Divine Love and Redemption: Unveiling Hosea's Profound Lessons from Hosea part 4 / S3E24

What if a love story was less about romance and more about redemption? Join us as we unravel the profound narrative of Hosea and Gomer, a tale that transcends time to reveal the depths of divine love, forgiveness, and unwavering faithfulness. Through the lenses of personal reflection and scriptural exploration, we explore how Hosea's tumultuous marriage serves as a vivid metaphor for God’s relationship with Israel. Despite the shadows of betrayal and human frailty, this story promises hope, illustrating that grace is always within reach, no matter the circumstances.

In our discussion, we spotlight the enduring themes of repentance and restoration, emphasizing their relevance not only to the ancient Israelites but to all of us today. Listen in as we highlight the lessons Hosea's life offers about the consequences of straying and the boundless possibilities of returning to righteousness. With insights that resonate across generations, this episode reinforces the universal values of love and redemption, assuring every listener that God’s embrace is open, regardless of past transgressions. Whether you're revisiting the story or discovering it anew, prepare to be inspired by the timeless truths that Hosea imparts.

Chapters

• 0:12 Lessons From the Book of Hosea
• 13:45 Love and Forgiveness in Hosea

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:12

Well, here we are again for Hosea 4. As you can see, my voice is still a little off. I'm still struggling with flu, pneumonia, all the stuff that's hit me this month, but I'm still here to let's talk about Hosea and let's bring the book of Hosea all together. Hosea 14, 1 through 2, says O Israel, return to the Lord, your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take words with you and return to the Lord. I will heal their backsliding. I will love them freely. The Lord, I will heal their backsliding. I will love them freely, for my anger has turned away from him. You know, god calls the Israels to repent and promise to heal and restore them, and that's the way he is with all of us. He desires a relationship with us and he invites us to return to him when we've fallen away. What exactly did Hosea teach about? Well, one of the things he taught about was repentance and the fact that God is always willing to forgive and restore those to him who have fallen away. It assures us that, no matter our past, we can always come back and, through prayer, reading his word, worship and obedience, that we can stay faithful to God. Some other scriptures that tell us that is, joel 2, 12 through 13. Now, therefore, says the Lord turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping and with mourning. So rent your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful. John 4, 8 says draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Jeremiah 29, 11 8 says draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Jeremiah 29, 11 through 12 says for I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord thoughts of peace, not of evil, to give you future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and go and pray to me and I will listen to you. So God is faithful. God will restore us. But let's look at what else we may have learned from Hosea. Have you ever had someone that you loved, who you really loved, who let you down and hurt you? Imagine loving them so much that, no matter what they did, you could not stop caring about them.

Speaker 1: 3:10

The story of Hosea shows a love like that, one that never gives up. It represents how God loves humanity, even when we fail or turn away from him. Hosea's marriage to Gomer, a woman unfaithful to him, serves as a metaphor for God's relationship with Israel. Despite Israel's spiritual unfaithfulness through idolatry and sin, god remained faithful and continued to love his people. God's love is steadfast and unconditional, even when we fail. This should encourage us to trust in his grace and strive for faithfulness in our relationship with him.

Speaker 1: 3:55

Hosea 3.1 says the Lord said to me go show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and isn't adulterous. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods, and love the sacred raisin cakes. And love the sacred raisin cakes. Hosea 2, 19-20 said I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you in righteousness, in justice, in love, in compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness and you will acknowledge the Lord. And of course there's Romans 8, 38 that says For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither present nor future nor any powers will be able to separate us from the love of God, who is in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Speaker 1: 4:54

You know, hosea also shows the pain of betrayal and the depth of forgiveness. Have you ever been betrayed by someone close to you? I know I was Felt absolutely horrible and though I've forgiven them and we've talked it out and I understand all the sides to it to this day. Every once in a while there will just be this ache in my heart because of what happened. Hosea experienced his wife's betrayal because she was unfaithful, but despite his pain, he chose to forgive and restore her. This is a picture of God's forgiveness no matter how far we've fallen, there is always, always redemption. Forgiveness, even though it's really hard, reflects the character of God. We are called to forgive others, as God has forgiven us.

Speaker 1: 6:05

Hosea 1.2 says when the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him Go and marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for, like an adulterous wife, this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord. And when he went back to get her, he had to pay 15 shackles of silver and about a homer of barley for her. Matthew 18, 21 through 22,. I really like this question. It's when Peter came to Jesus and said Lord, how many times shall I give my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times. Jesus answered I tell you, not seven times, but 77 times, but 77 times. Ephesians 4.32 says Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ. God forgave you.

Speaker 1: 7:17

But then again in Hosea, we learn the consequences of sin. You ever made a bad decision and the outcome was like oh, I don't even want to talk about it. Well, the Bible calls these bad decisions sin. In Hosea, the people, unfaithfulness led to painful consequences, but the story shows that that change is possible when we turn back to what is right.

Speaker 1: 7:45

Our actions have consequences and that's funny. I'm talking about this because I had lunch with my granddaughter and her boyfriend and we were talking about kids and raising kids and I said you know, they talk about all this gentle parenting and all this other stuff, but what we're not doing is showing our kids that their actions have consequences. One of the examples we used was a child brings you a bunch of flowers and you look at him and say, oh, those were so beautiful, thank you so much, that was so nice. Then the child purposely breaks something in the house. Well, now, gentle parenting would have you say, oh, now, that's okay. I understand you were having emotions. No, it's not okay, you broke something and there are consequences. And that's what God does does with us.

Speaker 1: 8:49

There are consequences to our actions and we need to recognize the seriousness of sin and that should motivate us to repent and turn back to God. Hosea 4, 1 through 2 says there is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgement of God in the land. There's only cursing, lying, murdering, stealing and adultery. They will break all bounds and bloodshed follows bloodshed. That is the consequences of your action. Hosea 8.7 says they sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. The stalk has no head, it produced no flower. The stalk has no head, it produced no flower. And Romans 6.23 says speak of consequences, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And you know, we have to pay attention to what we do and we pay attention to our consequences. Proverbs 14, 12 says there is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death. And these are the things that we learned from Hosea. Seems funny that there was so much to learn in this one little book.

Speaker 1: 10:15

In the Bible we also learned the importance of repentance. Repentance involves a change of heart and a change in behavior. You need to seek God's forgiveness and restoration. Hosea 6 1 says come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces, but he will heal us. He has injured us, but he will bind up our wounds. Hosea 14, 1 and 2 says return Israel to the Lord. Your sins have been your downfall, take words with you and return to the Lord. So the other thing that we learned is God's desire over intimacy. One of the problems that the Israelites had is they started in all these rituals, is they started in all these rituals and they were just so involved in their rituals, which were not of God. God desires intimacy, not rituals. He wants the love, he wants the repentance of us. But Israel was not doing that. But along with that was the power of redemption. And just like Hosea purchased Gomer back, though she was unfaithful, he purchased her back. Just as Jesus Christ purchased us back Even though we were unfaithful, even though we didn't live the way he wants us to, he loved us and he redeemed us.

Speaker 1: 12:09

What Hosea is is a call to faithfulness, loyalty, trust. These are important in a relationship I was telling my granddaughter and her boyfriend today. This weekend they came to help take care of me while I've been sick and I thank them so much. And I'm going to stop right here and thank you all for your prayers and everything that you have sent for me and held up for me uh, while I have been sick this last um 20 days and it's still going but I was telling them that jim, my husband, who's away, no matter what we sent to each other if it was a card, if it was a letter, if it was a gift, whatever, it was on the very corner of the page T-R Love, trust and respect. We felt that if we had that in our marriage then we would always make it, and that's what God wants. He wants us to be faithful. Faithfulness to God should be a priority in our lives. We should be influencing others by our choices, by the way we live, the way we look at the hope and the restoration that Jesus Christ offers us.

Speaker 1: 13:45

You know the Israelites didn't pay a lot of attention to Hosea's life and what went on. This was a story for future people. At some point the Israelites did finally come back to God. But this story of Hosea to me is so rich in love, in forgiveness, in repentance, in faithfulness and in restoration. All of that is found in the story of Hosea. All of that is found in the story of Hosea. The story of Hosea is ultimately about love, forgiveness and hope the things that we all need. It shows that even when life gets messy, there's a way back, and that way is through God's unconditional love and grace. Whether or not you believe in God, these things are for all humanity. God is there. God's willing to take you in, no matter where you fall into, no matter where you've come from. No-transcript.