Hosea is a story of a broken heart. God’s people, whom he loves with an undying love, have abandoned him for other lovers. They did not appreciate the depth of His love for them. They did not return His love for them. They wanted the pleasure & excitement of playing the field instead of the blessings of a wholesome and honest monogamous relationship. With Hosea’s life, God held up a mirror in which His people could see and appreciate what they’ve done to Him. In God’s work with the Prophet Hosea, he tried to illustrate the depth of his pain to his people by publicly putting Hosea through the same thing. Hosea 1:2 says, (My Translation) God told Hosea, “Your wife will never be faithful to you. She will conceive and bear children from other men, but not for you. Her promiscuity will make you a laughing stock to the world. But more importantly, because of your deep love for her, her affairs will break your heart. This will illustrate how my people have treated me.”
God’s deep love for His people is the central theme of Hosea! But their hardheartedness blocks the flow of God’s love. God’s own people, instead of remaining faithful to Him, yearn for the “strange fire” of the gods of the people in the land. They see the idols of possessions, pleasure, and prestige and follow after them. I often see myself in their weaknesses. I yearn for the pleasures and possessions in this world at the expense of my relationship with God. When it comes to my relationship with God, I’m sometimes the “Wayward Wind” that Gogi Grant sang about back in the 50s. Though I make promises, I find them hard to keep. I’m often a restless wind that yearns to wonder. The sound of the “outward-bound” makes me a slave to my wandering ways. I think we should be careful about being hard on the people of Israel, as symbolized by Gomer. We all have wandering eyes. We all look at the fruit and notice that it’s good for food. God’s love and care for His people were not enough to communicate the depth of His love for them. That’s where Jesus comes in.
Jesus came to break through the hardheartedness of man. God so loved us that He sent His only son to die for us. I remember holding my baby grandson some time ago. As I looked at his infant form and into his eyes, it struck me that God, in the very person of His son, took on the form of a baby. But he took that form for a purpose. The soft little hands were to have nails driven through them. The chubby little feet would be nailed to the cross. And his beautiful little head would have a crown of thorns mashed down on it. His little body, in his “Gramma is out of this world” jumpsuit, would be pierced by a soldier’s spear. Water and blood would flow from his side, the symbol of a broken heart. I remember how sin, as recorded in Genesis 6:6, broke God’s heart. It says, “God’s heart was filled with pain.” God demonstrated His love for me when my eyes were still wandering. While still in the slums of my sin, Jesus died for me. God so loved the world including me, that he gave His only son to pay the penalty for my sins. My sins broke God’s heart. May his death on the cross soften mine!