Author: missionspaul

The story of Hosea and Gomer’s marriage set the scene for the message that now comes to God’s people. The pain of seeing Gomer not being satisfied in knowing Hosea but drifting to know other men is mirrored by the pain of God’s own heart. His people do not know Him. They believe in Him. They sing to Him. They talk to Him. There is evidence that they do know Him. However there is also evidence that they don’t.

“Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites, because the Lord has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: “There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. Because of this the land dries up, and all who live in it waste away; the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea are swept away.” (Hosea 4 v 1-3)

God brings a charge against everyone, including in the following verses the priests and prophets. But here it is for all the people. This is an opening introduction to the detailed charges that will follow. God is bringing His case to them. They are being judged in the court of law.

No faithfulness – the people cannot be trusted, they are not true.

No love – the people are not kind to each other.

No knowledge – this is the central theme and God will keep returning to it.

As a result then community breaks down; “cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed” there seems to be no restraint only pain in the one place where God wants to dwell: within the community of believers.

With the breaking down of true community then the knock-on effect is blessing dries up. Life becomes harsher; cruelty and pain seem everywhere; the world is less enjoyable.

This message is as much for today as in Hosea’s day.

The Church:

• The inner character does not match the words.
• Unbreakable community friendships are breaking down.
• The lifestyle of the world is that of the church.
• The pain within the world is getting worse.

Why?

Like Hosea, alone in the marital home; or like the father scanning the terrain for his prodigal son; God is standing, waiting; for we have left (again!), we have gone our own way (again!) and we have lost our knowledge of God (again!)

I pause and look back on every problem I have tried to Pastor whether that be family/marriage breakdown or disunity in the church and I ask myself this question: “If the individuals concerned knew God more would that have helped to fix the problem?” The answer is definitely YES.

I pause and reflect on this one fact: of the things I will regret at the end of my life, knowing God will not be one of them. So I press on to do just that.

Every story, every prophecy and every event throughout the Old Testament pointed to the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as the Messiah King.

God has spoken through Hosea and said there will come a time when His people will be without a king and they will not have a sacrificial worship life. He spoke of the exile. But then …

“Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days.” (Hosea 3 v 5)

This could not be David for he had died. It was a new David and it was in the last days. It was Jesus and our worship of Him as the people of God.

We are to return to Him. The abandonment of everything that has taken us away from our relationship with Jesus. It is to change our thinking so that our thoughts are on Him.

We are to seek Him. With diligence like the shepherds on the hillside and the wise men following the star. Not for what is in His hand but for His face, To seek and we will find attitude. A lifetime of seeking Jesus wanting to know Him more as Paul says after all the revelations of Christ he says, ‘I want to know Christ’.

We are to make Him King of our lives. No. This is not the resurrected old king David. This is his descendent, the Son of David, the King of Kings. He is ruler of everything.

We are to fear Him. This is not the fear that causes us to hide but rather causes us to run towards Him. Our fear is that we do not turn away again. That we do not lose His presence again.

We are to approach His blessings. His blessings draw us. He is good. His mercy. His grace. To the undeserved.

This is a good 5 point prayer for us today.

Gomer has had many lovers but Hosea went again, he loved her again, he purchased her and brought her home.

Remember this verse? “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.” 1 Corinthians 6:19

What a wonderful story!

But we need to understand that there is a time of waiting before we move into the next season. It can never be business as usual. Hosea tells Gomer this.

“Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.” For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or household gods.” (Hosea 3 v 3-4)

Lessons need to be learned.

How do I become a faithful wife to a loving husband?

How do we not wander off to other idols and gods but worship only the One True God?

The circumstances of life may not change. It may be as tough as ever but We have been bought and we belong to Him.

Walk out what God has done.

There is a day between the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Many around the world use the day to fast (except the Mexicans who call it Judas Day and burn effigies of him throughout their nation!). The fast is not sombre like Lent. It is one of excitement of what is to come, but it is preparation for it.

God shows us by applying what Hosea said to Gomer to Him and His people. They will not have a king and they will not go back to the celebrations and sacrifices to their God. There will be a period of ‘many days’ where Gomer will have Hosea’s presence and Israel will have God’s presence. And that is enough.

Learn from your mistakes is one of the most important periods of our lives.

What did I learn about myself?

How could I have responded better?

What do I need to do so that it doesn’t happen again?

That’s what it means ‘to live with me’.

It seems that Gomer was being auctioned off as a slave. She had become trapped because of her sinfulness.

“So I bought her for fifteen shekelsof silver and about a homer and a halfof barley.” (Hosea 3 v 2)

The Message: “I did it. I paid good money to get her back. It cost me the price of a slave.”

Gomer had fallen into slavery. Isn’t that what prostitution is or becomes? There is no depth to how far men and women can fall. The shame and suffering knows no end. I have seen this slavery from the pain of the victim. The freedom when it comes is immense.

A quick google search of how much Hosea paid to get Gomer back amounts to 30 shekels which within Scriptures like Exodus 21:32 becomes the price of a slave.

Recorded accurately Hosea paid 15 shekels in cash and 15 shekels in bread. He didn’t have the whole 30 shekels in cash. Can you see what he did? Having counted all his cash he didn’t have enough. So he uses food to make up the difference. Can you see it? He turned out his cupboards. Hosea basically emptied himself of everything in order to purchase Gomer. Sound familiar?

Gomer was worth more to him than everything he had.

Love costs.

Hosea purchased Gomer with the amount that Judas betrayed Jesus who gave his life to purchase us.

Isn’t that simply an amazing God-connection?

Hosea go love Gomer again. That was the command. It was to demonstrate the love God had for the Israelites despite an important aspect that we may overlook: the raisin cake!

The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.” (Hosea 3 v 1)

What a strange thing to add as a complaint: they love the sacred raisin cakes.

There’s nothing wrong with the raisin cake itself. In 2 Samuel 6:19 David hands out the raisin cakes to the people after the celebration of the ark being back in its rightful place. They are mentioned in a few other places and also in a mourning kind of way of what has been lost, in Isaiah 16:7, “Therefore the Moabites wail, they wail together for Moab. Lament and grieve for the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth” Those must have been great raisin cakes in Kir Hareseth!

But why does tell Hosea He has a problem with them?

This seems not only micro-managing over something so harmless it just reads a little weird. I mean how do you preach against raisin cakes? But the NIV helps because they include a word before the raisin cakes that some of the other translations and that is ‘sacred’. So what may be the problem here?

“Hosea go and love Gomer again as an example of my love for my people even though they eat the sacred raisin cakes.”

• They are a luxurious item: they love wine (4:10) and they build palaces (8:14) and they eat raisin cakes!
  • Love the temptations of materialism and you will drift from the Lord. Focus on your belly or what you have or even what you don’t have that others have, it will distract you. It will become so important to you that your love for God will diminish.
• They are a sacred item: they are ‘sacred’ raisin cakes. They could have been eaten at the altars of foreign gods.
  • Love these and you love other altars not the true altar. It is symbolic of God’s people trying to compromise in loving God and loving their cultural practices equally. This is not the abandoning of God per se but worshipping Him through other altars also, it is idol worship.
• They are a distraction item: It signifies wilful rejection of God.
  • The people were focusing on dried fruit when they could have given themselves to the God of everything, He owns all the fruit! They settle for second best.

Materialism, Idolatry, distraction combined with complacency, pride and self-centredness meant they turned their back on the One who provides.

But still He loves them!

That is the lesson of the sacred raisin cakes!

Can you imagine the pain of this husband, Hosea? Maybe some reading this can do more than imagine, perhaps they are experiencing the pain of betrayal every day. The pain was personal but her sin was public and it demeaned all that Hosea believed in as a prophet and a servant of God.

If Hosea had divorced Gomer we would have been so sympathetic wouldn’t we?

“The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress.” (Hosea 3 v 1)

What? Again?! Surely not again?

We can hear this kind of cry. Why? Because we have said something similar before. Except it is usually, ‘never again’ and over far less painful circumstances.

Who is Gomer to you?

Who have you cut off or walked away from? Who has made you look a fool?

Are we not so thankful that God is an again-God with His love for us?

Is this a call for us also to do the same as He does for us?

Hosea’s love was God’s love for Israel. God’s love is to be the love for our own ‘Gomer’.

And if we lack this love then we must ask the Spirit for His help.

God will answer.

No matter how difficult it is today never doubt whether God will move to you.

God will step towards you and into the situation.

“In that day I will respond,” declares the Lord—“I will respond to the skies, and they will respond to the earth; and the earth will respond to the grain, the new wine and the olive oil, and they will respond to Jezreel. I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one’ I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God.’” (Hosea 2 v 21-23)

He will provide.

There is no limit for He holds everything. Protect your heart. Don’t fall into the thinking that you are entitled and that you deserve something from Him and this world. If we got everything we deserved we wouldn’t be here for we should have judgment!

He has stepped in before and He will do it again.

Do you remember the names of Hosea’s children?

Do you feel condemned? (Jezreel) He will step in and plant you; repurpose you and open the door of hope to you. This is the promise of resurrection. He will raise you up again.

Do you feel unloved? (Lo-Ruhamah) Then the promise is that of love. He will step in and demonstrate His love to you.

Do you feel distant from God? (Lo-Ammi) Then the promise is of knowing you are called a child of God and that you belong to Him.

All 3 children given prophetic names of judgment are turned around because God steps in and restores their identities.

And we shout ‘You are my God!’

When God steps in everything changes.

It doesn’t matter who you have become or what you have done. You can even be the famous prostitute of the Old Testament. You can start all over. This is the gospel. This is the good message heard 7 centuries before Jesus Christ came to fulfil the prophecy.

“In that day,” declares the Lord, “you will call me ‘my husband’; you will no longer call me ‘my master. I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips; no longer will their names be invoked. In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky and the creatures that move along the ground. Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety.  I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord.” (Hosea 2 v 16-20)

• I will betroth you … I will betroth you … I will betroth you. Three times.

Hosea says to Gomer and the Lord says to His people and the Spirit speaks to us today:

I will bring you back to the beginning again! I will take us back to the place of our engagement. My righteousness will fill the betrothal and I will have dealt with the justice of your waywardness. Our betrothal will be full of love and compassion for one another.

The Spirit is still doing this today. This is the word for today. Everyone can begin again.

• I will remove the idolatry from your life.

Though it did not happen during this time of the Minor Prophets such as Hosea it did through the work of Jesus Christ. And it does today. In Christ our lives can be completely changed. Total transformation from how we have lived because everyone can begin again.

• I will make a covenant.

He will bring us to the place of laying down in safety. Whether from the beasts or the sword He will remove the threat to our peace. So no matter what happens around us within us is perfect peace and assurance that He is with us. We no longer have to fight our corner. Everything changes because of His covenant because everyone can begin again.

• I will remove the fear and create the relationship.

What does Hosea want from Gomer? What does the Lord want from Israel? What is the Spirit saying to us today? The formalities are gone. This is not religion but relationship. This is not business proposal this is intimacy. From this moment you don’t come back home and fearfully serve me as a slave. The Prodigal story tells us the Father wants more than that. He restores to a place of deep love. Why? Because everyone can begin again!

Hosea surely is now going to divorce Gomer? It seems not! Even though he has forgotten him:-

“Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achora door of hope. There she will respondas in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt”. (Hosea 2 v 14-15)

His response is he is going to allure her. This is a powerful response to his wife who had been allured by sin. Hosea is moving in purity towards his wife. Her Saviour (the meaning of Hosea) will attract her to himself. She will want his saving work before he is finished. She will no longer forget him.

• Are we still allured by Jesus? Do we still long for Him?

He will lead her into the wilderness. Not necessarily literally but into a solitary place just for the two of them. Alone. Away from the other men.

• Do you feel the call to come away with Jesus and to be still, on retreat with Him?

He will speak tenderly to her. Literally this means ‘to speak to her heart’. She needs to hear His words directly to the core of her being to soften it, to comfort it and to change it.

• What are you hearing from the Lord? What is He saying to you?

He will give back what has been taken. He had caused the ruining of her vineyards but now He will restore them. He will give back. He will make her prosper again.

• What has been stolen from you?

He will fill her with hope. The Valley of Achor was the last place to become a door of hope. It was a place of failure as the whole of Israel knew. The place where Achan and his family were judged and killed as punishment for trying to deceive everyone by keeping the spoils of war leading to Joshua’s army experiencing an embarrassing failure for God took His hand off them. In the place of no hope He gives hope.

• Where is your valley of Achor? See the door of hope.

He expects her to respond as in the early days. Her response to sin will be nothing compared to her response to Him. He will restore the passing years. She will respond like she used to. Her first love will be restored, where she first met Him and loved Him. Some translations say she will respond by singing.

• Are praises flowing from you today?

He is wooing you. He will win you back wherever you are.

Hosea wants her home. Even when she wanders away everything she gets comes from her husband even though she doesn’t see it. What will it take to bring her home?

God wants to be the husband to His people but they have turned their backs on Him and abused His blessings. They are hypocritical because they have continued on the one hand with their festivals and celebrations to Him and yet at the same time worshipping Baal. So what will God do? He will move towards them in power!

“I will ruin her vines and her fig trees, which she said were her pay from her lovers; I will make them a thicket, and wild animals will devour them. I will punish her for the days she burned incense to the Baals; she decked herself with rings and jewellery, and went after her lovers, but me she forgot,” declares the Lord.” (Hosea 2 v 12-13)

There we have it. The painful reality. “… but me she forgot.” Hosea was really feeling this message personally and it cut deep into his heart. Gomer had forgotten him. Have you ever felt forgotten? How do you explain such a feeling? It is death inside. It is over. She is not returning. Does she think of the good times that you once had? Or are they forgotten too? Has she deleted every photo from her phone? Are you not anywhere in her mind or sight? To be forgotten means someone or thing has replaced you. But to be forgotten also means your friends will want you to forget her.

That is something Hosea will not do.

This is something God has not done over you and me either. Though we have forgotten Him by many distraction of life He remains focused in His love for us. We have lost our first love for Jesus and it shows in many ways but He is steadfast in His love for us.

Thank you Jesus, our perfect Hosea/Saviour!