Sorry if the title offended you... Actually, I take that back. I'm not sorry, but I would put myself in the same category. I have been preaching through the book of Hosea (we are on chapter 4). I love this book (except for the part where I am like Gomer).
This book has driven home the doctrine of depravity in a way that no other passage in scripture seems to. Every time I read it I begin to feel for Hosea and then quickly realize that Hosea represents God and I (along with Israel and the church) play the part of the prostitute wife. I still struggle with grasping the imagery in this book. It is not like looking at some picture or reading a great piece of literature. This life was actually lived by a prophet of God and in many ways continues to live in the relationship between God and the church today. WOW!!
Fortunately this book also drives home the faithfulness of God (Even when I am not) in spite of the whoring ways of Israel and the church (for those of you who think I am unfairly applying this to the church see Romans 9:23-26, Paul applies it to the church as well). God's love and mercy towards an ungrateful people bent on disrespect and even hatred toward a God who loves them intensely. You might say like a husband loves a wife, intimately and (hopefully) without fail.
Hosea may be the best story in the Bible other than Jesus himself (James Boice thinks so, and I agree) If you have not taken the time to study this book, please do so now.
By the way, you can listen to our pod casts if you want www.wechurch.com
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