An Unusual Call Of God Series

Late one evening I received a phone call from parents of a teenager. Andrew is gone they said, he has run away.

When I arrived at their house they told me about Andrew’s sudden change in friends. There was recent change in his behavior and how they knew he ran away and they thought that he was in a nightclub or a bar. I searched the entire town until midnight looking for Andrew, but I did not find him.

Andrew had been the most faithful member of the Christian youth program. His parents were brokenhearted and weeping. When I got home that night I started weeping too. I was not crying for Andrew or his parents. I was crying because this incident made me realize how deeply I hurt others when I went through a period of rebellion, much like what Andrew was doing.

Our rebellion causes others heartache and it grieves the heart of God. Of all the prophets of the Old Testament Hosea is the most grieved. The woman he loves, his wife Gomer is unfaithful. She is an adulterous and even the three children that come during their marriage are not all Hosea’s. Two of their children are a result of Gomer’s adultery.

So, Hosea knew pain and grief. What is the greatest pain of all? It is love trampled. Hosea poured out his love to Gomer, only to have his trust betrayed. But that is what made Hosea such a unique and powerful prophet.

Hosea understood the heart of God. He felt what God felt, the pain, the agony of love betrayed. Hosea’s wife played the harlot. There was an analogy there. Israel was playing the harlot spiritually.

Hosea’s wife plunged into the uttermost depths of degradation, adultery, harlotry. She even became a slave. The property of someone else and Hosea bought her back.

Israel too had hit the depths of degradation. After the period of Judges there was the United Kingdom with kings Saul, David and Solomon. After the death of Solomon, the kingdom divided North and South. The Southern Kingdom was Judah and contained the city of Jerusalem and the Temple. The Northern Kingdom Israel had the area of ten tribes and Israel sank to an incredible spiritual low.

During the period of the Kings of Israel there was a re-occurring phrase to capsulate the condition, “and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord”

The Northern Kingdom set up places of worship for the golden calf. Ahab and Jezebel brought unrestrained Baal worship to Israel. They worshiped fertility gods. They believed that their fertility gods would bring them fruitful crops if they had intercourse with the temple prostitutes.

God’s heart grieved for his people like a man whose beloved wife betrayed him in adultery. It shows how much sin hurts God.

Ironically under King Jeroboam II the threat of military invasion was low and economic prosperity was high.

That’s why conditions in Israel in Hosea’s day have been likened to America today. There was an economic prosperity for the upper class, the poor class oppressed and a widespread spiritual bankruptcy.

Hosea grieved, but preached hope for those who forsake the spiritual adultery of sin and truly seek God. That is the hope for the troubled times of our day.

Read the unusual call in Hosea Chapter 1 verse 2. “When the LORD first spoke to Hosea, the LORD told him, “Marry a prostitute, and have children with that prostitute. The people in this land have acted like prostitutes and abandoned the LORD.”

Hosea was to marry a woman who would ultimately betray him and trample his heart. The parallel of course is, the unusual call God has given to his people Israel who betrayed God. It is also a parallel to the call God has given to His bride the church. Read the seven letters to the churches in Revelation. It is a parallel to a Christian who slides into a life of sin.

Look at the second part of Chapter 1 verse 2, “The people in this land have acted like prostitutes and abandoned the LORD.” What an indictment on Israel. God told Hosea to marry a woman of unfaithfulness. It is very possible that when Hosea married her she was faithful in the beginning and things degenerated steadily, to unthinkable lows.

Three children came into the marriage of Hosea and Gomer. So far, a lot of details of this story are not included, but the names of the children are the names that are part of Hosea’s prophetic ministry.

Names can be very significant. My wife and I gave our three children names that had significance for us and where we were and what was happening in our lives at the time. The names of the Old Testament could be prophetic. Hannah named her son Samuel, she said, “because I asked the Lord for him” The firstborn to Hosea and Gomer was fathered by Hosea and was a boy.