He heard the voice of God

Hosea 1:2

“When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.”

I’ve often stated this fact; I’m neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, and with the goal of true discloser, is that I’m a mess in many areas of my life, and yet I’m a follower of Jesus Christ, who knows all about me and loves me anyway.  Now for just a moment let your imagination put you in the place of Hosea, and because we have little understanding of his family, you and I can assume Hosea was from a family like ours. 

At some point in his life he heard the voice of the LORD, maybe it was from one of the prophets of his time or maybe like Moses, God got his attention in some other way.  But this is clear, Hosea heard God speaking to him, and it is my hope that you also have heard the voice of God speaking to you.  So imagine this, you’re a young messenger of God, and you are single and have thought often about marriage, and the first thing you hear is, “Go, take to yourself a wife” and your response is yes, yes LORD that is the desire of my heart, and did I hear you say Gomer, she sure is a looker, but LORD it is rumored she sleeps around.  Is it your plan for me to marry such a girl, will I lose the respect of everyone, what will mom and dad think, what will those I’m speaking Your words to think, and did I hear this right?

You now have a choice, listen to God; I call that (Channel 2) or listen to the enemy of your soul, the one that voice mimics yours and we refer to that as (Channel 1).  Note: It is of importance to know that anytime God speaks to us channel 2 is going to voice very loud a safer plan of action.  Jesus makes this clear in John 10:10, “The thief (Channel 1) comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came (Channel 2) that they may have life and have it abundantly. (Emphasis added)

Hosea chose God’s plan for his life, a whore for a wife, who would have children of whoredom, because it was an everyday reminder of Israel’s marriage to God and their whoredom with the world and the flesh.

From The Back Porch,

Bob Rice