine the heart break he went through as he
realized that he no longer would be able to marry a virgin. He would not give
her her first kiss. He would not be able to have a pure marriage. Others to
whom he had ministered would lose all respect for him. His preaching ministry
would no longer be taken seriously. It was the death of a dream – devastating
for any young preacher.
How do you respond to the death of a dream?
What is the right response when you realize that life as you know
it will only get more difficult?
I do
not want to share with you from Hosea’s perspective. And I do not want to
necessarily approach it from Gomer’s either, but from my own as I reflected on
the story. See, as I read the intriguing story of Hosea and Gomer, I am struck,
not with an indignation for Gomer, but with an extremely uncomfortable
connection with her. I see me in her. This story is spelled out as a true story
that resembles God's relationship with his people. So I easily find myself
understanding Gomer more than I would care to admit. When I am honest with myself,
I must admit that my heart is exactly like hers. I commit spiritual adultery
with the idols of my heart incessantly - like Gomer with her lovers.
YET...God
loves me passionately. This is the crazy thing that gets me about this story. He
knows me completely. And as J.I. Packer said in Knowing God,
What matters supremely is not, in the last analysis, the fact that I know God, but the larger fact which underlies it — the fact that he knows me. I am graven on the palms of his hands. I am never out of his mind. All my knowledge of him depends on his sustained initiative in knowing me. I know him because he first knew me, and continues to know me. He knows me as a friend, one who loves me; and there is not a moment when his eye is off me, or his attention distracted from me, and no moment, therefore, when his care falters. This is momentous knowledge. There is unspeakable comfort — the sort of comfort that energizes, be it said, not enervates — in knowing that God is constantly taking knowledge of me in love and watching over me for my good. There is tremendous relief in knowing that his love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench his determination to bless me.
His love for me
is "utterly realistic." This is crazy!!! As we see in the book of
Hosea, his love is never half-hearted.
I
challenge you to let yourself grasp this today. God knows you completely and
realistically. But he loves you passionately. His love for you is never
half-hearted. If you are finding yourself to be more like Gomer than you would
care to admit, turn back to God and let his love fill you again.
No comments:
Post a Comment