Multitude Monday: Learning From Hosea

Beth, who works in the church nursery with me, mentioned that she and her husband were attending a study on Hosea. "Oh, my", she said. "It's so interesting!"

This year I've been really blessed by several Old Testament prophet books. These books reveal so much about God's heart--about the shocking beauty of his mercy, love, and faithfulness. I say shocking because so much detail is given of Israel's sin and unfaithfulness. Their idolatry and sinful ways were grotesque, vile, unforgivable. God speaks his anger and wrath about it, through his prophets. 

But then.

The whole narrative turns on a dime and we see God's incredible love and mercy...his desire to restore his people to himself. His desire to prosper them and care for them tenderly, to take them back into the fold of his loving, Fatherly arms.

We, my friends, are Israel. We fail God all the time and he draws us back to himself, time and again, in love and faithfulness, only wanting our repentance...our acknowledgement of Him...our thankfulness for all that he has done for us. 

I never find the reading dry and it goes by quite fast. I encourage you to begin studying some Old Testament prophet books and see if you aren't similarly blessed. Use a study Bible, like the Life Application Study Bible, as you go through them.  

After Beth said: "It's so interesting!", I immediately wanted to begin Hosea, but a busy day followed church and it never happened.

Until the Lord jolted me awake at 11:30 PM, after I'd fallen asleep around 10:00 PM. I love it when He does that! He honors my desire to study and he finds a way for me.

I read the entire book, fourteen chapters in all, but I wouldn't call it interesting. 

It's downright beautiful.

Hosea, a prophet, is asked to take a wife who will later become adulterous and cause him many heartaches. Their relationship will symbolize Israel's adulterous relationship with God. 

While I can't adequately cover the entire book, I do want to highlight some favorite verses and discuss how they might apply to us.

Hosea 1:2 When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, "Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the LORD."

Hosea 3:1  The LORD said to me, "Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes."

Can you imagine the heartache Hosea endured? For his wife had many children and some were from the seed of other men. She left him eventually and could not provide for herself, enslaving herself to survive. Hosea, in obedience to the Lord, bought her back and loved her.

We make idols for ourselves just like the Israelites did--we get distracted by this or that activity, spending all our time on it, or we busy ourselves pursuing and caring for the world's cares and goods--becoming unfaithful to God in the process, just as Hosea's wife did.

How this grieves our Lord! As you read these prophet books, you experience God's aggrieved heart and you come to understand...The Lord desires to be remembered and worshiped and thanked. 

Hosea 11:3-4

It was I who taught Ephraim to walk,

taking them by the arms;

but they did not realize

it was I who healed them.

I led them with cords of human kindness,

with ties of love;

I lifted the yoke from their neck

and bent down to feed them

The Lord was wounded that they turned from him at all, but especially this fiercely, this vilely. How is it that they couldn't remember what God had done for them? That they wouldn't acknowledge him or thank him?

Hosea 13:4-6

“But I am the Lord your God,

[who brought you] out of Egypt.

You shall acknowledge no God but me,

no Savior except me.

I cared for you in the desert,

in the land of burning heat.s

When I fed them, they were satisfied;

when they were satisfied, they became proud;

then they forgot me.

Read this last verse, paying particular attention to the blue words. When God cares for us and blesses us, bringing us satisfaction, what do we do in return? All of us are guilty of this. We forget God! We go about our days and feel good. There's a break in the everyday troubles of life and we think not of God, but about how great we are to have arrived at such success, such equilibrium.

And we even begin to judge others. Our pride becomes so ugly, we think thus: If they would only make the good decisions I have, or if they would only work harder, things would go well for them, too.

It's true, isn't it? We forget God's blessing and provision when things are going well and our pride swells, bringing us down, eventually. 

We bring God's wrath upon us:

Hosea 13:7-8 

I will come upon them like a lion,

like a leopard I will lurk by the path.

Like a bear robbed of her cubs,

I will attack them and rip them open.

Like a lion I will devour them;

a wild animal will tear them apart.

The beauty of Hosea is this: Even while we were sinners, God loved us. His heart ached for us in our blindness.

Hosea 11:8-11

“How can I give you up, Ephraim?

How can I hand you over, Israel?

How can I treat you like Admah?

How can I make you like Zeboiim?

My heart is changed within me;

all my compassion is aroused.

I will not carry out my fierce anger,

nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim.

For I am God, and not man—

the Holy One among you.

I will not come in wrath.

They will follow the Lord;

he will roar like a lion.

When he roars,

his children will come trembling from the west.

They will come trembling

like birds from Egypt,

like doves from Assyria.

I will settle them in their homes,”

declares the Lord.

For I am God, and not man--the Holy One among you. I will not come in wrath. How beautiful is that? We would not offer this mercy and forgiveness to those who treated us even a quarter as badly as the Israelites treated God. Because we are not God. We do not love as God loves. We do not have his mercy, his grace, his faithfulness. We must understand who He is, and who we are. We must daily live that realization...that we are not God. He is to be revered as our Creator, our Redeemer. We are to tremble at His name!

More about the compassion of the Lord here:

Hosea 13:14

"I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction? 

The apostle Paul used this passage to teach the resurrection of our bodies from death (1 Corinthians 15:55). For those who have trusted in Christ for deliverance from sin, death holds no threat of annihilation.(From Life Application Study Bible)

The Book of Hosea ends with the blessing that repentance brings. The first section of blue words: Say to Him: Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips.The fruit of our lips? What is that? It's our thanksgiving! He wants us to thank Him!

Hosea 14

1Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God.

Your sins have been your downfall!

2Take words with you

and return to the Lord.

Say to him:

“Forgive all our sins

and receive us graciously,

that we may offer the fruit of our lips.^a

3Assyria cannot save us;

we will not mount war-horses.

We will never again say ‘Our gods’

to what our own hands have made,

for in you the fatherless find compassion.”

4“I will heal their waywardness

and love them freely,

for my anger has turned away from them.

5I will be like the dew to Israel;

he will blossom like a lily.

Like a cedar of Lebanon

he will send down his roots;

6his young shoots will grow.

His splendor will be like an olive tree,

his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.

7Men will dwell again in his shade.

He will flourish like the grain.

He will blossom like a vine,

and his fame will be like the wine from Lebanon.

8O Ephraim, what more have I^b to do with idols?

I will answer him and care for him.

I am like a green pine tree;

your fruitfulness comes from me.”

9Who is wise? He will realize these things.

Who is discerning? He will understand them.

The ways of the Lord are right;

the righteous walk in them,

but the rebellious stumble in them.

Prayer Time: Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for your sacrifice, for your mercy and grace and love. Thank you that even though we didn't deserve it, you had compassion on our wayward hearts. May we never lose that sense of wonder at your love, at your faithfulness. Help us to be true and sincere in our faith. Help us to stay away from the things of the world--its hopes, dreams, pursuits--and pursue only you and the things that you love. And I pray my friends will find blessing in your prophet books, as well as my children. May we all have a fuller understanding of your love, your wrath, and of the mourning your heart experiences over our transgressions. May we have thankful hearts always, Lord, remembering that everything we have comes from you.

In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

Dear Lord, thank you for these gifts:

~ 70-degrees and sunny today. Beautiful fall weather!

~ Hugs in the middle of the night from my three-year-old.

~ Kisses for my honey, three in a row, because he made the taco bake while I did school planning. The children grimace in disgust when we kiss, but secretly, I think they love it. It gives them a sense of security and well-being?

~ A good school year beginning.

~ Peter's asthma gone for now.

~ Kids rockin' to the News Boys' song in the van and memorizing the lyrics: God's Not Dead He's Surely Alive! 

~ Fall comfort foods coming this week. I suddenly feel like cooking up a storm when the temps fall! We're back to summer on Wednesday but I'll be cherishing these next couple days. 

~ Helpful, faithful online friends. Thank you!

~ Knowing in my heart that God is working, even though some situations around me seem hopeless.

~ Friendship with Beth from the church nursery.

~ Being able to share about the book I Kissed Dating Goodbye, by Josh Harris, with two dating girls who work in the nursery with me, who are both suffering broken hearts. It doesn't have to be that way!

~ Going through storage boxes and pulling out long-sleeve shirts and some jeans for the kids, seeing how they've grown this past summer. Clothing changes each season remind me of how fast the time is going. I am inspired to slow down and cherish today, this moment, of my motherhood experience. Cherish them. Read more books, give more spontaneous hugs and kisses, listen attentively more, sit and color and enjoy their presence in my home, longer than I did the day before. Let my love affair with motherhood grow daily, never diminishing.

Friends, what are you thankful for?

Linking with Ann today, and other thankful ladies.