A long time ago. About 753 years before Christ.
The nation was a wreck. Divided. The twelve tribes had split
in two. The ten northern tribes were called Israel. The two southern tribes, (Judah
and Benjamin), were called Judah.
Judah tried to remain loyal to God’s Divine Design
within David’s line. They were old-school. They wanted to stick to the righteous
God fearing foundation that made them great in the first place.
The northern tribes left the old Godly ways. They tore down
the walls of exceptionalism; that they were inherently different from
other nations and that they were destined by God to play a distinct and
positive role on the world stage.
They lusted after the mirage of green new deals on the other
side of the fence, until they became so intermingled with the nations around
them that they completely lost their identity. They forgot Who provided their
wealth and health and freedom.
God took it personal; as if they were committing
adultery—against Him.
Hosea was young and single. The LORD had just begun to speak
to, and through, him.
The book after his own name opens with this statement:
Although Hosea’s ministry was primarily to the ten tribes of
Israel in the north, when he listed the kings who reigned during his time in office
as a prophet, he listed Judah first, and then Israel. Furthermore, he listed
all four kings who reigned in Judah, but only mentioned one of the seven kings
of Israel.
Thus, as orchestrated by The Holy Spirit, he acknowledged,
Judah, from David, as the legitimate kingdom.
One of the first orders of business God gave this young
prophet was similar to the one he gave Adam; have a wife and kids.
Only, this time there was a bit of a twist.
“Go,
take yourself a wife of harlotry
and children of harlotry… Hosea 1:2.
Finding a wife and having kids sounded great, until…
A harlot? A hooker? A prostitute? You’ve got to be ki—What did
You say?
Obedience brings understanding
…for
the land has committed great harlotry
God chose Hosea, because He knew, what he would do. Obey.
So
he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim… Hosea 1:3.
Dear LORD, finding a wife is great. Thanks. But, a harlot?
That isn’t exactly what I’d dreamed of taking home to my parents.
But I can handle it.
However, does her name have to be Gomer?
Go-ollly. Imagine when I introduce her to momma...surprise,
surprise, surprise.
Some say she wasn’t actually a harlot, only prone to be an adulterous
wife. Either way, he was headed for hurting, his heart was bound for breaking.
That’s not how it’s supposed to go. He was the epitome of what
a man of God should look like. He was honest, innocent, and devout. He endured as
a prophet of God for over half a century and almost a dozen kings in the north
and south. The Billy Graham of the seventh century BC.
But God is more interested in the content of character than religious
appearance. He reaches across the aisle to the least of these. He crosses to
the wrong side of the tracks. He didn’t just choose Hosea, the perfect example
of all that’s good and right to be a part of HIStory. He chose an outcast,
someone full of faults, prone to sin, He chose you and He chose me and He chose…a
girl named Gomer.
In another time and place there was a man who knew what it was
like to wind up on the wrong side of the tracks. Once upon a time he was a
shining light, good and right. But then, little by little, he let himself drift
until he wound up cleaning the slop and filth of a thousand men in a cold, dark,
prison.
One day while covered in vile, muck and mire he was told by a
prison guard, “You have a visitor.”
“Me?”
“Yeah you, let’s go.”
He looked at his clothes, covered in filth, wiped his sweaty
brow with the back of his forearm. “I don’t want to see anyone.”
“Yes, you do. Let’s go.”
“Can I change? Get cleaned up?”
The guard grunted, then nodded. “Fine.”
He looked down one more time at his filthy clothes and changed
his mind. This is who I am. “Actually, it’s fine. Let’s go.”
The guard crossed his arms, and raised an eyebrow. “Like that?”
“Just as I am.”
He winced when the door clanged shut, with a sound no one can ever
get used to. There he stood, filthy, defeated, the epitome of all that’s wrong
in the world, the church. Then, the world stopped. His breath caught. His eyes blurred.
The epitome of all that’s
good and right stood before him.
He wanted to hide. Wanted to turn and run, like Adam and Eve, exposed and naked, before God in the garden.
But before he could move, Mr. Reverend Billy Graham hustled to
the broken, humbled, Jim Baker and wrapped him in the warmest embrace, filled
with all the love and forgiveness of God, and all that’s good and right in this
world.
Hosea crossed the tracks, despised the shame, and knowing full
well, he was headed for rejection and heartbreak, he said to a girl named
Gomer, “I do.” Even more than that, he didn’t just go through the motions of
marriage, he let it sink all the way to his heart and really, truly, loved her.
…and
she conceived and bore him a son Hosea 1:3.
Hosea and Gomer had three kids. God personally named them.
Each name told and continues to tell, HIStory.
To be continued.
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