God Calls Hosea

(Reflections on the book of Hosea as a whole).

Hosea’s calling as a prophet unravels through a humanly painful experience that gives us a picture of God’s unconditional love for all his people through the living example of unfaithfulness in the marriage between Hosea and Gomer; a marriage that seemed “doomed” from the beginning. The experiences, the emotions and the actions that Hosea experienced would have brought any strong man to his knees; this was a special assignment from God. Hosea, called by God was made strong to be an example of the love, grace and mercy the Lord had for His people.

It might be that a relationship can withstand a single indiscretion of unfaithfulness and I have witnessed God’s power and healing love through the trials of a personal friend. When we read Hosea’s story and recount the continuous unfaithfulness of Gomer and God’s people we can reflect on how this same pattern was and still is active in the world today. Through Hosea we get a picture of who God is and His unchanging faithfulness. Chapter 3 gives us the beautiful picture of God’s redeeming grace and mercy “Go and love your wife again, even though she commits adultery with another lover. This will illustrate that the Lord still loves Israel, even though the people have turned to other gods and love to worship them.” (NLT).

Through countless infractions we read of impending destruction, the turning change of heart because of the love God had for His people and chance given for people to return back to the Lord. Hosea’s call to bring the people back to God through these events is a call like no other. As I have been called to serve among God’s people I have to pray, trust and know that God is a pillar of faithfulness and that I must draw from that strength in my own life and ministry.