Hosea 1 - 7 (20th July) - Andrew

Hosea 1

God told Hosea to marry a prostitute to illustrate the way His people have been untrue to Him, openly committing adultery against the Lord by worshipping other gods (Hosea 1:2).

What would you do if for guys, God asked you to marry a prostitute, and for girls, God asked you to marry a gigolo? Hosea can ignore God’s command to marry the prostitute but he obeyed Him. Can we be like Hosea if God asked us to do something out of the extraordinary? God often want us to obey Him even when He asks us to do the extraordinary for Him. If God really want us to do the extraordinary, would we have faith in Him and most importantly, can we accept the consequences, that comes from our obedience to God, that does not benefit us personally but rather pleases God?

Hosea 2

“But I will fence her in with thornbushes. I will block the road to make her lose her way. When she runs after her lovers, she won’t be able to catch up with them. She will search for them but not find them. Then she will think, ‘I might as well return to my husband because I was better off with him than I am now.’ – verse 6 – 7

God is indeed faithful to us and He really really want us to return back to Him when we have run away. Just like when the prostitute turned her back on her husband and went to look for her lovers but to no avail, she decided to return back to her husband, God will do anything like placing obstacles in front of us (“But I will fence her in with thornbushes. I will block the road to make her lose her way.” – verse 6), just to make us return to Him.

Verses 9 – 13 talks about how God is going to vent His anger on the prostitute but then, no matter how much anger He’s going to vent His anger on the prostitute, He still will show His love for the unfaithful prostitute (verse 14 – 23). And this illustrates the fact that our God is a merciful and faithful loving God. Amen!

Hosea 3

I felt that this particular chapter is very powerful. It shows how the Lord still love Israel (the prostitute) even though the people of Israel committed idolatry (verse 1).

“Then I said to her, “You must live in my house for many days and stop your prostitution. During this time, you will not have sexual intercourse with anyone, not even with me.” – verse 3

This shows that Israel will not have any kings to rule them and they will stop committing their sins but afterward the people will return to the Lord their God and they will tremble in awe to the Lord (verse 4 – 5).

Hosea 4

This chapter illustrates God’s anger on Israel. Particularly, He vent His anger at the priests of Israel (verse 4 – 7). Since the priests had sinned against the Lord, the Lord Himself will make them suffered (verse 10). When we are facing difficulties in our life, we should ask ourselves,’ Have we done anything sinful or irresponsible that caused us our suffering?’

Hosea 5

“I know what you are like, O Israel!” – verse 3

This verse illustrates the fact that God really knows us from inside out. Our actions, words or even our inner thoughts, God knows them all.

“The people of Israel will be crushed and broken by my judgement because they are DETERMINED TO WORSHIP IDOLS.” – verse 11

Determined to worship idols… this phase shows that the people of Israel knows that they are doing, knows that they are sinning against the Lord and yet they did not want to repent. God did not like it at all. Are there any issues in your life that you know you are upsetting God? Repent.

“Then I will return to my place UNTIL THEY ADMIT THEIR GUILT AND LOOK TO ME FOR HELP. For as soon as trouble comes, they will search for me.” – verse 15

Hosea 6

“I want you to be merciful; I don’t want your sacrifices. I WANT YOU TO KNOW GOD; that’s more important than your burnt offerings.” – verse 6

Yes. God wants us to know Him more and more. But how? By reading His words daily and meditating on them when we are doing our daily works. It is difficult sometimes especially when we are all so tied down with school works, projects exams, careers etc.

“Oh, that we might know the Lord! LET US PRESS ON TO KNOW HIM!” – verse 3

Yes. Let us press on, encourage to other, to read His words daily and know Him more and more and let us grow in His words as one tribe.

Hosea 7

“I wanted to heal Israel, but its sins were far too great.” – verse 1
“I wanted to redeem them, but they have only spoken lies about me.” – verse 13

These two verses show how upset God is.

“They do not cry out to me WITH SINCERE HEARTS.” – verse 14

Sometimes when we pray for the desires of our heart, there’s no reply from God. It is because we do not pray for a sincere heart and indeed God looks at our hearts when we pray. He does not only want to see us wailing and crying loudly when we pray but He only interested in our sincerity or our hearts.