Ok, that may sound a little bit weird… It ay be better to say, ‘We are all LIKE Hoseas wife…’
I have been listening to Brooke Frasers album Albertine a lot lately, and one of the songs is called ‘Hosea’s Wife’ and it has really been speaking to me. So I decided to read the book of Hosea to get a better overall picture.
The book of Hosea is one of my favourite books in the bible because it is one of the greatest stories of undeserved love -between Hosea (a prophet of God) and his wife (a prostitute). And it just happens to also mirror the love of our God even though we prostitute ourselves to the ways of the world.
As I read Hosea’s story, where God tells him to find a prostitute to marry, yet when he does and hey marry, she continues in her ways. It breaks my heart to think what he would have been goig through, especially when God him to take His wife back.
The humiliation he must have felt walking in to buy back what was already his in the first place. The thought of his wife sharing intimacy with other men. But he still took her back as his own.
I think he was able to do this because he was seeing the exact same situation unfolding but on a much larger scale. The Israelites, God’s people, were turning their back on Him and giving the priority place in their life away to other things. ea would have heart God’s heartache first hand. Being god’s prohet, Hosea would have heart from God directly, he would have heard the hurt and pain in God’s voice as he poured out His message to His people. Hosea would have known, more than anyone else, how much God’s heart was breaking for His people.
However, even in God’s heartache we see His amazing and perfect love shine through. Listen to God’s heart:
1 “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. 2 But the more I called Israel, the further they went from me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images. 3 It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them. 4 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.
5 “Will they not return to Egypt and will not Assyria rule over them because they refuse to repent? 6 Swords will flash in their cities, will destroy the bars of their gates and put an end to their plans. 7 My people are determined to turn from me. Even if they call to the Most High, he will by no means exalt them.
8 “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.
9 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. – Hosea 11:1-9
Even the feelings of rejection, the hurt of His creation turning their back on Him, cannot stop God from the compassion and love that never fails. When God told Hosea to take his wife back, what choice did Hosea have but too obey? Knowing all that God had done.
I am constantly being asked by friends, ‘Do people deserve second chances.” Especially in relationships, they say things like: “But he told me he has done this in the past… I don’t know if I can accept that.” or “She stuffed up… she doesn’t deserve a second chance.”
To which I always reply:
“Do we deserve our second, fifth, tenth, millionth chance with God?”
I personally am not the judging type. People can tell me anything and it will not make me think any less of them. Sure I will be sad that whatever happened was able to , and did hurt the person so much, but how can I think less of them? Did God ever think less of me, for the things I have done?
We are all Hosea’s wife, prostituting ourselves off for cheap, meaningless pleasures that end up leaving us hurt and empty. Is that how you really want to treat God after all He has done for us? Aim to be the perfect bride, and forward the same grace to others.