#1 - A Brokenhearted God Series

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The story:

Hosea 1:1 The word of the LORD that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel:

Set the historical setting:

Ok, we just ran past a bunch of names, and some of you are like Uzzah-who?

Let me give you the run-up to this moment.

Abraham

Egypt

Canaan

Judges

Kings

Saul, David, Solomon

Jereboam – and the king thing goes south really fast.

Kings turn toward idols, and the people follow

The kings of Israel had led the people to be ____unfaithful____ to the Lord and worship idols.

2 When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, "Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the LORD."

What would you do if you knew that God had asked you to marry a person, and they turned out to not be faithful?

Most Bible scholars agree that this is Hosea writing later, and explaining in retrospect what happened. God told him to marry Gomer, not when she WAS a prostitute, but knowing that she WOULD prostitute herself…

What we don’t know is: Did he _________________ Hosea?

3 So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim…

The excitement of a wedding day… waiting for a wife that he knew the Lord had asked him to marry.

She was beautiful. She was young and maybe a bit immature, but surely it would be alright – after all, she was the one God had pointed out to him, and asked him to marry.

They would be married, and she would settle down, and they would be so happy together.

There would be children, and a home. He would work hard, he would build a house… they would sit on the porch and watch sunsets and talk about the future and the dreams that they had.

The bride prepared, the family gathered, the music played, her beautiful hand grabbed his strong arm… he was supremely happy. She was radiant, beautiful, full of joy.

The ladies commented, the men smiled – she was so beautiful, he was so lucky. She was chased by any number of men. But now she was his, forever, for only, for always.

Good days… good days were ahead.

5 …and she conceived and bore him a son.

4 Then the LORD said to Hosea, "Call him Jezreel, because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel.

God is speaking through the names he gives to Hosea’s children. Jezreel means “scattered by the Lord.”

God had prophesied this same thing in many places:

Zechariah 10:9 Though I scatter them among the peoples, yet in distant lands they will remember me…

Deuteronomy 30:1 When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come upon you and you take them to heart wherever the LORD your God disperses you among the nations…

God prophesied that if his people would remain faithful, he would bless them and reward them 1,000 times over. But they did not.

So he said, I’m taking this kingdom of people, and I’m going to break it into a million pieces and scatter it all across the world. I’m going to send these people into captivity.

Over time, Hosea starts to notice some things in Gomer’s attitude toward him… is it a coolness? A distance? “Perhaps it’s just my imagination…”

But over the weeks, as they struggle to raise the little boy on his salary… she is more distant. She doesn’t want to speak of the future, of distant dreams, and hopes and goals. She seems taken up with other things, with other relationships…

He works harder, and tries to stay close. At times, he thinks they are moving closer together, but it seems like each time, she pulls away. She moves further away from him.

She finds excuses to be gone. It’s normally legitimate… at least at first. She has family that has needs. She has a trip she always wanted to take. There’s an opportunity she wants to take advantage of…

Then it’s more obvious… she just needs a break. She can’t take the stress of the kids and the house. She just needs some space.

Often, though they share a bed, she will face the wall, refuse his advances, and fall asleep, leaving him to stare at the ceiling and wonder what is wrong.

He’s almost surprised when she comes and tells him she’s pregnant. He smiles… but Surprise and a bit of dread and doubt fill his heart…