The study of Hosea started out very grim. I was not very comfortable with the analogy of Hosea and his unfaithful wife, Gomer. I didn't like the idea that some of the kids at CBS might ask me something I didn't want to answer or didn't know how to appropriately answer. Also, as someone said today, the book is pretty depressing. Or so I thought last week. I disagreed with this woman today. Hosea is powerfully uplifting! How many marriages end due to infidelity? Yet God would never let Israel (or us) go. He asks Himself in Hosea 11:8, "How can I give you up, Ephraim (Israel)?" God loves us so much, that nothing we do can sever the bond He has with us. I've always felt God's love for me, but it has moved to a new level. I think it has to do with how personal sin is for God. I never realized that He took it as personally as He does, as an infidelity. My TMS verse right now says it, too. I'll stick it on the right side later. (Ok, it's there, John 14:21).
Also, I have to say that the TMS verses are awesome and I am totally loving doing it. It's not rote memorization, and even though the verses are "old and familiar", they are becoming new and meaningful again.
Anyway, here is my lecture. It doesn't have a ton to do with Hosea, and it's really short, but it is.
Last week we started studying the book of Hosea and we saw how the relationship that Hosea had with his wife, Gomer, mirrored the relationship that the Lord had with the nation of Israel. God loved Israel, but Israel continued to worship idols and commit other sins. In our lesson this week, we get an idea of the price that Israel will pay for their sin, but also how much God continues to love them.
Another comparison of God’s love in Hosea is made by comparing Israel with a baby. God takes care of that baby, speaks sweet words to him, feeds him, and even teaches him how to walk. This shows how God has always taken care of Israel, even when she was a brand new nation. But Israel sought idols instead of God. For this God will scatter His people into Egypt and Assyria. However, God realizes He cannot be angry for long. Hosea 11:8a asks “How can I give you up, Ephraim?” God loves Israel so much, that even when faced with their constant sin, He still loves them.
This is a lot like us. We are sinners. Even if it is something that we might consider to be minor like telling a story that isn’t quite true, or not eating all our peas when we are told to clean our plates, we still sin. But God loves us anyway. Romans 5:8 tells us that “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” So even though we sin and make God unhappy, He still loved us enough to give us Jesus. And with Jesus, we are able to go to God and repent, to ask for forgiveness for our sins. We know from 1 John 1:9 that “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
God loves His people so much that even when they continually looked to idols instead of Him, He still loved them. Even when they blatantly disobeyed Him, He still loved them. He loves His people so much that He let Jesus die on the cross. For us! With all that God has done for His people, both way back in the Bible and today, we can be certain that He loves us and wants to hear from us and is waiting for us to come to Him.
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