Hosea 1 English Standard Version

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.

Hosea’s Wife and Children

2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” 3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

4 And the Lord said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”

6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. 7 But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”

8 When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. 9 And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”

10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” 11 And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

Why would You make your prophet marry a whore?

Hosea 2:16-20 English Standard Version

16 “And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. 18 And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. 19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.

And the Lord said, “To prove my faithfulness.”

John 14:1-3 (English Standard Version) 

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

On some days I discover a message to me from the Father. It often comes in the form of a verse of the day in my bible study application. I am not sure who chooses to use these words and more importantly, I do not know just how this verse of the day touches other people’s lives.

I hear what God has for me in just that first sentence, “Let not your heart be troubled.” Just before I sat down to study I prayed. I opened up my heart and told God what was troubling me and asked for His help. All that followed in the verse of the day held no specific meaning for me but perhaps it touched others. How I know that is in knowing just how God works.

I have been telling others that God speaks to us through His Word and some resist the notion because of their own personal situation. They are looking to be satisfied on their own terms and not God’s.

Sometimes God’s answer to our prayers is simply “Then don’t.”

I have been questioning my own decisions of late. My motive for making those choices has been love. Things have not turned out as I had hoped, but that hope was driven by fear not trust in God. Making choices because of love is God’s will. Our hope for the outcome of those choices has more to do with self interests than God’s will. We do not stop being human just because we are doing the right thing.

Lean into hope that is not based on God’s promises and we can expect to be disappointed. That is disappointing. That is why I began questioning my decisions.

God’s answer to that is, “Stop doing that.” 

Where do I go from here? Since praying my heart and looking to God to answer me in spirit and in truth worked this morning, then I will keep doing that.

• Psalm 3:4 I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah
• Psalm 34:4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.
  Psalm 118:5 Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free.