Goodness and Faithfulness

When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, he said to him, “Go marry a prostitute who will bear illegitimate children conceived through prostitution, because the nation continually commits spiritual prostitution by turning away from the Lord.” (Hosea 1:2)

In the book of Hosea, an unfaithful wife (Gomer) prone to prostitution is used as an analogy of Israel’s unfaithfulness to her God. The Lord tells the prophet Hosea to marry a prostitute and have children with her. Hosea’s relationship with his wife is a picture of God’s relationship with Israel. God was good and faithful to Israel, blessing her and providing for her. But Israel did not acknowledge God’s provision and goodness.

Yet until now she has refused to acknowledge that I was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil; and that it was I who lavished on her the silver and gold—that they used in worshiping Baal! (Hosea 2:8)

Instead, Israel attributed blessings from God to her idols.

For she [Israel] said, ‘I will go after my lovers, Who give me my bread and my water, My wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’

How can Israel be so blind as to not recognize God’s goodness and His provisions? Moreover, she gives credit to her idols for the bread, water, wool, flax, oil, and drink. Israel knows well that she is to “have no other gods before Him.” Not only does she worship Baal and other gods, but gives glory to these idols, the very glory that belongs to the only true God. What an insult to the God! The analogy is a faithful husband who loves his wife and lavishes gifts on her only to be betrayed by the unfaithful wife who sleeps around with other men.

Of course, for her rebellion and unfaithfulness, Israel will be judged. The children born to Hosea and his unfaithful wife are named “not my people” and “no pity.” This is a prophecy that Israel will be punished by her exile to Assyria.

But God’s grace is unfathomable and His faithfulness is unshakable.

The Lord said to me, “Go, show love to your wife again, even though she loves another man and continually commits adultery. Likewise, the Lord loves the Israelites although they turn to other gods and love to offer raisin cakes to idols.” (Hosea 3:1)

Is this not incredible – asking someone to be faithful and to love a spouse who is repeatedly and currently unfaithful? But this parallels God’s faithfulness to Israel. Despite Israel’s repeated sin and rebellion, God remains faithful. Though Israel is faithless, God remains faithful for He cannot deny Himself. This is His nature.

We can learn much from the book of Hosea. Even our sin and rebellion cannot separate us from the love of God. In many ways we are like Israel and like Gomer. We are unfaithful to God despite His many blessings. In fact, as Israel did, we often attribute our blessings to idols and do not give glory to God. Today, the idol is not Baal, but our idol is most likely “me.” Our success we attribute to our hard work and cleverness. True, hard work and cleverness are factors, but ultimately, our success is from God. The family in which we were born and the learned concept of hard work are all by His grace. All good things come from the Father above.  

We must stop periodically and regularly to take stock and give thanks. We must recognize the Source of all good things that we enjoy. Our family, our job, our home, our friends, our sustenance, and even the joy of life come from God. If we fail to recognize God as the source of these things, and praise Him for them, then the idol of self is alive and well. We set ourselves up for the Lord’s discipline and correction. Yet in the end, He remains faithful even if we are unfaithful.