An Unconventional Path
When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD.” – Hosea 1:2
In our text today, God colors outside the lines in the life of Hosea the Prophet. Hosea is the eighth century prophet whom the Lord instructs to marry a prostitute. Most people, when conceptualizing the path of marriage for their lives, tend to see themselves partnered with someone whose career path and academic trajectory are socially accepted as “noble and upstanding.” After all, you want someone you can take home to grandma, right?
The reader of this text is struck by the instruction of God to Hosea to marry a lady of the night. Could you imagine seeking the will of God for your life, and then God telling you one day, “hey my will for your life is to go marry a prostitute?” Talk about having difficulty hearing from God. This has to be the most confusing message one could receive. In fact, few Old Testament passages have demanded the attention of preachers and scholars, and have caused more consternation for modern interpreters, than this passage. It raises some serious spiritual and ethical questions.
How could a holy God ask his prophet to marry someone involved in such an unholy profession? How could a God who wants the best for us and says He seeks to give us the desires of our hearts want one of his representatives to marry a woman of disrepute?
When we spend time with this text what we discover is that sometimes the will of God is not found in the neat picture we have imagined for our lives. Instead, it is often revealed and manifested in the complicated and thorny circumstances of life. Sometimes the will of God departs from the conventional paradigm and set of expectations that we see and set for ourselves. When this happens, God wants to show us that even though life does not always lead us down paths that are simple and straight, the Lord always has our best interest at heart and He will take care of us as we follow Him down the path He marks for us.
In our text today, God colors outside the lines in the life of Hosea the Prophet. Hosea is the eighth century prophet whom the Lord instructs to marry a prostitute. Most people, when conceptualizing the path of marriage for their lives, tend to see themselves partnered with someone whose career path and academic trajectory are socially accepted as “noble and upstanding.” After all, you want someone you can take home to grandma, right?
The reader of this text is struck by the instruction of God to Hosea to marry a lady of the night. Could you imagine seeking the will of God for your life, and then God telling you one day, “hey my will for your life is to go marry a prostitute?” Talk about having difficulty hearing from God. This has to be the most confusing message one could receive. In fact, few Old Testament passages have demanded the attention of preachers and scholars, and have caused more consternation for modern interpreters, than this passage. It raises some serious spiritual and ethical questions.
How could a holy God ask his prophet to marry someone involved in such an unholy profession? How could a God who wants the best for us and says He seeks to give us the desires of our hearts want one of his representatives to marry a woman of disrepute?
When we spend time with this text what we discover is that sometimes the will of God is not found in the neat picture we have imagined for our lives. Instead, it is often revealed and manifested in the complicated and thorny circumstances of life. Sometimes the will of God departs from the conventional paradigm and set of expectations that we see and set for ourselves. When this happens, God wants to show us that even though life does not always lead us down paths that are simple and straight, the Lord always has our best interest at heart and He will take care of us as we follow Him down the path He marks for us.
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