What I Like About...Hosea

What I like about Hosea: Restoration

Every time I read Hosea, I marvel at his total willingness to obey God, even when he knows it will completely screw up his own life. Some of the other prophets knew that following God would lead to persecution, and for many of them it did, but Hosea knew that following God would lead to his personal life being turned upside down. Hosea really is a love story, but it's a heartbreaking one: God used Hosea's own marriage and family life to model how Israel had behaved toward Him - with infidelity, illegitimate children, and prostitution.

The ending of this otherwise tragic story, though, is what redeems this book for me. Though God could have easily ended the story with the display of how Israel has behaved, He goes on to show how He will behave. He sends Hosea to buy back his wife, to bring her home, and to raise her children as his own. In the latter 4/5ths of the book, which deals with Israel and God rather than with Gomer and Hosea, God does not just point out and condemn Israel's sin, He also looks forward past Israel's betrayal and rejection of Him to the day when Israel will be restored.

People often say that the Old Testament is full of fire and brimstone and God's judgement, whereas the New Testament is the story of His love. I can't buy that, though. In so many of the prophets, and especially in Hosea, God's love and His plan to redeem His people is laid out clearly. Yes, there is judgement, and there are the consequences of sin, but grace is freely promised. Even before God's plan for restoration and redemption through Christ is kicked into high gear, it is in place and is conveyed to His people. And that's what I love about Hosea - that it doesn't end at anger and judgement but looks forward to acceptance and forgiveness.

Verse of the post: "Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God. Your sins have been your downfall! Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to him: 'Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips.' ... 'I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them.'" Hosea 14:1-2, 4