Week 2 May 2025, Devotion Part 2

Let us press on to know the LORD; his going forth is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.  Hosea 6:3

From the autobiographical portions of his book we can retrace Hosea’s tragic descent into the hell of “flagrant harlotry.” We wonder what the public thought of a prophet so badly sullied by his poor choice of a bride? Can we relate to a father’s private anguish when he must name his daughter “Unpitied” and one of his sons “Not My People”? Hosea, of course, is hammering home the enormity of Israel’s spiritual adultery and he “writes feelingly what he lives achingly.” Even so, his account is a love story of stupendous magnitude. God vows to “allure” the harlot Israel … “Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, in lovingkindness and in compassion, and I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. Then you will know the Lord” (2:14, 19-20).

The Bible is silent on Gomer’s heart after Hosea paid for her redemption. As the church – Christ’s bride – are we still two-timing Him with our worldly passions and adherence to cultural norms defined as sinful by Scripture? Do dismayed angels ever wonder why our heavenly Lover is still “alluring” the Gomer in us? Why not walk in Hosea’s shoes for this one day, to catch both his chilled heart and the spring fever that thawed it out for good!    Part 2 of 2

Comment:  We really do need to cut to the chase and risk that some may blush and wish the stork was still bringing babies. Blurt out the word SEX and none will give you the “blah blah blah” look. “Yada” is the biblical response because it was our Maker’s idea. Way back in Genesis after fig leaves were ditched and Eden was shuttered, the road to parenthood became the most enticing fashion of the day.  Adam “knew” Eve and “she conceived”, resulting in Cain’s birth.  Sex caught on, Abel’s arrival made him into a brother, and family life emerged with all its comforts and demands. In the first two verses of Genesis 4, God’s presence isn’t specified.  In verse 3, Cain, the tiller of the ground, brings an offering to the Lord that didn’t cost him anything. In marked contrast,  Abel, the keeper of a flock, offers “firstlings…and of their fat portions,” a practice later prescribed in Leviticus 4. God clearly favors his offering over Cain’s, and this doesn’t sit well with the seemingly snubbed sibling. He ignores His warning that “sin is crouching at your door,” and chooses not to “master its desire.”  By verse 8, our primeval parents are forced to face the death of a murdered child, the loss of their firstborn who has fled, and the age-old truth that “life must go on.”  Ours is a promiscuous age that no “seer” of old could have foreseen.  Sin is no longer just crouching at the door as God had warned Cain.  It’s hunkered down on our lap top and phone and only one flick of the finger away.  Jesus knows it and offers us the safe haven of salvation and sanctification, both as a sacred position and a process.  If we accept this intimate relationship “with benefits”, Christ will “know” us, blameless in His grace and glory forever!  Hosea 6