Hosea

Reading Hosea, asking God to give me something to share. I think it comes from God but it comes through this very limited servant.

Hosea is called to marry a prostitute. What is the hardest thing God has called you to do?

This seems like something God would never ask his servant to do. But God did. Can you rationalize this?

Perhaps the hardest thing for me to do was to go to work for my dad. Circumstances made it a good choice when I went to work in the family. I had sworn I would never do it.

I tried to leave several times but each time it seems God closed the door and then he encouraged me this is where he wanted me.

To me this was pretty much like marrying a prostitute. I do not believe in insurance. It is sort of against my principals. But God did not ask me to sin. God really did not ask Hosea to sin either. He was faithful to his wife. She was not faithful to him.

Despite having to submit to my dad, which was very hard, in the long run it may have been the easiest path for me.

Hosea married a prostitute. We read about this in chapter one of the book of Hosea. We are told directly that the first son is his. But we are not told about the next two children. We are just told they were conceived. She is still a prostitute after all.

The names of his children are awful. Imagine the teasing that they received. The firstborn is name Jezreel, after the site of a massacre. It would be like naming your child "Pearl Harbor" or "Bull Run". They next two are named "Not loved" and "Not mine". God uses Hosea's children to make a statement.

But then at the end of chapter one God turns it around to speak of God's faithfulness, he will restore his people. The etymology of Jezreel is "God's offspring" and Israel will be "mine" and "loved".

Marrying a prostitute had to be very hard for Hosea. He lost all semblance of pride. She would shame him each time she had sex for money. How could God call his servant to such an awful thing?

Has God called you to something very hard, maybe against your principals yet not a sin?