God takes to himself a wife, and she prostitutes herself to many others. And he in turn gives her undying love and grace unending.
Hosea 2:1
Call (say to) your brothers: My People
and your sisters: Compassion.
Israel wandered off, and she gave offense, turning her gifts against God. She chased after those others who gave her offerings. She was promiscuous in her whoredoms.
When I think about the book of Hosea, I can't help but think about our own nation. I hear in my head, " oh beautiful, for spacious sky's, for amber waves of grain. For purple mountains majesty, above the fruited plane. America, America, God shed his grace on thee..."
And he did.
And they sold themselves in prostitutions to other gods. And especially the god of forces. To their gods of commerce and war they bring their rich offerings. At least a full third of the nation that God had blessed is serving the god's of forces. Their lives are dedicated to this god's schemes for conquest and munitions.
And what should we do?
Hosea 3:1
Then the Lord said to me, “Go again; show love to a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, just as the Lord loves the Israelites though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.”
God is, if nothing else, full of forbearance. In this example of God's grace from Hosea, we see the wife who is so low and destitute from all her wanderings, that God must pay a huge price to buy her back from her masters of whoredom, the gods she has pumped herself out to. And it's not enough that she be purchased back from her pimps, she must keep herself away from those people. She must separate herself from the influencers. She must live without her kings and many princes, without her sacrifices to the many gods and their bureaucracy's, and she must remove herself from the trappings of false religions and household idols with the offerings to foreign gods.
Can she do it?
If we learn anything from this prophetic story, it's that the nation that is blessed by God will continue to wander off. And after a while she'll return again. After she's spent her youth and beauty. After the shine has rubbed off and her body has been spoiled. Then, in her mind she will say, "I will return to my husband, and regain what I've lost to those who feed on my sins."
The prostitute nation will say:
Hosea 6:1
"Come, let’s return to the Lord.
For he has torn us,
and he will heal us;
he has wounded us,
and he will bind up our wounds."
But God doesn't want fair weather friends and beggars who have only come at the appointed times to pick up the free groceries at the food bank. He doesn't need fake people and false religion. Too often they sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.
Hosea 6:6
"I desire faithful love and not sacrifice,
the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings."
Even if God were to write out ten thousand commandments of his instructions, these people would find it strange and impossible to keep. They'd hire lovers among the many nations of the world. And pimp themselves out to the princes. Because they have sold their souls to the gods of forces they'll say the prophet is a fool, and the inspired man is insane. They'll be caught up in lawsuits and false oaths. They'll sow wickedness and reap injustice.
And even so:
God leads them along with his ropes of kindness and love. He lifts the yoke from their necks, and even stoops down to feed them. And like a stubborn ox they kick and snort, and refuse to be moved. They continue to sin and make for themselves cast images of their idols.
And God's grace has shed on thee...through all the sin and prostitutions...Grace. Undying Love.
Hosea 14:9
"Let whoever is wise understand these things,
and whoever is insightful recognize them.
For the ways of the Lord are right,
and the righteous walk in them,
but the rebellious stumble in them."