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."
2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. 3 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 live with you."
4 For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol. 5 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. Hosea3:1-5
This five-verse-chapter offers an incredible insight into the heart of God.
Hosea is asked to go and show love to his prostitute wife.
He has to find her, buy her out of her slavery and take her home - living with the strong possibility that she might do it all over again (That's what the warning in v.3 is all about.)
What kind of love must a husband have to be able to do that? ? ?
- To SEEK, to PAY, to RESTORE and to RISK.
This is what Hosea does for Gomer.
And what God does for us.
It should have us come trembling to the Lord.
"Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?"
Enough said...
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
