Jealous

God is portrayed as a husband who desires intimacy with his bride. His love is so pure and jealous that it must be intolerant of any competitor.There is no question that this metaphor can warm our affections. Perhaps it brings images of a young husband anticipating his wife walking down the aisle or of a devoted husband of seventy years still holding hands with his first love. But for many women, this analogy could fall short. Maybe divorces or broken relationships have fractured your image of a good husband. Maybe you are fighting an uphill battle in your own marriage or feel stuck in your singleness. The invitation to think of God as your intimate husband may fall short or may repulse you completely.

For where this analogy works for you and for where it does not, we can exhale into the embrace of our husband-God. Even the most attentive and forgiving husband in the room cannot compare with our God as husband. There is no human love that can forgive as completely, reconcile so fully, and love so extravagantly. For every aspect that left you lacking by human love, our husband-God can fill with his faithfulness, justice, and mercy. He is a benevolent God who loves us with an everlasting love. Jeremiah 31:3 declares, “The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving kindness.’”

It is after we set our eyes on our husband-God, who is the main character of this book, that we begin to understand who we are.

If I’m being honest, on most read-throughs of Hosea, I want to resonate more with the prophet than with the harlot wife. I suppose I wish the lessons to take from this are from Hosea’s example, not Gomer’s. My mind’s eye pictures us, sitting around hot cups of coffee, discussing how to be brave mouthpieces for God—how to simply obey and speak his messages with courage. I can just picture it: I would read the verses of Hosea and you would nod with me, saying, “Yes, we must tell all the wayward children of God that his love cannot stomach competition.”

I wish that was the lesson from this Bible study. I wish my position in this study was from behind the pulpit or beside righteous Hosea.

However, a few months into this study, I saw myself more accurately. While my self-righteousness would convince me otherwise, I am certainly not the forgiving husband. And I am not simply a member of the audience to Hosea’s messages, nodding in agreement. I am not on a stage with a microphone warning “lesser” women of their disobedience.

No, I have fallen from the pulpit and landed at the brothel.

I am unquestionably the adulteress wife. I am the woman in a marriage covenant with God, enjoying living with his promises; yet in so many ways, my heart is far from him. I am the woman bent on chasing lesser lovers. I chase after quick satisfaction, pleasures that my eyes can see, and comforts to prop up my ego.

I am the woman who has it all wrong about my husband-God. I have kept him at a safe distance, like that of a master. A distance where I don’t have my weaknesses revealed, where I think my messes are hidden. I have resisted his advances and filled in the space with other lovers. His desire for me makes me uncomfortable, so I fill in the space with idols that are a lot less soul searching. I stiff-arm my husband-God and his desires for a pure love and instead entertain the gods of this world: comfort, wealth, and security.

Would you sit in this uncomfortable place with me? Could we let this confession linger long enough that we begin to squirm? Could we bravely consider that just like Israel, what we are is far from what we were intended to be? Could we truly believe that we belong on the stand of the courtroom? Could we stick with this study long enough to find out our verdict?

While this book and this study have yet to fill us with warm fuzzies, ensuring us that we are as loveable as we had hoped, could we bravely continue? Although this book does not give us quick pick-me-ups or pad our identity, could we read for much more? Could we dig in to discover the heart of the God who created us for intimate relationship with himself? The heart of the God who tells us his story of redemption from Genesis to Revelation. This book is packed with all the hope, comfort, and love that we desire, but not until we first see the truth about both God and ourselves can we grasp it.

He is a God who sees us, understands us, and loves us before we love him.

He is a God who married a faithless bride, with eyes wide open. Knowing she would soon be bent on lesser lovers, he entered a covenant with her. Knowing that she would soon forget him and spend her beauty on the gods of her neighbors, he extended his love. He is a God who is overflowing with forgiveness and second chances, a God with a big-picture plan to make grace the way to relationship. The gift of a God who is more than master, his love is like that of a husband, longing for nearness and intimacy.

As an amazing grace weaves through the pages of Hosea, we will see that what we receive contrasts greatly with what we deserve. Unlike Hosea’s original audience, our study of Hosea will include the perspective of the New Testament. In each chapter, we will consider how different our situation is now because of Jesus. If we are in Christ, then the days of study that are heavy with condemnation will be lifted by recalling the gospel. When in a relationship with Christ, what we receive is grace instead of death. While we will see that this does not exclude us from times of discipline or experiencing the painful consequences of rebellion, we can rest knowing that Jesus took our ultimate punishment on the cross.