The book of Hosea chronicles the story of a man whom God led to marry a prostitute. Interestingly, little is known of the man himself, but much attention is given to Hosea's relationship with is wayward wife Gomer. We know that this story in fact is a representation of the relationship between God and the Children of Israel.
Fast forward now to 2012. Our Bishop prophesied at the beginning of this year that this is our year to experience governance, order and rulership. It is our time for God to put some things into our hands and to set our lives in order, yet for many of us this new season of our lives has brought us to a Hosea like place. God has been dealing with me on this for months and I am only able to write this morning.
God has revealed that so many of His people are wrestling with the enemy. People are dealing with Gomer situations because they are prostituting the gifts of God. People are refusing to come to the alter and to seek God, but they can't because of the rift they feel is between them the people of God, the leadership of God and God himself. People are wrestling with addictions, with loneliness, with false doctrine, with hard heartedness, with hatred, with demonic forces and all of this is leaving them in a dry and desolate place where they cannot feel the Lord.
God has told me that this is a time to learn. The lesson you ask? That lesson is found in the love story of Hosea and Gomer. Yes, I said love story. Hosea loved Gomer and every time she would stray, he would find her and redeem her. And although their relationship was used by God to express the struggle that the Children of Israel went through--constantly pursuing false gods--the story also shows us God's unrelenting love because of His covenant with His people. No matter how Israel played the harlot, God's love found her and redeemed her each time. That's love. How many of us are up to the challenge? It's not pretty. It's not convenient. It's not comfortable. It's not easy. It can be a lonely place.
How does all of this relate to the words of our Bishop? God's word is true. This is our year for rulership, governance and order. However, this is not our year for forgetting the body and forsaking the reason why God has chosen to move us into a more deeper relationship with Him. I believe that we are experiencing this Hosea like place so that we remember the people of God and so that we use whatever resources that He blesses us with to give the word of redemtion and reconsiliation to the people. What we have been struggling with and what we have been experiencing is only a light example of what our community is struggling with and what our children are going through. God wants us to use our own experiences as a way to see how He is longing to redeem our community, our children, our mothers, fathers, our school teachers, our police officers, our leaders, our smallest to our greatest. He wants us to be sold out like Hosea so that no matter how many times someone leaves the church, WE don't shun them and WE don't stop talking to them or loving them. He wants us to continue to speak the Word of life and redemption over them, after all, if it wasn't for God's grace and mercy, our sins and iniquity would be exposed. None is perfect except our Savior.
What should you take from this? God is constant. His word is true. That means if we are wrestling with something then there is a lesson and a blessing in it. If God promised you that you would see your family saved then why have you stopped inviting them to church? Why have you grown tired of forgiving and of sharing the Word of God? Why have you stopped praying? If God promised you that you would own a business then why have you given up? If God told you to preach the Word and be instant in season and out then why have you stopped studying? If God told you that you were part of a body, then why is it okay for you to move forward without your legs or arms? If God told you that you were an evangelist then why have you stopped fishing? If God called you out of darkness then why aren't you doing everything within your power to help reconcile others to Christ? If God delivered you from your fall and your backslidden condition when you were sinking to rise no more then why for heaven's sake would you watch your brother or sister drowning and not lend a hand; why wouldn't you reach out to restore?
God's word reveals that His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. Most of us wouldn't have lived out Hosea's experience to serve as a warning and a lesson to God's people. Hosea suffered. His life was messy. His experience was grueling and difficult. Yet out of Hosea's sacrifice came a message of how far God's love would reach, and just how fierce God's love for His people really is.
Today reflect on what you have been going through and ask yourself if this is an opportunity for God to be glorified because of your efforts to reconcile others. While you are going through the devil just might mean it for bad, but know and trust that God is working it for your good because greater is He that is within me than he that is within the world.
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