A New Challenge: Gratitude and Encouragement, Post 22

Inspirational Quote

Hosea 3:1–3, World English Bible

Yahweh said to me, “Go again, love a woman loved by another, and an adulteress, even as Yahweh loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods, and love cakes of raisins.”

So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a half of barley. I said to her, “You shall stay with me many days. You shall not play the prostitute, and you shall not be with any other man. I will also be so toward you.”

Gratitude Inducer

Without being negative, there is much ado about divorce and remarriage both in the Bible and in modern life. Even after divorce post abuse, my husband and I sometimes get the hairy eyeball from more traditional denominations or churches.

That’s why I love the book of Hosea. It was reportedly written by Hosea, one of the minor prophets. Although it should be analyzed within the spiritual context of an extended allegory detailing the results of religious devotion without true understanding and commitment to the Lord, in my case I’m more interested in the personal love story buried in the book.

It’s not pretty. Hosea is commanded by God to take a wife who will forever be unfaithful. He has to go looking for her and eventually redeem her because she became a prostitute. He even ends up raising a child that might not have been his.

I am grateful for my husband who saw beyond my divorce and the attitude that some in society would have that our marriage isn’t real because it’s not my first. I am grateful that even before we married he knew the Hosea story.

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Gratitude, Encouragement, Challenge

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