THE BOOK OF HOSEA

 

 

The Prophet Hosea’s service extended from King Uzziah to King Hezekiah. It is a book about unfaithfulness - Israel’s unfaithfulness and Gomer’s unfaithfulness to her husband Hosea. However, both instances end in messages of hope.

 

Both illustrate a problem that we have with our God: “Why aren’t our lives easier? While we have been promised the world, we live in despair. Where are your promised blessings?”

 

There are many possible reasons why our Lord withholds His blessings until His return - to kindle within us a hatred of sin, a hunger for the next life, and teaching us Christlikeness and dependence on Him alone! However, the Book of Hosea also focuses on another reason for a blessing-lean diet. We do not profit from a blessings-rich diet. When God would bless Israel, they would become proud and seek greater pleasures:

 

·       “The more they increased, the more they sinned against me; I will change their glory into shame.” (Hosea 4:7)

 

When Israel became unaware of their need, they also departed from God in favor of pagan practice and their desires:

 

·       “Israel is a luxuriant vine that yields its fruit. The more his fruit increased, the more [pagan] altars he built; as his country improved, he improved his [pagan] pillars.” (Hosea 10:1)

 

When needs are satisfied, we turn to pleasures, and pride jumps in to tell us, “You are entitled to your pleasures. You have worked hard for them. Don’t let your conscience tell you otherwise.”

 

·       “but when they had grazed, they became full, they were filled, and their heart was lifted up; therefore they forgot me.” (Hosea 13:6)

 

When things are going too well for us, we become proud, self-satisfied, and forget the Lord. God had revealed to the Apostle Paul that even his revelations would produce pride. Therefore, He allowed Satan to afflict Paul to teach him that depending upon God would be his protection:

 

·       But he [God] said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I [Paul] will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

 

When we are hurting and humbled, we want to stay close to our Savior. We examine ourselves lest the slightest sin might be blocking us from the Lord. However, Israel was too well-fed, and had little appetite for their Lover:

 

·       “I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me.” (Hosea 5:15)

 

However, Israel’s cries for mercy would only last as long as her distress. God would have to intervene unilaterally:

 

·       “I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them. I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon; his shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon. They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow; they shall flourish like the grain; they shall blossom like the vine; their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.” (Hosea 14:4-7; 2:18-19)

 

This is Israel’s only hope. It is also ours.