Propheting: Loving Unconditionally

Propheting: Loving Unconditionally

Hosea 1:1-9, 4:1-3, 10:12

Shalom—the peace of God be with you. I understand that this is a very s= pecial day in your culture--something called Valentine’s Day—a celebra= tion of love. Right?

Well, then, what better place than this to get the day started! After all, it was th= e Lord who gave us the gift of love. By making us in His own image, He designed us to love, and to be loved.

Your Pastor felt that since Valentine’s Day came= on Sunday this year, a love story would be the most appropriate message for the day. Besides, it would give y= ou a break from having to hear him preach—just think of it as his little Valentine gift.

So, instead of him preaching, he invited me to come to= tell you my story. You see, and I say = this with all modesty, I just happen to be one of the greatest lovers of all time.

And yes, ladies, I understand that most men think this= about themselves—it’s just that in my case, it’s true! Just the facts.

Okay, now that I’ve gotten your attention—= and I really did, didn’t I? I= knew I would--everybody loves a love story!&nbs= p; Right?

Well, that’s what my story is--a love story; alt= hough I should warn you: it’s a story filled with lots of heartbreak—= as, sadly, so many love stories are.

You’ve probably guessed this by now; but in case you’re still in the dark, my name is Hosea. Those twelve books found = in your Old Testament, the ones you know as the Minor Prophets—well, the first one is named for me.

Your Pastor has been telling you recently about the ot= her eleven. Just between us, I wouldn’t want that job! But I’ll be glad to tell you my story—I mean, since he asked. Let’s start with this:

My home was in Israel. I lived in the capital city of wha= t was known as the Northern Kingdom, a place called Samaria. It was during the 8^th c= entury BC—that’s over 2700 years ago—but a time that people would later look back upon as some of “the good old days.” On the surface, we were doing well.=

Looks can be deceiving, though. You heard this from one of my fell= ow prophets a few weeks back. Re= member what Amos talked about—how that things looked so prosperous, except t= hat this wasn’t the case for everybody.

The gap between the rich and poor just kept on getting= wider, and no one who could do anything about it…seemed to care. There was vice and corruption ever= ywhere you turned. We were wealthy in things, but poor when it came to values that last.

A symptom of this was the way the relationship between= men and women had become very loose and immoral. Oh, I preached against those other= sins too—the same ones that Amos talked about.

But it was that last one—the man and woman thing= --that became such a painful part of my personal experience. The breakdown of the family, as you’ll see, was central to my story.=

It all began when I met a woman named Gomer. God arranged the encounter, actual= ly. Maybe some of you feel the same way about how you met your significant other—you just know it was “a match made in heaven!” = Okay, so others of you don’t see it that way. Sorry about that!

But listen: just because God brings you together, don’t think for a moment that means it’s easy to make a marriage work. Believe me: nothing was= easy about being married to Gomer! It often felt like a match ma= de in, well, “you-know-where!”

(Hey, you over there.= I don’t think I’d be nodding my head so much right now--= like you know just what I mean. Go= od grief, man, she’s sitting right beside you! You’ll pay for that!)

Anyway, Gomer and I met—and, listen: God knew wh= at He was doing. She was a beauty&#= 8212;I mean to tell you—a real beauty! And I fell for her. Oh= , I fell hard!

And…truth be known, I think she admired some qua= lities about me. At least, she said = she liked the fact that I was a man of faith--that I had strong convictions. Seems kinda’ ironic now, I realize—but tha= t IS what she said; and I trusted her.

I really don’t know what happened. Looking back, I guess I was always= pretty intense—but it was for a good cause, you know. God had called me to be a prophet.=

Our nation was so off track, like I mentioned earlier,= so there was lots for me to do. Gomer,= on the other hand…well…as the song says, “girls just want to have fun.”

Okay, that’s not really fair—unless you ha= ppen to be talking about Gomer. Th= at girl liked her fun way too much. S= he knew what she wanted, too—and it wasn’t me.

I guess she got really tired of my preaching and prophesying. Too much time at= the synagogue, and not enough for her. <= /span>

I knew things weren’t right. But then, we found out we were exp= ecting a baby—our first. ̶= 0;Maybe this child will bring us back together,” I thought. Surely we’ll feel closer now= .

But you’ve heard that old saying, “A child= will make a good marriage better; but he’ll make a bad marriage worse.” Well, the baby = only made matters worse for us.

I guess this is why God told me to give our baby boy s= uch a strange name. We called him Jezreel. It means “God scatters.”

The name really fit what was happening to Gomer and me= ; but on a deeper level, it also foretold what God was going to do among His people. As sad as it was, God= knew they weren’t going to listen to me or any other prophet.

Anyway, we didn’t stop with just one child. We had two more—and had them= about as close together as these things can happen. Our second child was a little girl—but we never experienced the kind of joy over her birth that we should have.

We called her “Lo-Ruhammah.” Sad to say, but the name means “unloved.” That&#= 8217;s how I was feeling, friends. A= nd now I realize, God was feeling that way too--unloved.

Then the third child came, another little boy. God told me to give him the most revealing name of all: “Lo-Ammi.” It means “not my people,̶= 1; or to put it more bluntly, “no kin of mine.”

Each child’s name was given with a broken heart&= #8212;or, broken hearts, really. My hea= rt was broken, and so was God’s.

He already knew what I still didn’t want to believe—in fact, refused to believe, at first--that my wife had been = unfaithful to me; that these children were not mine.&= nbsp; I was devastated.

Now, the solution could have been quite simple. Under the circumstances, divorce w= ould have been easy. For that matt= er, I could have had Gomer stoned to death.

But I couldn’t do that. I wasn’t after revenge--I lo= ved her. With all her faults, wit= h all her brokenness, even with all the pain she had put me through; my love for = her remained unchanged.

I believe they call it “unconditional love.̶= 1; I don’t take credit for it, = though. That’s the kind of love that= only comes from God. He’s th= e One who put this love in my heart!

This is why I’m known as such a great lover, friends. It’s because my commitment to Gomer never wavered, no matter how she treated me—and s= he treated me terribly! But I ke= pt on loving her “no matter what”—like God loves us!

You’ll understand what I mean when I tell you th= e rest of the story. You see, there’s more; and it only gets worse.

One day when I returned home from work, I found that G= omer was gone. The children had be= en left there--alone. Their mother wa= s no where to be found.

She didn’t tell me where she was going. She obviously didn’t want me= to come looking for her. She didn’t want to be tied down anymore—needed her freedom—th= at kind of thing.

Well, what she ended up with was hardly freedom—= which is how these things usually end up. She hooked up with another man—someone she believed would give= her all the things that I couldn’t.

I suppose he did--for awhile. But he didn’t really love her. Soon, he got tired of her—and you know what he did? He sold her into slavery—huh, I guess he was probably trying to pay off some of her bills! I = could have warned him!

Maybe she deserved it—I don’t know. What I do know is that I couldn= 217;t stand the thought of the woman I loved…living like that. So I went to the slave market, and bought her back.

It seemed so strange—having to pay for my own wi= fe; but the price was six ounces of silver and ten bushels of grain. Now, I’m not a wealthy man, = but the Lord provided; so I paid the price, and took her back home.

I hoped this would change her. That when she realized that even a= fter she had betrayed me and been unfaithful and hurt me so deeply, I would stil= l go looking for her...

And when I found her, buy her back—no matter the cost. Surely she would unders= tand how much I loved her then—and maybe… she…would love…= ;me.

I knew I was taking a chance. Even after all I’d done, the= re was the possibility that she still wouldn’t change her ways.

Maybe she would have no remorse at all, and just leave= me once again…to pursue other lovers, and other things. But that was a chance I was willin= g to take, friends.

I did it because I loved her that much. And I was willing to do anything t= o help her understand my love for her--to make any sacrifice to get her back home where she belonged.

Well, that’s my story. Thanks for listening. I guess, now that I think about it= , it really is powerful—the kind of love story you just don’t hear e= very day.

I wonder, though—and I would encourage you to th= ink about this as well--has anyone ever loved you this much—I’m tal= king about unconditionally…and sacrificially? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if = they did?

But tell me. If someone did love you this much--and took such extreme measures to show you-= -do you think, maybe, it would… change your life?

Hosea 1:1-9 ¹ The word of the LORD that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Juda= h, and during the reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel:

² When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, "Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife = and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adulte= ry in departing from the LORD." ³ So he married Gomer daughter= of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

⁴ Then the LORD said to Hosea, "Call him Jezreel, because I will soon pu= nish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the= kingdom of Israel. ⁵ In that day I= will break Israel's bow in = the Valley of Jezreel."

⁶ Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the LORD said to Hosea, "Call her Lo-Ruhamah, ^[b] for I will no longer show love to the= house of Israel, that I should at all forgive them. ⁷ Yet I will show love to the house of Judah; and I will save them—not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but by the LORD their God."

⁸ After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, Gomer had another son. ⁹ Then the LORD said, "Call him Lo-Ammi, ^[c] for you are not my people, and I am n= ot your God.

Hosea 4:1-3 ¹ Hear the word of= the LORD, you Israelites,
because the LORD has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: "There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the la= nd.

² There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery;
they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.

³ Because of this the land mourns, and all who live in it waste away; the bea= sts of the field and the birds of the air
and the fish of the sea are dying.

Hosea 10:12 ¹² Sow for yourselves righteousness,
       reap the fruit of unfailing love,
       and break up your unplowed ground;
       for it is time to seek the LORD,
       until he comes and showers righteousne= ss on you.