Devotionals

The Restoration of a Fallen Bride Hosea

by Henry Jaegers
06/26/19
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A STRANGE REQUEST

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.  So, he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived and bare him a son. (Hosea 1:2,3)

 Here is a distinct difference between being called to preach a sermon to a congregation than preaching a message of God to a people who are in rebellion to his will. You can choose to be a preacher of fine sermons, however, there is no choice when it comes to declaring God's message. God begins his word to Hosea by giving him a strange command. Wouldn’t it be a contradiction for Hosea to be asked to marry a woman who was living outside the will of God? That is exactly what God told Hosea to do. There are two reasons why God commanded Hosea to do this. First, he wanted the children of Israel to understand His feelings toward their sin. He wants the children of Israel to know that their departure from Him is like that of an unfaithful wife who has departed from her husband. If you have never had that experience, then maybe you might not understand this message

 A second reason I see for this command is of utmost importance for those called to preach the word of God. In preaching a sermon the preacher can be separated from the message by lack of experience. But in the case of Hosea, we find God causing Hosea to understand through his own experience with Gomer the message that he is declaring to Israel. The most powerful messages that a man can preach is a message that he has learned personally from God in his own experience and by doing this he can more adequately declare God's word to his people.

 Ideally, Hosea was put through the process of experiencing rejection from his wife as God experiences rejection from His people. Hosea was certainly experiencing life from God's point of view and was being fully equipped to preach that message to the people.