Inhabitants Of The Land

Hosea (4:1)

Hear the word of the LORD, you Israelites, because the LORD has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: "There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land.

Hosea was a man of God who, in spite of his unfaithful wife, stood true to her as an illustration of God standing true to the nation of Israel, who was His Adulterous wife (spiritually speaking).

Hosea lived in a time, where not only was his home life in pathetic condition, his nations life was as well. In the entire history of the land which he lived, there was not one godly king. Politically, it was a world of anarchy, bloodshed and revolt.
Anarchy was having it's inning. Socially, it was a world of compromise and corruption.
Much like the world we live in today.

The union of right knowledge and wrong practice is hideous in itself; and it must be especially offensive to Almighty God, that His creatures should know whom they offend, how they offend Him, and yet, amid and against their knowledge, choose that which displeases Him.

Hosea, whose name means, "salvation, deliverance," was a tender godly young man.
And yet God told him to marry a woman named Gomer who, at first glance, seemed to be a prostitute. Yet Hosea was instructed to take this woman who was not currently engaged in prostitution. It seems wholly unlikely the character of God to introduce a man to a know prostitute and have them marry. Gomer was faithful at first and became a prostitute later on. She acted on that bent tendency toward a lifestyle of unfaithfulness and sensuality. It wasn't long before Gomer walked away. She left her family and lived the streets. She left the care the children to Hosea. She had no compassion for the family and lost all interest in her husband. She lived as she pleased as she ran wild after other lovers.

Surely there must have been times when Hosea threw up his arms and said, "Why, God? Why me? Why this woman? I contend with immorality all day long. I face sin constantly in the street, and now I have to come home to it! It's totally unfair." He may have been a prophet, but he was still a man with human feelings that occasionally erupted.

The cost of restitution for a slave gored by a bull was thirty shekels of silver. God said to Hosea, "Go and find that woman and buy her back. Love her again. Incredible!
Why would God have him do that? For now Hosea was asked by God to model His message to Israel." That is the great faithfulness of God.
God showed infinite, long-suffering love for a people who despised Him and shook their fists in His face, built their gold-plated statues and carved wooden idols, and openly worshiped at false temples of worship. In that sense they to "played the harlot."

Maybe some of you are like the people of Israel. God found you and pledged Himself to you in love and faithfulness. You may have walked with Him for a time, but then in the anguish of despair and cynicism, you've run from the Lord. And now, like Gomer, perhaps you're living a life of unfaithfulness. I'd like you to see what Hosea saw. I'd like you to get a picture of a God who keeps loving you and who longs to take you back, as Hosea took back Gomer. I'd like you to see that our disloyalty to God is really spiritual adultery. We can confess that to our God, and then we can return to Him, who has never left us. His love finally cannot, and will not, let us go!

Reverend William Bowers