Lake Eufaula Christian Church
Throughout both the Bible’s Old and New Testaments, the covenant of marriage serves as an illustration of God’s relationship with us and our relationship with Him. God is the husband, and the people are His bride.
The Minor Prophet Hosea tells us a love story that demonstrates how God’s boundless love is faithful even to those who are unfaithful to Him.
No matter how restless or reckless our love tends to be, God’s love is relentless. Hosea was about to discover that fact when God said to him, ““Go and marry a prostitute, so that some of her children will be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning against the Lord and worshiping other gods.” (Hosea 1:2).
Can you even imagine Hosea’s humiliation and embarrassment? How distraught he would be as everyone gossiped about the prophet and the prostitute?
God often required extraordinary obedience from His prophets who were facing extraordinary times. The pain that Hosea endured by fulfilling this bizarre request helped communicate God’s message to the Jewish people who had been spiritually unfaithful to Him. The way He wanted Hosea to love this woman is the same way God humbly still loved the rebellious Israelites.
In the eyes of God, Israel had entered into a marriage pact with Him. He expected not just their worship but their love and their faithfulness— no cheating on Him! They (and we) can cheat on God by giving our time, our worship, our devotion, our very lives to something other than God.
The point of Hosea’s story? God showed that Israel acted like a prostitute by wandering away from what is good and true to follow other idols. A beautiful hymn called, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” sums up how we cheat on God with this stanza: “Prone to Wander, Lord I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love. Jesus sought me when a stranger, Wandering from the fold of God. He, to rescue me from danger, Interposed His precious blood.”
God gave us a Messiah— Jesus Christ. What was the Messiah asked to do? To marry an unfaithful bride in all of us. And Christ loves that unfaithful bride with such a perfect, boundless love that it heals broken hearts and ruined relationships. That kind of love removes from the unfaithful bride a spirit of prostitution and replaces iit with a Holy spirit of faithfulness.
If you desire a rocksolid, Christ-centered, Satan-stomping relationship or marriage, seek it first with God and rejoice when the earthly version follows. It will!
We at LECC try to resist the worldly influences luring us to wander like the song’s lyrics,, drawing strength with small group Bible study at 10 a.m., worship at 11 a.m., and Wednesday night classes for all ages at 6:30 p.m. Please join us at 415987 Highway 9, Eufaula, where we strive to earn the acknowledgment given to the finally deserving Israelites: “You are children of the living God “ (Hosea 1:10) God Bless You!
Jeremy Little, Minister
