Hosea 9 … Consider Him, Unloved

Originally posted: 9/16/2021

Do not rejoice, O Israel, with exultation like the nations!
For you have played the harlot, forsaking your God.
You have loved harlots’ earnings on every threshing floor, (9:1).

Have you ever heard someone say something like, “how can a loving God do …?” (fill in the blank). Perhaps you’ve even uttered a similar thought yourself.

For to our natural mind, reading of His judgment actually can sound pretty unloving. But when we consider His great love toward us, it is really us, His creation, who are the unloving ones. Perhaps we should get in the habit of asking, “how could I, as a loving child of God, do …?”

In context, we must go back to the beginning of Hosea’s call; called to marry a harlot to reveal God’s great love for us, called to express His Heart for the Harlot.

And as Gomer had left Hosea to chase after her lovers, God’s people had done the same, living to satisfy their lust and leaving Him, Unloved.

Consider Him, Unloved

• They left Him, Unloved… to love the harlot’s earnings.
  • Do not rejoice, O Israel, with exultation like the nations!
    For you have played the harlot, forsaking your God.
    You have loved harlots’ earnings on every threshing floor, (9:1).

• They left Him, Unloved… to go deep in depravity.
  • They have gone deep in depravity
    As in the days of Gibeah;
    He will remember their iniquity,
    He will punish their sins, (9:9).
    

• They left Him, Unloved… to devote themselves to shame.
  • I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness;
    I saw your forefathers as the earliest fruit on the fig tree in its first season.
    But they came to Baal-peor and devoted themselves to shame,
    And they became as detestable as that which they loved, (9:10).

• They left Him, Unloved… to be driven out from His Presence.
  • All their evil is at Gilgal;
    Indeed, I came to hate them there!
    Because of the wickedness of their deeds
    I will drive them out of My house!
    I will love them no more;
    All their princes are rebels, (9:15).
    

How do we respond to Him, Unloved?

Yes, this chapter does not feel very loving, because the very sad truth is, it is not. This chapter reveals how unloving we are, in and of ourselves. For although He had repeatedly sent His prophets, though He had repeatedly warned, though He had repeatedly invited them, still they left Him, Unloved. And to leave Him, Unloved… is to move out of His protection and care.

Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments, (Deuteronomy 7:9).

And the enemy is relentless in his attempts to move us, often coming disguised as though he had a word from God, that we would leave Him, Unloved… to chase after signs and wonders.

“If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, ² and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’ ³ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴ You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him,” (Deuteronomy 11:1-4).

Jesus told us that our craving for signs and wonders reveals our heart, a heart that leaves Him, Unloved… to search for something more than the greatest Love ever given.

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” ³⁹ But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; ⁴⁰ for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth,” (Matthew 12:38-30).

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, (Romans 5:8).

But the truth is, we can only love because He loved us first.

We love, because He first loved us, (1 John 4:19).

And today’s reading includes a very telling finding about the people of God. Because they left Him, Unloved… because they turned away from Him to chase after their detestable idols… they became exactly like that which they chose to love.

…And they became as detestable as that which they loved, (9:10).

And the astonishingly amazing news is that when we love Him Who loved us first… we will become like Him.

By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, we also are in this world, (1 John 4:17).

And the more we set our hearts to know Him, the more our love for Him will abound.

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, (Philippians 1:9).

Oh, may our love for Him so abound that it would be utterly unfathomable to ever think of leaving Him, Unloved. Oh, that we would live as His loving children, ever growing in our love for Him as we entrust our lives with courageous hope into His faithful and loving hands.

O love the Lord, all you His godly ones!
The Lord preserves the faithful
And fully recompenses the proud doer.
²⁴ Be strong and let your heart take courage,
All you who hope in the Lord, (Psalm 31:23-24).

Let’s Grow Together!