A Closer Walk
The Old Testament prophet Hosea took as a wife a woman who was a harlot. This was at the command of Almighty God. The purpose of this was so that Hosea could see and understand God's perspective when the Northern Kingdom of Israel followed after and worshiped pagan idols. Hosea's wife was named Gomer and of the three children she bore while she and Hosea were together, only one was fathered by Hosea himself. Sad. But Hosea could better understand how the Lord felt when Israel chose to turn away from their rightful God and follow pagan idols. Whether they were worshiping Molech, Chemosh, Dagon, Baal (the King of the pagan pantheon), or some other god they had dreamed up and fashioned with their own hands, the result was the same. They were playing the harlot with these little “g” gods they themselves had built. Little “g” gods that cannot hear or speak. Neither can they answer or act. The Lord God had already sent His prophets Elijah, Elisha, and Amos. Hosea was the Lord's last and final plea to the Northern Kingdom of Israel before He gave them over to their enemies, the Assyrians.
This is Hosea's final plea. "O Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like a luxuriant cypress; From Me comes your fruit. Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; Whoever is discerning let him know them. For the ways of the Lord are right, And the righteous will walk in them; But transgressors will stumble in them," Hosea 14:8-9 NASB. Beautiful, beautiful words! But alas, the people would not repent and turn back to the Lord. Ephraim was one of the northern tribes and is sometimes used in place of the word Israel.
My maternal grandmother used to say something like, "If you are determined to hang yourself, God will give you enough rope to do just that." That is a paraphrase but it's pretty close. What she was saying was that if we are dead set on getting ourselves into trouble, our God in Heaven will allow us to do that. Remember the prodigal son? Hosea was obedient to God by taking Gomer as his wife. The people he was preaching to were not. For two centuries they had strayed farther and farther away from the Lord God Almighty. But the day was coming when their disobedience would not be allowed to continue.
The Lord tells them plainly and simply, "It is I who answer and look after you." Ever thought of God like that? The God who answers and looks after us? But what about all these trials and sufferings we go through? "I am the vine, and My Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, he takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it, that it may bear more fruit," John 15:1-2 NASB. Pruning can be painful. But it encourages the branch to produce more and better fruit.
So have we ever experienced pruning? Are we being pruned now, at this time? Every branch that bears fruit, He prunes, in order that the branch can bear fruit in abundance. Praise the Lord!