learning DAILY



Hosea 1: 2, When the Lord began to speak by Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea: “Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, for the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the Lord.”

Israel at the time of Hosea was outwardly experiencing a time of growth and prosperity; but inwardly, moral corruption and spiritual adultery saturated the people.  God instructs Hosea to marry a prostitute by the name of Gomer in order to be an object lesson for the people of Israel.  Prostitution was symbolic of the Israel’s unfaithfulness to God.  Israel, like Gomer, had been an idolater, become “married” to Jehovah, and then returned to idolatry.

Idolatry must be defined.  Idolatry is the worship of an idol or cult image, being a physical image, such as a statue, or a person in place of God; the worship of something or someone other than God as if it were God.  That is a formal definition.  The emphasis must be on anything we put before God; this could be a thing, a person, a desire of some kind.  This is sin.  It is against the Second Commandment given to the people by God Himself – “You shall have no other gods before Me.” (Exodus 20:3).  Idolatry is turning away from the Lord and all of Israel was polluted by it.  Their spiritual adultery caused God to turn from His people.

Hosea was to marry Gomer to show the people their lifestyle was dishonorable to God and they were to turn away from it in order to return to Him.  How patient He was with them that He did not just cast them away.

Okay, what is the point?  Does this relate to us in any way?  Of course it does!  Think of the blessings of this country; we are blessed so much greater than so much of the world.  But, in those blessings people have begun to think their ingenuity and intelligence is the reason for it.  In return for the blessings of God, we have turned to idolatry, immorality and believing we can determine who can live and who cannot (among so many other things).  In essence, we have become gods, who desire to be worshipped as we desire to worship that which we have created.  Have we become any different from the people of Hosea’s day?  Absolutely not!

If that is true, should we expect the God of creation, the One who deserves our true worship, to sit back and do nothing?  Or, should we be on our knees asking for the people of this nation to seek Him and to repent of our sinful actions and attitudes.  Do we really expect God to ignore the spiritual adultery of our day?  That is not His nature.

Tomorrow we will look more into what Hosea’s prophecy has to do with us today.  Stay with me!

If you would like to get this blog sent to you automatically when new posts are posted please leave your email address with “Follow by email.” Don’t forget to check Follow as well.