"Hosea's Message: God's Faithfulness” Series

“Hosea’s Message: God’s faithfulness”

Opening Statement: Erma Bombeck tells of God in the act of creating mothers. She says that on the day God created mothers He had already worked long overtime. And an angel said to Him, "Lord, you sure are spending a lot of time on this one."

The Lord turned and said, "Have you read the specs on this model? She is supposed to be completely washable, but not plastic. She is to have 180 moving parts, all of them replaceable. She is to have a kiss that will heal everything from a broken leg to a broken heart. …She is to be able to function on black coffee and leftovers. And she is supposed to have six pairs of hands."

"Six pairs of hands," said the angel, "that’s impossible." "It’s not the six pairs of hands that bother me." said the Lord, "It’s the three pairs of eyes. She is supposed to have one pair that sees through closed doors so that whenever she says, `What are you kids doing in there?’ she already knows what they’re doing in there."

"She has another pair in the back of her head to see all the things she is not supposed to see but must see. And then she has one pair right in front that can look at a child that just goofed and communicate love and understanding without saying a word."

"That’s too much." said the angel, "You can’t put that much in one model. Why don’t you rest for a while and resume your creating tomorrow?"

"No, I can’t," said the Lord. "I’m close to creating someone very much like myself. I’ve already come up with a model who can heal herself when she is sick - who can feed a family of six with one pound of hamburger - and who can persuade a nine year old to take a shower."

Then the angel looked at the model of motherhood a little more closely and said, "She’s too soft." "Oh, but she is tough," said the Lord. "You’d be surprised at how much this mother can do."

"Can she think?" asked the angel. "Not only can she think," said the Lord, "but she can reason and compromise and persuade."

Then the angel reached over and touched her cheek. "This one has a leak," he said. "I told you that you couldn’t put that much in one model." "That’s not a leak," said the Lord. "That’s a tear."

"What’s a tear for?" asked the angel. "Well it’s for joy, for sadness, for sorrow, for disappointment, for pride." "You’re a genius," said the angel. And the Lord said, "Oh, but I didn’t put it there."

Bombeck noted this about moms - "I am close to creating something very much like myself." Wanna know what God is like – look closely at a mother’s love. One preacher said: “I suppose that is why today is very special - because we recognize that a mother’s love is probably the closest example we have to God’s love. It is a love that goes through the valley of the shadow of death to bring life into being. It is a love that sacrifices itself over and over again and would even dare to lay down its life for its own offspring or for some other needy child.”

God’s faithful like our mothers. In fact God’s even more faithful than our mothers. There is no doubt about it. I tell you how I know. Just read the entire book of Hosea, you’ll know what I mean. I believe God’s purpose in leaving us the record of Hosea’s prophecy is to reveals such a faithful love. He is not ashamed to admit his passionate side, He wants to be transparent in His faithful love.

Today I will squezze all of Hosea’s 14 chapters into one message. Hosea reads like an emotional roller coaster ride with highs and lows that sounds with repeated pleadings that defy logic. It speaks almost obsessively about the faithfulness of love that has tears, -as it tells the story of a jilted lover, adultery, broken-hearted passion and woundedness that goes deep. If you think God does not know how it feels to go through the pain of infidelity, the anguish of betrayal and the hurt of broken promises and the heart-wrenching turning upside down of your insides, think again because Hosea is a book that speaks fervently of the trials of a lover who pleads for his unyielding chosen people. You can hear the broken heart of God as He spoke …

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." 3 So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.