Hosea 1:2 The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD.
Have you ever sized up a rule by your chance of being caught and the consequence if you were? I think all of us have at some point. We have made rules an economic consideration. We think about what it would cost and what it would gain, and thus we make our decision. Hosea is written to divest us of that thinking.
Hosea was a prophet to God’s people Israel in the days before their captivity and judgment. They were prospering. They were not being punished. They were doing quite well. God says to Hosea in verse 2, “The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said unto Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms.”
Quite frankly, this is a book that can make you cringe when you consider what happened here and the words that have to be used to describe it. God essentially told Hosea to marry a woman who would be unfaithful to him.
If you are thinking at all, your first thought is, “How fair is that? Why would God ask such a thing of a man, to marry a woman he knows will be unfaithful to him, who will be an adulteress?” If you feel outraged, that is precisely the sentiment that God is trying to instill in us. But our outrage should be towards our sin. The account continues by saying, “For the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD.”
Israel’s sin was not departing from a code or some set of rules. It was departing from God. Now God is so high and limitless that we think, “What difference does it make what I do?” The fact is if you mess up today the earth is not going to wobble on its axis. God is fully in control. That is why this is an oxymoron, two facts that are hard to reconcile but are true. God is in control, yet God cares about you and your relationship to Him. It is not just rules; it is the relationship we have with God.
Sin is a departure from God. It is not just rules or punishment. Israel was not being punished at the moment. Like all prophets, you see the sin, the consequence, and then future restoration. But these people weren’t breaking a rule, but were breaking a covenant with God. In short, God takes sin personally.
God is great enough that the world won’t be destroyed if you do what is wrong, but God will care. The question is not, “Does God love me?” God is going to love you no matter what you do. God’s love is unconditional. The question is, “How much do we love God?” Instead of making every decision today about what it will it cost to get caught doing wrong, think about your relationship to God and everything else will largely take care of itself. We should take God personally because God loves us and God takes sin personally.