How pretentious can we possibly be when it comes to following God's will? Really, where do we get off thinking we are even capable of doing anything on our own? OK, I’m sorry, that is a bit forward, but I am tired of looking at my life with the mentality that “I can do this!” or “I will make this all work," and ending in failure. For me, I like for everything, long-term or short-term, to be planned. Which brings me to reflect on my senior year of high school. I was going to graduate high school in May and attend the University of Mississippi that August to study biology. Let’s just say that God allowed that train to derail quickly. I ended up graduating high school that December and committed to Mississippi College for August. Rather than going to school in the Spring, I graduated high school, and I worked at a local after-school day camp. So, God completely changed the direction of everything I had planned during this season of my life.
When I think of things not going as planned, I think of my favorite book of the old testament: the book of Hosea. Hosea was an old testament prophet who prophesied 750 years before Jesus was born. In this story God gives Hosea an objective, not a message. God tells Hosea, a man who is known as a man of God in his community, to go love and marry a prostitute. As you can image, Hosea isn’t too excited about this situation. I can see him stepping back and saying, “how can I, a spiritual leader of Israel, marry a prostitute?" This probably wasn't how Hosea planned his future and his marriage.
"When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, 'Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.' So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son." Hosea 1:2-3
So we see that Hosea follows God's will, marries the prostitute Gomer, and then even has children with her. By the tone of the book, we figure that Hosea has adjusted to finding rest in God's will. All of a sudden in Hosea chapter three we see that Gomer, the prostitute who Hosea gave a life to, left him and the children to go back into prostitution. But God says to Hosea, "Go, Go and love her. Just like the love of the Lord."
"The Lord said to me, 'Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.'" Hosea 3:1
A now single father faithfully responds and seeks out Gomer in a seemingly painful pursuit. He must journey into the messiest parts of town, the locations where society figured no man of God should be seen. Though, here is Hosea looking for his wife, and he finds her being sold and he then buys her back. Hosea pays to receive what He already owns.This exchange is so much more than a man buying a prostitute. It is just like 2,000 years ago when the Father sent His son Jesus to pour His blood out to purchase back what he already owned.
It is difficult for me to wrap my head around the fact that God loves us so much. We hear it in scriptures, sermons and songs so often, and I don't know about you, my brother or sister, but it never gets old to me. It is totally incomprehensible that I am found precious in His eyes.
If any of you were like me, you wonder what the purpose of this story even is. Love was about personal satisfaction and possessions to the Israelites. God was using Hosea to show the Israelites what love really was by marrying Gomer. This is a parallel image of the gospel and of us. Yes, us. We are the prostitute, we are Gomer. Hosea? That is God. Hosea relentlessly pursues Gomer just as the Father is constantly pursuing us.
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it." Matthew 13:45-46
We see this pursuit even in the cry of Jesus' heart in the garden of Ghesemane before his crucifixion. Jesus' heart was consumed with the desire that we would be near Him forever in one of the most challenging moments of His life on earth.
"Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am." John 17:24
We seem to think that we have capacity to control the direction of our life. We are capable of only so much, but nothing measurable to the unlimited capabilities of God. I am about to enter the second semester of my freshman year in college with my third major at a small, private school in Clinton, Mississippi and I couldn't be any more excited. I didn't expect to be here a year ago, but He did and I trust that He is going to do great things! God is up to something in your life and it is so good, 'tis so sweet to trust in Jesus.
