OK! I have finally found the blog and figured out how to sign in and post and everything! Sorry for my absence up until now.
Here are some of my responses/thoughts/questions after reading this portion...
I am already convicted, and I haven't even started the actual book yet! In the introduction in my study bible, the authors mention that the life of Hosea is actually a symbol of the message God has for his people. I think you already touched on this, Kendra. But WOW. His whole life is a symbol of God's message. I can't even give up 5 minutes of my day to pray, and this man's whole life is the Lord's.
I'm not trying to have a guilt-fest (ok, maybe I am, a little bit), but I really want to wrap my head around this. God's will and plan for Hosea was to marry an adulterous wife and name his kids things like "not my people" in order to accomplish his purpose. His whole life was not his own.
I wonder what it would be like to live like that. I tend to believe that if I truly let God run my life, then I won't get to have fun anymore. Life will be harder. I'll have to be tied into a bunch of ministries and people I don't like and I'll never get a break.
So...I'm praying that God will speak to me (US!) through his word and reveal his true character and heart.
An interesting note from my NIV Study Bible:
"Hosea" means "salvation"
In the last two verses of this passage, God does something really neat. He basically turns things around and makes them opposite. Jezreel's name was a reference to the punishment God would bring on Jehu because of the massacre at Jezreel. My bible translates it as "God scatters." Lo-Ruhamah meant, "Not loved." Lo-Ammi meant "Not my people." But in 1:11, God says "great will be the day of Jezreel." My bible translates it as "God scatters" - this time refering to sowing or planting. Then he says, "Say, "My people," and "My loved one."
I just think this is so reflective of God's character. He is so opposite. He does things opposite of the way we think make sense. He takes what is evil and uses it for something good. He tells us that if someone hits us, we are to turn the other cheek for them to hit again. That in order to be strong, we actually need to be weak. In order to be first, we have to be last. To seek first HIS kingdom, and then all these things (provisions: money/food/clothes) will be given to us. To die in order to live. WHAT? I really don't get it sometimes.
Isaiah 55:8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord.
So, I guess my answer to your question in the previous post, Kendra, is that God is OPPOSITE. He is other than what we think, or what makes sense.
Should I be posting this in the comments section of the last post? I just sort of jumped right in and wrote my own post, and I guess we haven't really talked about whether we just want to keep our responses to the comments or not. Hmmm....
I think I will probably have more to say on this passage, but I will stop for now.
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3 comments:
Thank you for this, Anna. And NO - you SHOULDN'T put this in the comment, it's YOUR (our) blog!
I like the reflection that God is opposite...in an unpredictable understanding of the word.
By the way, thank you for the notes from your study Bible and different descriptions...it's always helpful to get other perspectives to further "flesh out" the story here.
PS on reflecting on God's unpredictable-ness and Hosea as a "model," who would have thought a man married to a prostitute would teach people about God, eh?
Heehee - good reflection. It really freaks me out sometimes that the people God used and later on spent time with were prostitutes and tax collectors and poor people.
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