Love....Modeled by Hosea

Hosea 1: 2 The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea.   And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms:  for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD.   3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim;  which conceived, and bare him a son.  

 

God called a prophet by the name of Hosea to speak some very harsh words to the people of Israel. Their spiritual decay was great…and God was going to use Hosea’s very life to provide a visual for them. God saw all the idol worship as prostitution of his love…so he asked Hosea to take  a prostitute as his wife…so he could show them how love could be forgiving and merciful.

 

Hosea was more than obedient.  He took Gomer as his wife knowing that she would not be faithful to him. Their life together was a model of the way the Israelites had treated God. His love for her was based on his love for God….and it allowed him to be loving…patient and merciful…just like God is with us.

 

Hosea modeled 1 Corinthians 13 for us.  He was patient…kind…did not demand his own way….and loved in spite of the way he had been treated.  He listened to God and allowed him to use all of it to be a teaching tool for the people he had been called to prophecy to.

 

It is a great reminder to me to try to love others the way Hosea loved Gomer.  I need to show mercy and forgive and be ready to love in spite of the way I am treated.  God’s love isn’t based on what I get out of it…but rather what God can do with my love to help others.

 

 

Father…thank you for the reminder that love is so much more than what I can see and touch. Forgive me for the time that I have defined love as what others do for me.  Help me to see the reason you gave your son as human flesh so long ago…so I can understand how to love others no matter what they do or say to me.  Help me to manifest the sacrificial love that your son modeled for us…and not expect anything back.  Amen.