Big Challenges

Good morning!

So, we are on a two-month hiatus from our study in Daniel. This is good, as my brain needs some time to catch up for this next section! So in the meantime, I thought I'd read up on some of these Minor Prophets. I don't know much about them and having read half of Daniel, they intrigue me. So this morning I started in Hosea.

I admit that I've never read Hosea before and only into the first chapter, I'm wowed. (Yes, it's a word...I'm an Engligh teacher and we can make 'em up!) I'll insert the first chapter for reference:

Hosea 1 (New King James Version; www.biblegateway.com)

1 The word of the LORD that came to Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
2 When the LORD began to speak by Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea:
“ Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry
And children of harlotry,
For the land has committed great harlotry
By departing from the LORD.”
3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
4 Then the LORD said to him:
“ Call his name Jezreel,
For in a little while
I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu,
And bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.
5 It shall come to pass in that day
That I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”

6 And she conceived again and bore a daughter. Then God said to him:
“ Call her name Lo-Ruhamah,
For I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel,
But I will utterly take them away.
7 Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah,
Will save them by the LORD their God,
And will not save them by bow,
Nor by sword or battle,
By horses or horsemen.”

8 Now when she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son.
9 Then God said:
“ Call his name Lo-Ammi,
For you are not My people,
And I will not be your God.

10 “ Yet the number of the children of Israel
Shall be as the sand of the sea,
Which cannot be measured or numbered.
And it shall come to pass
In the place where it was said to them,
‘ You are not My people,’
There it shall be said to them,
‘ You are sons of the living God.’
11 Then the children of Judah and the children of Israel
Shall be gathered together,
And appoint for themselves one head;
And they shall come up out of the land,
For great will be the day of Jezreel!"

And I thought I had it "rough" when my kids were born so close together.

Hosea was a prophet, which means he knew he'd have to follow-through in telling some people some bad news from time to time. Apparently, God would occasionally use His prophets as a visual object lesson to those who He was reprimanding. In this case, God told Hosea to marry a prostitute, then have three children and give them awful, condemning names.

Can you imagine? Trusting that your mate is the "right one" is hard enough...but to get married and know full well that the plan is for them to be unfaithful? And then to have three children very close together (she was JUST done weaning one when she had another) and to have them go through life with such condemning names.

The name "Jezreel" means "No-Mercy." This was to be a "reminder of the atrocities that had occurred at Jezreel. God would soon judge Israel for these sins, appropriately through a military defeat at this same city." (Hosea intro, Nelson's NKJV Study Bible)

Their daughter was to be named "Lo-Ruhamah," which means "Not Loved." This was an announcement that God was going to temporarily withdraw His love from Israel, who had turned astray.

The youngest son's name was "Lo-Ammi," meaning "Not My People."

Wow. Imagine being asked by God to do something so horrendous in your eyes, knowing that you will be ridiculed or shunned by society, and just having to do it for His sake.

Has God ever asked you to do something that you didn't think you had the stomach for? I think most of us don't realize God's asking us to do something huge until we're in the middle of it. We go along, asking God to give us strength and wisdom to go through it. Or we walk through life crying out, "It's Not Fair!" Either way, at some point it clicks in.

God wants us to go through these trials. Certainly not because He enjoys watching us squirm. But I think simply because He enjoys watching His children crawl up on His lap and ask for help. He wants us to depend on Him and to trust that He knows what's best for us at each stage in life.

Just because we can't SEE God's hand working doesn't mean it ISN'T.

Let's be encouraged today in our trials...big or small...that God is watching us and wants to know how we'll react.