The Lord said to me, "Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes." So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. Then I told her, "You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will live with you." For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol. Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days. —Hosea 3:1-5
God will often make the lives of His prophetic vessels prophetic illustrations of the messages they are called to proclaim. Sometimes God deals with His servants in a way that is hard for us to understand. That is one of the burdens of the prophetic calling. When people's lives are used to illustrate God's point, these message bearers feel God's heart in the matter. The prophet Hosea is one of the best examples of this. God instructed him to embrace and marry a harlot. In doing so, Hosea demonstrated God's love and forbearance toward the harlot nation of Israel. This was undoubtedly a painful thing for Hosea, but it enabled him to feel the heart of God. God wants His servants not only to say what He is like, but to be like Him; not only to say what He wants, but to do and demonstrate His will; not only to declare His heart, but to feel His heart.
{ PRAYER STARTER }
Holy Spirit, deal with my spirit in whatever way You need to deal with me. I want only to be like You and to do Your will.
Sometimes God deals with His
servants in a way that is hard
for us to understand.
